The pool

 

All you people who are afraid to try something new, let me tell a story.... (I'm keeping it short and sweet)

I once bought a house, and it came with a pool. A small in ground pool, about eighteen thousand gallons. All my friends thought it was nice. I told them I was going to turn it into a pond, they all laughed and said I was crazy. I told them to come over anytime and swim and enjoy it. No body ever did... Six months went by....

So I mentioned again, I going to turn it into a pond, “You're crazy,” is what I heard, “then we can't use it...” So nobody used it, another six months went by....

Well then came the big storm and blew thing all around, filling the pool with limbs and various debris. What a mess... The lights where out, the water was out for quite awhile.

In this big mess I saw opportunity to do what I had been longing to do.... I had kept an aquarium, a nice one, I new how it worked... I was filling the pool from a well, so treated city water wasn't going to be a problem, so I sat down and laid out a plan.

I just let it sit, so all the pool chlorine would dissipate. I went to work on the filter system, which didn't take much, mainly a good cleaning, with the introduction of some batting. After about two week of sitting, I filled it back up and started filtering, stirring it from time to time to get all the fine dirt out of it...

Then I introduced some lily pads and other plants to control the algae growth, and continued filtering for another two weeks.

Now I have a friend, who was coming over pretty regular for coffee telling me I was nuts, and all the things that were going to go wrong... I kept telling him, it's an eighteen thousand gallon aquarium, once it's set up, it pretty much maintains itself, just add to and filter the water.

So while I am arguing with my buddy on the state of my sanity, I get creative with some pcv pipe and make a fountain and a small water fall.

So.....after about a month of prepping, I put a couple of Wal-Mart goldfish in it. What do you know, they didn't die.. So after a couple more weeks I got some koi and through in there. They didn't die.

Then one morning, there are rings around the pool, back ones, all the way around the pool. Looking a little closer, it's eggs, thousands upon thousands of eggs. Fish eggs..? But they are not quite in the water, not quite.

Well this is a mess.... then I thought, leave it along, see what happens... After a couple of days, I had a pool full of tad-poles, it was amazing... The fish were eating tad-poles.... After a few more days there were tiny little frogs everywhere, hopping all over the place....Then after another couple of days, they all hopped away.

In the months that followed, I had friends, in their fifties, in their sixties, one fellow who was seventy-five on their bellies, petting the fish in the pond.... They were getting in the water and swimming with them, with tiny baby fish eating the dead skin off of them, telling me I was a genus.... After months of telling me I was crazy.

So..... If you have an idea.... and everybody thinks you're crazy... So what...

The fellows who were telling me I was crazy, were well educated, well rounded airline pilots.... But they didn't know squat about an aquarium, and only one of them had had a pool.

Build it, and they will come...

George Henry Nichols

April 9^th 2025

Chicken Little

 

Narrator:   Chicken Little was in the woods one day when an acorn fell on her head.  It scared her so much she trembled all over.  She shook so hard, half her feathers fell out.

Chicken Little:   "Help! Help!  The sky is falling!  I have to go tell the king!"

Narrator:   So she ran in great fright to tell the king.  Along the way she met Henny Penny.

Henny Penny:  "Where are you going, Chicken Little?"

Chicken Little:   "Oh, help!  The sky is falling!"

Henny Penny:   "How do you know?"

Chicken Little:   "I saw it with  my own eyes, and heard it with my own ears, and part of it fell on my head!"

Henny Penny:  "This is terrible, just terrible!  We'd better hurry up."

Narrator:  So they both ran away as fast as they could.  Soon they met Ducky Lucky.

Ducky Lucky:   "Where are you going, Chicken Little and Henny Penny?"

Chicken Little & Henny Penny:  "The sky is falling!  The sky is falling!  We're going to tell the king!"

Ducky Lucky:  "How do you know?"

Chicken Little:  "I saw it with my own eyes, and heard it with my own ears, and part of it fell on my head."

Ducky Lucky:   "Oh dear, oh dear!  We'd better run!"

Narrator:   So they all ran down the road as fast as they could.  Soon they met Goosey Loosey walking down the roadside.

Goosey Loosey    "Hello there.  Where are you all going in such a hurry?"

Chicken Little:   "We're running for our lives!"

Henny Penny:  "The sky is falling!"

Ducky Lucky:   "And we're running to tell the king!"

Goosey Loosey:  "How do you know the sky is falling?"

Chicken Little:  "I saw it with  my own eyes, and heard it with my own ears, and part of it fell on my head!"

Goosey Loosey:    "Goodness!  Then I'd better run with you."

Narrator:   And they all ran in great fright across a field.  Before long they met Turkey Lurkey strutting back and forth..

Turkey Lurkey:    "Hello there, Chicken Little, Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky, and Goosey Loosey.  Where are you all going in such a hurry?"

Chicken Little:   "Help!  Help!"

Henny Penny:   "We're running for our lives!"

Ducky Lucky:   "The sky is falling!"

Goosey Loosey:   "And we're running to tell the king!"

Turkey Lurkey:   "How do you know the sky is falling?"

Chicken Little:   "I saw it with  my own eyes, and heard it with my own ears, and part of it fell on my head!"

Turkey Lurkey:   "Oh dear! I always suspected the sky would fall someday.  I'd better run with you."

Narrator:   So they ran with all their might, until they met Foxy Loxy.

Foxy Loxy:   "Well, well.  Where are you rushing on such a fine day?"

Chicken Little, Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey, Turkey Lurkey (together)   "Help!  Help!"  It's not a fine day at all.  The sky is falling, and we're running to tell the king!"

Foxy Loxy:   "How do you know the sky is falling?"

Chicken Little:   "I saw it with  my own eyes, and heard it with my own ears, and part of it fell on my head!"

Foxy Loxy:    "I see.  Well then, follow me, and I'll show you the way to the king."

Narrator:    So Foxy Loxy led Chicken Little, Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey, and Turkey Lurkey across a field and through the woods.  He led them straight to his den, and they never saw the king to tell him that  the sky is falling.