Pool Doody

Today we had a little experience that reminded me of a scene from Caddy Shack. If anyone out there is unfortunate enough to have seen this movie, you'll know which part I'm talking about by looking at the title of this blog. If not, the scene I'm talking about takes place in a swimming pool, and some kid dumps a Baby Ruth candy bar into the water. Everybody thinks it's a doody, and chaos ensues as everyone exits the pool, screaming "Doody, Doody!" (I had a great pic for this, but the website wouldn't let me remote link to it.)

Well, here's what happened today. We decided to go up to the pool at around 4:30 for a quick swim before dinner. My hubby was still at work, so it was just me and the kids. As usual, I hauled Tyler up the stairs in a stroller. It's an easy confinement option when I'm the only one with the kids. ANYway, as we got the pool gate, I noticed a new sign. It said "Pool closed until June 6." I was a little upset (mainly because that meant I had hauled Ty in the stroller for seemingly nothing), but Jasmine was crushed. She started bawling as I tried to explain to her that we couldn't go swimming because the pool was closed. As we were making our way back over to the stairs to return home, her crying got louder. Doug, the property manager who was inside the leasing office (which is right by the pool) heard the commotion and came out. He told me that, gasp, somebody had dumped a poo-poo into the pool and so they had to drain most of the contamintated water out this morning. They treated it with some shock solution and then filled the pool back up. It had only been full for a few hours, so it wasn't fully treated yet... that's why the "Closed" sign was still up. To top it off, two ducks-- a boy and a girl-- have officially made this pool their second home. They're up there practically all the time when no people are in there. And, whaddaya know! They were up there today as well. Doug said that, other than some inevitable "duck stuff" in the water, that it was probably safe enough to swim in by now.

I decided to go ahead and let Jasmine swim for a little while. After all, I figured it couldn't be any worse than swimming in a lake. I cautioned her, again and again, not to put any water in her mouth. She likes to fill up her mouth and spit the water out. Heck, even when the pool water is clean, I still have to get after her for doing that. She was a good girl this time around, though. For a few miutes, the duckies stayed in the pool with her. That was kinda cute, seeing her swim with the ducks. It would have been nice to have the camera up there with me, but I had forgotten it (bummer). She finally shooed away the ducks, and I let her swim for another 15 minutes or so. I decided not to let Ty go swimming since he likes to scoop the water into his mouth. I ended up not going in either, cuz I had to stay out and keep him happy.

Some jerk probably thought they were being pretty funny when they dumped that doody into the swimming pool. I can't even comprehend the details of the whole act (Was it human poo or dog poo? Was the pool used as a toilet, or was the poo dumped in "after-the-fact"? Yadda-yadda, blah blah blah, etc...) Heck, I don't think I wanna know the answers! I just hope it doesn't happen again. It's a cruel prank, and it affects lots of people. And I'm sure it has to be a little pricey and time-consuming to empty and refill the pool, as well as treat it. If something like this happens too often, they might just shut the pool down for good. There would be lots of upset little kids if that happened. Jasmine is one of 'em!

We're gonna try swimming again tomorrow. I hope everything goes better. We don't have AC, and in warm weather, our apartment gets rather hot (it's upstairs, between two other units). The swimming pool is a nice retreat from the heat. Plus, it's free entertainment for the kids!