Expert Hands
I went for a walk in the wildflowers yesterday. We have a big clutch of Indian Blankets and Mexican Hats on our back lots along with a goodly array of other flowers. The bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush are now overshadowed by their larger, showier cousins. It’s a good spring bloom and I’m guessing the big freeze played a role. I think I may go out this weekend and catalog the bounty. It beats counting flowers on the wall; I’ve got them in the ground.
I took my walk while two workmen changed out the liner in my pool. It’s the above ground variety that was purchased to aide my wife, while she was alive, with her bad knees. It was good exercise. I’ve always hated to admit I have an above ground pool, and I’m not sure why. But it’s there and that’s why I was on the back lots. It’s not a lake or a river, but the new liner looks sharp, and I think summer floats in the cool water when the days get hot and long will be nice. Also, it’s really fun when the grand-kids come.
It was interesting watching the men work. There’s more to the job than people imagine, and they had some real skills. One of the things they did while pumping water out of the pool to remove the old liner was set up a temporary pool to reuse that water. I thought that was smart. As I watched them work it was easy to see how a job like that could go bad really fast for inexperienced hands. Just another lesson, as if I need another one, that experts come in all shapes and sizes, and if you can afford it, it’s a good idea to use them.
John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver’s Tale