Goodbye Summer

It's that time of year again.  Today was the last day of the pool season here in town.

Summer is almost over.  Fall is just around the corner.

My Helpers

This year, I have some added duties at the Pool.  It's the Manager's responsibility to clean the pools every day.  In the past two years, someone was hired to do specifically that job.  Not any more though.  It's a good thing I know how to do the vacuuming.  :)  I have to admit though, that I'm too weak to get the lid off the filter, so I have to bring Big Daddy with me for that.  In the process, I have taught Big Daddy and Medium J how to clean the pools as well.  Just in case.  And they both do a great job of it.

 Big Daddy finds that vacuuming the big pool is very relaxing.  I find this incredible.  I think it's a pain in the rear.  lol

Medium J does a fantastic job on the baby pool.

The Pool

Every Summer, for the past 6 years, I've spent my Summer at the Pool.  Four years ago, Big C joined me.  Three years ago, Small T joined Big C and I.

This year, the Pool opened later than normal.  Mid June found us having a Work Day to get the place cleaned up and ready to go asap.

 Small T helped clean up the Concession Stand.

 Carissa worked on the bathrooms.

 Bailey took care of the Baby Pool.

 And Big C was the jack of all trades, doing a little bit of everything.

It took me 3 days, but I was able to open the pool on the 16th of June.

 Here's the Big Pool.

 This area shows the Baby Pool, which is inside the fence, the picnic table area, and then the covered seating just outside the Concession Stand.

 Big C has spent almost every day of the Summer helping me at the Pool.  I think that he and I have worked more than the rest of the employees combined.  Here he is, in the Lifeguard Stand.

And here's Small T, lifeguarding the shallow end of the pool.

I'm really proud of my two kids, the lifeguards.  :)  I'm also a lifeguard, but since I'm the manager as well, I seldom sit in one of the lifeguard chairs for a whole day.

Now you know what occupies my whole Summer every year and why I'm on here so seldom.

Today...Saturday...

I started out my day...

 at the pool...

 I had a bit of spare time after getting things set up, so I soaked my feet a bit and tanned my backside for awhile...since it seldom sees any sun...I can't be tanned on the front and white on the back....

 I looked through a magazine as well...and found this bit of inspiration...

 and this seems like a good charity to donate to...

 and this looks like a good lipstick to try out...

 and I keep hearing a lot about this foundation...maybe it would be worth trying out....

 and I was thrilled to bits to see that Pink is now a Covergirl....

 I love her....I always tell my kids that I have an inner Beyonce or Pink dying to come out...

 and this looks like it would be the perfect Christmas gift for one of my sister's...as her cell phone is always dead...she uses it for work...24/7....

 and after I got home tonight, Small T gifted me with this little plaque....which is funny when you consider that our last name (before marriage) was Wine...so anything Wine related is comical when applied to our family...

 I worked and worked on this and ran out of yarn this evening....so....I have to buy more so I can finish this up...it is an upcoming free pattern...

 and then I was inspired to make this little cover for my coffee cup...I'll post this free pattern asap too....

and finally...I've watched Little Ty...be a worm...and inch across my floor this evening...I think he's either bored or hyped up on something...not sure which...

and now I'm off to bed...as I have a long day tomorrow...I'm off to the ER in a town about 1 1/2 hours away...I've torn something in my knee I think....not good.

The Pool....

This is where I work every Summer.  I thought I'd share a few photos.

 The big pool.  (Before opening)

 Covered seating (in front), picnic tables (in the middle) and the baby pool (surrounded by the fence).

Later in the day....my nephew, Little Ty, taking advantage of the diving board.  Big C is in the lifeguard chair.

Funny Cartoon

During Summer Vacation, I am the Manager of our city pool and also a lifeguard.  Every time I see this cartoon, it makes me smile.  Therefore, I'm sharing with you...my favorite people!!!  Hope you see the humor in it too!

Rockin' The Grass Skirt

Small T.

Luau Lifeguard.

Weekly Highlights

Gosh, what a week it's been!

 I've managed to sneak in some crochet time though.  But not much.  I've started working on the squares for the True Blood Water Lily blanket again.  I did have 20 of them complete, and as of last night, my current count is 33 finished squares.  I'm thrilled.  Truly.  I'm hoping that I will only need 48 squares, but the pattern calls for 63, so we'll see.  Once I get 48 of them, I will place them all out on the floor and see how big it is.  Then I'll go from there.

 We got a new umbrella at the pool.  To cover the lifeguard stand from the direct sunlight.  It's fabulous!  Much bigger than the previous one.  Big C is posing with it, so you can get the full effect.

 Small T and Hannah, the Asst. Mgr. at the pool, made Eggless Cookie Dough one night after work.  They really needed to eat some cookie dough.  Both were either stressed or suffering from PMS.  The recipe can be found here http://baskersfunfoods.blogspot.com/2009/05/cookie-dough-for-preggies.html.  I tried it and honestly, it's great!  In fact, I had several spoons of it.

 As I've mentioned previously, Small T has obtained her driver's permit.  With that, comes several other lessons, such as learning to pump gas.  She seems eager to learn, so that's a good thing.  In fact, she was like "do you think I could pump the gas" with a big grin on her face.  :)  LOL  One day, she will hate it....like when it's pouring down rain or extremely cold and snowy.  But while she's thrilled with doing it, I'm letting her have some fun while learning at the same time.

 My first set of company this week was Baby E and her mom.  I didn't realize that we just don't have any toys around the house for a 1 year old.  We will definitely have to rectify that situation soon.  Big C did go downstairs and search through his stuff and found Trusty, his faithful beanie toy and companion from when he was little.  Trusty is about 15 years old, if I figured right.  He's currently sitting on the side table in the living room, waiting for Baby E to come back for another visit.

 We received notification that one of Small T's photos was chosen to go to the State Fair.  Big C and I lobbied hard for Small T to choose this photo as one of her three that she was entering.  And look what happened, it was chosen to be her best AND to be shown in Sedalia over the next few coming weeks.  I hope it does well there too!

 My third set of company this week arrived simply because their camper broke down between their home and my home.  They are on their way to Sturgis, SD for the big bike rally.  Big Daddy fixed the camper the next morning and off they went.  But things didn't go well, as they only made it 165 miles and then their Harley pick-up truck broke down (it was pulling the camper).  But, I'm told, that they finally made it to SD even though they were a day late.  This is one of my sister's, her husband, and two of their kids, plus Small T with her face covered up by a hand.  This was their "silly" photo.

 This photo says so many things....

First... Big C is a real man....he offered to carry our shopping bags.  What a guy!  Second...I think he was getting tired of shopping and if he carried the bags, we might hurry up some.  Third...we spent too much time in Journey's as we have more than one bag from there.  LOL

And my last photo says it all...it's been quite a week.  Big C did survive the back-to-school shopping even though he's letting Small T take this crazy photo!

Pool Day

Small T had fun at the pool yesterday with her friends.

 Posing at the beginning of the photo shoot.

 Lots of these photos were taken.  This is just one of them.

Small T...maybe practicing her cheerleading moves????

Keeping Flying Insects Away...

I wanted to talk with you this morning about flying insects.  Yes, a weird topic, but still...an important one.  You see, I'm allergic to most flying insects...bees, wasps, horseflies, mosquitos, etc..  And we have plenty of these at the pool in the summer time.  I'm always on the lookout for ways to keep them away from me while I'm there.  This summer, I'm trying an idea I found on pinterest.  It's where you put a shiny penny in a ziplock bag with water in it.  Apparently, the shiny penny when submerged in water, will affect the multi-faceted eyes of the insects in such way that the insect thinks it is seeing multiple scary things which ends up deterring the insect away from the area.  I have to admit I was skeptical at first, but guess what...it works.  But only when the bags are left alone.  This past week, I keep coming in to the pool and I find my bags missing.  And in the past week, I've had 2 emergency trips for shots as I've been stung.  Once last Tuesday and four times yesterday.  My plan for tomorrow is to hang up even more bags around the pool area.  I already have some on the lifeguard stand, which I occasionally sit in.  With all that being said, I'm sharing a couple of photos of the bags.  These are around the concession stand.

This photo shows the penny in the bottom of the bag.

Here's a front view of the concession stand.  I have a bag in the doorway as well.

I will also say that having these bags hanging around is quite the conversation starter as well.  Eventually, you will tire of answering the gazillion questions about the bags and seriously think of either taking them down or putting a sign up that says what they are for!  :)  If you are thinking of trying this out, please do so!  It really does work!

The Pool...My Summer Home

If you get to wondering where I'm at this Summer...look at these photos.

I'm here 5 or 6 days a week from noon to 8 pm.

With anywhere from 50 to 100 kids a day, as well as a couple of lifeguards.

These photos were taken the day before the pool opened.

The city council put a lot of work into the pool area this year and it's looking great!

 Big Pool

 Concession Stand/Bathroom Area showing some of the seating area too.

Baby Pool area.

The Pool is Closed

The pool has officially closed for the winter (as of this past Sunday). I had prepared myself for a lovely day...with most of my packing up done...and planned to laze about on my raft while floating around the pool...but that didn't happen. See this photo...the sky looked horrible. And it started thundering and sprinkling and all that nasty stuff. Alas, the pool was closed down shortly after 4 pm. No fun in that all! Anyway...here's to the pool...hope it has a good winter...and is able to reopen for next summer.

Small T's Day at the Pool

Small T and a group of her friends met up at the pool this past Tuesday. We weren't very busy (not a lot of swimmers) so...they had me take lots of photos. Here are the four of the girls jumping into the deep end. They did lots of actions moves and here's one that I caught on my camera. They like the James Bond moves the best, but I think this photo is hilarious! Small T is 2nd from the right.
Then they practiced some cheerleading stunts and pyramids. The two remaining boys were good sports through it all. Small T is on the left.
Then they played "Human Knot". It's were everyone stands in a circle and reaches out and grabs hands with someone else. Each of your hands will be held with a separate person, by the way. Then you have to undo the knot. It was hilarious! Worse than playing Twister! It took some pretty ingenious moves at times too.
Here's another shot of one of the "Human Knot" games. I think they played it four or five times.
The beginning shot of a "Human Knot" game. Look how close they are to each other. They were pulling each other through holes and in and out of the water (without using their hands...they have to stay clasped to each other at all times). Amazing! Some of them ended up in some weird positions, to say the least. In any event, they kept me busy taking photos of them that day and broke some of the boredom for me.