Wha ..... ? It was there yesterday!

The neighbors kitty-corner behind me have a big, beautiful in-ground pool. Granted, it's akin to torture to sit out on my back porch and listen to their grandkids splashing around while I'm broiling, but still, it's nice to look at all that cool water. I noticed yesterday morning that they hadn't opened it up for the summer yet, and I wondered when they would.

When I got home from work last night, the pool was gone. Totally gone. Nothing but dirt in that backyard now. And I wondered, "How on earth did they find a contractor to take that thing out of there in one day?" I guess they could have just filled it in, but I doubt they would do that. I mean, having a gigantic filled-in swimming pool in the back yard can't be the best selling point when it's time to put the house on the market. But if they did have it removed, how did they do it in one day? I mean, this pool was big. With a concrete patio all the way around. And the yard was totally fenced, so they must have taken out quite a bit of fencing just to get the chunks out.

And the contractors around here? Are kind of, um, lackadaisical in their approach to their work. I mean, you hire a contractor for whatever kind of job, he's liable to show up on the first day with a full crew, work like crazy, break for lunch, and show back up three weeks later. To pick up his tools for the job he is currently working on.

Anyway, several years ago, my next-door neighbors filled in their in-ground pool. It had been sitting empty for a few years before that. Well, mostly empty. A few feet of rainwater had collected in the deep end, and that was Rocky's favorite fishing spot. He would squeeeeeze under their chain link fence, go to the shallow end of the pool (the dry end) and jump down into the pool. Then he'd mosey down to the deep end, where the water was, and sit and just look into the water. Occasionally he'd dip his paws in, chasing something, but he never did bring me back any fish.

So now the only pool in the neighborhood belongs to the Screamer. The neighbors three houses down have a little girl, about five or six years old now, who is a Screamer. And when she is in the pool? With other kids? Who are splashing around and having fun? She screams. and screams. and shrieks. and screams. Punctuated by cries of, daddy Daddy DADDY DAAAAADDDDDYYYYYY! DAAAAADDDDDYYYY! DAAAAAAADDDDDDDYYYY!

I know Screamers are fairly common; there's one up at the lake. What I wonder is, what do these kids grow up to be like? Do they grow up to be happy, well-adjusted adults? Or do they grow up to be jerks? If anybody knows a Screamer who has reached adulthood, please let me know how they turned out.

So, Goodbye, neighbor's pool. I'm going to miss you.