Notes for the Pet Sitter

 

Good Morning! Are you my Pet Sitter? 

I'm ready for my milk!

I'll just take a taste.

 

You made it just right!

 

Don't worry about the mess. It dries up nice and crusty.

 

  

Don't forget about my potatoes and guinea pig food! 

The little dish is salt. 

You have to put bells on the door so you know when I'm inside and a piece of cork into the latch to keep the door from closing all the way.

 

If you forget the cork I eat the door trying to get out. Or in.

 

       

I'm not really allowed in the rabbit pen.

 

So I don't think Helen should be allowed in my kitchen area.

 

 Please water the grass seed so new grass will grow in the backyard. 

How much mud do we need?

You should probably take away broken toys.

    

Corn on the cob should be served at noon, sharp!

  

Apples are a good treat any time. 

 

 You can see the apple juice behind me.

  

I'm still kind of hungry.

  

 Bamboo from the front yard!

 

You'll know if I disapprove of anything. 

 

This is where I usually poop. 

You need to clean it up right away or

 I might track it into the house on my feet.

I like to track in mud, too.

 

I always wash my feet before I go into the kitchen.

(That was a joke!)

 
 

If I go swimming I need my frog towel afterward.

 

Be sure to check that I don't drag it out the door. 

When my frog holds the door open, hundreds of flies come in.

 

I just wanted to show you my new goldfish toy.

 

If you put new blankets on the bed, I need to mark them first.

       

I sit outside the door and wait patiently for my bedtime milk.

 

Before bedtime, make sure my heater is on. 

And straighten out my blankets, please!

 

This is where I have my bedtime milk. Good night!

My New Swimming Pool - Part Two: Disassembly

So this is it? This is my new pool? Harumph. It looks different.

I can hardly stand the excitement.

You want me to dive in or something? 

With the camera in your hand you're asking me to DIVE?

Not on your life. I don't see my fish in there yet.

Nice touch, a raggy rug on my steps. 

I'll just toss it over...there.

The swimming pool was finished two days ago but I'm still not sure.

 

 Say what? Really? My fish are in there?

 

Sure enough! Fish testing phase complete, then!

It's a beautiful sight!

 

Okay, then, but not until you put the camera down! 

[KERSPLOOSH!]

  

Lots of water! 

The fish are all frantically swimming away from me!

 

The first bite was above the water level.

That's okay, right?

 

Next day and I'm swimming again!

After my second swim, the  back yard started filling up with water. 

By morning the water level had lowered by three feet (a meter).

 

If you look closely, you can see the bite hole right in the middle of the photo. 

It looks like a black slit just above (to the right) of the bottom of the pool.

 

 POOL CLOSED

Determined to be a hazard, the pool was closed and disassembled.

What took them nearly a week to assemble was apart in less than a day.

I'm still not sure what happened to my pool.

But I am sure it is gone.

It doesn't even look like a pool any more.

My New Swimming Pool - Part One: Assembly

It doesn't look like a swimming pool yet, does it?

 

 We always seem to need new straw bale steps. 

They rot and sprout mushrooms.

There's also some chicken food and grass seed in there.

 Here I am helping Becky prepare the site.

 I'm very excited. Here I am doing my Doofus Dance.

 Becky needs my constant supervision. 

This is an important job!

 This is how you mark the shovels.

 It has to be really, really, really flat.

 Excuse me just a minute, Dick is asking me a question.

 

 My mistake. He is saying bad words. 

I guess the instructions say he needs to go to Home Depot.

 If the ground is soft we need some pavers to set the posts on.

 And we need a yard of topsoil for the bottom edge of the pool.

 The pavers are set out and the bottom rail is in place.

Two days of work already. 

The old pool would have been filling by now.

We already hate the new pool.

 

"Simply unroll the metal sidewall and place it into the metal channel." 

And pray the neighbors don't call the cops when they hear the cussing. 

The metal sidewall seems to be spring loaded and 

requires a minimum of 3 people to beat it into submission. 

At intervals one person has to run around and 

find a ladder or something to prop up the wall that you've already unrolled.

 "It must be 70 degrees f (21 c) when you install the liner."

It wasn't and we couldn't stretch the liner enough to get all the way around. 

You can see in this photo the close section is not pulled over the top edge, 

it is hanging down inside the pool.

You can also observe our clever temporary side supports: ladders and duct tape. 

Day 3 and the sides are still floppy and threatening to fall over. 

Which would in turn pull the sidewall out of the bottom channel.

 Unbelievably, we had a Seattle Heat Wave and it hit 71 the next day. 

 71 degrees and the liner just eased into place. 

We realized it would be quite impossible to replace the liner- 

if necessary- during the winter.

 

Day 4 and I'm so excited to check out the new swimming pool 

I barely finished my milk! 

Miraculously, another sunny day!

 

 

The posts and top rail went up like magic. 

Because Dick installed them.

 

 I hear something...YES! Water is going into the pool!

Five days of assembly.

I think I'll just admire it for a couple days. 

(Because I'm scared to swim in it!)