When Umbrellas Swim
We had one heck of a lightning and thunderstorm the other night, with driving rain and gale force winds.
Naturally, Chatty was out taking pictures – and she noticed that the umbrellas around the pool were tilting, billowing, and threatening to collapse.
That’s Murphy’s Law in action, folks – because it was the ONE night The Wiz hadn’t lowered the umbrellas *sigh*
Chatty yelled for The Wiz – and kept taking pictures. The quality is bad, and the focus is blurry. Allow Chatty to point out that gale force winds + driving rain + amateur photographer = lousy pictures - but she hopes you will get a feel for the situation.
The Wiz was battling with the giant umbrella that has its pole on the side. Unfortunately, the pole was on one side of the fence and the open umbrella had been blown over to the other - so no chance of lowering it until the wind let off for a few moments and we could twist it back around past the fence to crank it down.
Chatty put down her camera to go help The Wiz, and out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that another umbrella – in a 5-gallon bucket filled with cement – had fallen over and was rolling toward the pool.
But neither she nor The Wiz could let go of the big umbrella to go catch it!
We battled the big umbrella closed, then looked at the pool.
The umbrella was wide open, and floating in the deep end - nicely entangled with the pool cleaner hose:
The cement-filled bucket had sunk to the bottom of the deep end – 9 feet down.
Picture it - thunder, lightning, rain coming down in sheets, and winds that took one’s breath away. But there was The Wiz, diving down time and again to drag the umbrella stand to the surface for Chatty to catch. Sadly, the pole embedded in the cement (which was all she could grab onto) was so slick she couldn’t get a grip. Add this to the fact that Chatty has the upper-body strength of a muppet, and you will understand why the stand kept sinking back to the bottom of the pool.
After several attempts, Chatty and The Wiz looked at one another and suddenly remembered that they were in a POOL in the middle of a LIGHTNING STORM.
They came to their senses, left the thing in the deep end, and went inside after pausing to admire the results of 20-minutes of excitement:
Next morning, Chatty took this picture. The water is so clear that you might think you could reach out and pull the umbrella stand up with no problem, but trust Chatty – it was 9 feet down. The Wiz had dive down, get a rope around it, and drag it to the shallow end and up the steps to get it out.
Unfortunately, Chatty was not present for the retrieval. She will now ask you to imagine the conversation that ensued when Chatty came back and found that The Wiz had removed the offending item from the pool when she WASN”T THERE to take pictures. Chatty is hoping that The Wiz now has a better understanding of the term “blog fodder”, and that he will not make THAT mistake again!
But here it is, back in place:
And here’s the pool and back yard, back to normal:
Until the next storm, of course…
UPDATE:
Another storm last night, and the formerly water-logged but now crispy-from-the-heat umbrella that The Wiz had so painstakingly removed from the pool hit the cypress, snapped, and broke in half.
Now, we have a very short umbrella:
Which is why umbrellas shouldn’t swim.
Naturally, Chatty was out taking pictures – and she noticed that the umbrellas around the pool were tilting, billowing, and threatening to collapse.
That’s Murphy’s Law in action, folks – because it was the ONE night The Wiz hadn’t lowered the umbrellas *sigh*
Chatty yelled for The Wiz – and kept taking pictures. The quality is bad, and the focus is blurry. Allow Chatty to point out that gale force winds + driving rain + amateur photographer = lousy pictures - but she hopes you will get a feel for the situation.
The Wiz was battling with the giant umbrella that has its pole on the side. Unfortunately, the pole was on one side of the fence and the open umbrella had been blown over to the other - so no chance of lowering it until the wind let off for a few moments and we could twist it back around past the fence to crank it down.
Chatty put down her camera to go help The Wiz, and out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that another umbrella – in a 5-gallon bucket filled with cement – had fallen over and was rolling toward the pool.
But neither she nor The Wiz could let go of the big umbrella to go catch it!
We battled the big umbrella closed, then looked at the pool.
The umbrella was wide open, and floating in the deep end - nicely entangled with the pool cleaner hose:
The cement-filled bucket had sunk to the bottom of the deep end – 9 feet down.
Picture it - thunder, lightning, rain coming down in sheets, and winds that took one’s breath away. But there was The Wiz, diving down time and again to drag the umbrella stand to the surface for Chatty to catch. Sadly, the pole embedded in the cement (which was all she could grab onto) was so slick she couldn’t get a grip. Add this to the fact that Chatty has the upper-body strength of a muppet, and you will understand why the stand kept sinking back to the bottom of the pool.
After several attempts, Chatty and The Wiz looked at one another and suddenly remembered that they were in a POOL in the middle of a LIGHTNING STORM.
They came to their senses, left the thing in the deep end, and went inside after pausing to admire the results of 20-minutes of excitement:
Next morning, Chatty took this picture. The water is so clear that you might think you could reach out and pull the umbrella stand up with no problem, but trust Chatty – it was 9 feet down. The Wiz had dive down, get a rope around it, and drag it to the shallow end and up the steps to get it out.
Unfortunately, Chatty was not present for the retrieval. She will now ask you to imagine the conversation that ensued when Chatty came back and found that The Wiz had removed the offending item from the pool when she WASN”T THERE to take pictures. Chatty is hoping that The Wiz now has a better understanding of the term “blog fodder”, and that he will not make THAT mistake again!
But here it is, back in place:
And here’s the pool and back yard, back to normal:
Until the next storm, of course…
UPDATE:
Another storm last night, and the formerly water-logged but now crispy-from-the-heat umbrella that The Wiz had so painstakingly removed from the pool hit the cypress, snapped, and broke in half.
Now, we have a very short umbrella:
Which is why umbrellas shouldn’t swim.
Oh goodness! Great series of pics. I still marvel at your gorgeous pool and yard.
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Oh, Chatty, you bring tears of laughter to my eyes! You may have "the upper-body strength of a muppet," but you also have a wonderful way with words and pictures.
The storms of the great Southwest are exciting, aren't they?
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chatty, you made me worry for the Wiz! Umbrellas and storms do not seem to get along well together, do they? We once found ours wrapped around a tree like a rubber band after a tornado. Amazing what a little bit of air, when it's on a mission, can do.
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LOL!!! Literally, laughed out loud! And, completely agree that the Wiz (as I have also taught my DH) must keep in mind that if we have a camera and a computer -- everything needs to be documented by us!
Bloggies rock!
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I fear that poor umbrella is just not meant to be.
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