The Marshall House Pool

Summer time in Marshall we spent almost all day, every day, in or around the pool. When we first moved into that house, we thought that we had the dinkiest pool ever! But the Germantown house had the pool landscaped into the yard with steps into the shallow end and a diving board into the deep end. There was a deck by the pool for table and chairs and a screened in porch off the family room where we kept the picnic table. We didn't use either space too much as it was too hot! I don't think that we grilled out even once while we were there.

Johnny was not interested in the pool at all. He would only go in with me, if I held him. He didn't even like playing on the steps. But the girls were all about it. Beth and Becky could not swim yet, but they were happy to splash around with life jackets. Beth used to swim with one foot sticking up behind her like a rudder.

This is me and Johnny in the pool at the Germantown house.

The pool at the Marshall house.

But I digress . . . One day in Marshall, not long after we moved in, a boy appeared on our porch in swim trunks with towel in hand. "Is the pool open?" he asked. I was not sure what he meant. I repeated, "Open??" "Yeah" he said "when the Smith's lived here, they put up the green flag to let everyone know that the pool was open. Are you going to put out the flag?" I admired his tenacity and straightforwardness, and smiled at him, but said that the Smith's did not leave us the flag. He sighed heavily and walked away.

Kitty cat! Kitty cat! Kitty, Kitty, Kitty cat!

Snowy, Germantown, TN, 1989

Snowy, Germantown, TN, 1989

Snowy, Marshall, about 10 years old

Dad, with beard, Ann Arbor, and Fido, 2006

Spike, Ann Arbor, Christmas, 2008

Pets were not a big deal for us when you kids were little. We had tried a dog when we lived on Westminister, but he kept running away and that got old. We also acquired a kitten who was sickly, which we gave away not long after she arrived.

Snowy was the only pet I wanted to have. But Beth "saved" Spike and Fido from the "crack house" in Marshall. And now we have two kitties, one of whom loves Dad and only Dad. She cries pitifully when he is out of town for a few days. When he returns, she follows him, talks to him, and waits patiently for him to "spank" her. The girl needs some perspective on this "love the Dad" thing. It's almost embarrassing!

Spike is happy to be petted by everyone except Johnny-boy. When he is well-scratched and contented, he slobbers all over the place.

All in all, having kitties has been a good experience for eveyone, I think. We have learned to make sure that they are taken care of, safe, and that they don't get outside. When you were little, it helped you to identify with someone smaller and less capable than you. But Snowy and now Spike and Fido love us unconditionally, and share their purrs and softness with us all.