Oy cashmere, that is scary. Mac has had swimming, but has now been away from pools for a year. He also has a tendency to freeze when scared now so I am afraid of what would he would do.

You could not have gotten me into a pond at their ages.

Is it the shark thing?

(Pond sharks!)

Is it evil that I'm sitting here watching my neighbors pack up their shit and move with a gleeful smile? I really can't stand their son-- he's one of those kids who would play with Nate and be really nice as long as no one else was around-- the minute a "cooler" (read: older) kid would come around, then Nate was fair pickings. Plus, the males in that family are Civil War reenactors and they're not exactly Union sympathizers.

I will miss their daughter though. She was always sweet to Nate and very much a nerd the way he is. I always wondered how she was born into that family.

Scary, scary, Cash.

My folks grew up in the water, of course, being in Hawaii. And we had a large pond when I was a kid, so I was always in some kind of water or other. I didn't turn out to be an actually good swimmer, although I love it.

I dunno if I could handle the neighbors right on top of you thing anymore. New Mexico kinda cured me of that, although I moved there from downtown Wichita. Not large, I know, but I loved being able to walk to hear bands. But anymore, I have only one neighbor that's closer than two streets away. And I like it that way.

This neighborhood's lots are about a quarter acre each, so it will fill in at some point I assume. But other than my contractor neighbor who seems determined to build the entire region up one house at a time, there is zero construction activity here. So it may be some time. I still hope to buy some of the surrounding lots at some point and give myself a larger buffer zone. But it's lovely at the moment.

I need to take neighborhood pics for y'all.

I started swimming lessons when I was 2 or 3. When I learned the water was over my head, I freaked and they couldn't get me in a full sized pool for another couple years. I don't know what to do with the ocean, and lakes are awfully full of...things. I can deal with wading in clear flowing rivers, but...I like my water clear and calm for swimming.

Farmer's market is gonna do me in. I have too many tiny sweet tomatoes, white peaches and plums and cukes. I gotta eat a lot of produce now.

Off to the salvage store. I need a strike plate. And to investigate.

Jesus, Cash, that's the stuff of nightmares. Thank goodness they're okay.

I'm not sure I've ever been in a pond. But lakes, rivers, ocean, I'm good with all that. Although like Jesse, I never got the hang of *swimming* in the ocean. I tend to splash in the shallows and keep my feet on the ground, too, because I've been caught in the undertow once or twice, and have had waves knock me over.

I love the ocean's smell and sounds, like Barb, but for actual let's-get-some-exercise swimming I prefer a pool.

Is it the shark thing?

The shark thing isn't me. I like the ocean, after all. I just think they're gross. Mud and ick. Even with rivers I tend to like them where the bottoms is sand not dirt. I'm a big prima donna when it comes to that stuff.

I was a water baby -- couldn't keep me out of it so I had swimming lessons for ever. And not really afraid even when over my head . Situations like owen and liv -- are why all of us had lessons forever. I'll swim in whatever water is available. There are usually too many people in pools . Sadly , I don't have a lot of opportunities around here -- i've forgotten how to do a flip turn

ita's aquatic wildlife concern, iirc, is lake whales.

Another water baby here. From early childhood I'd stay in the ocean all day if they let me. I'd work my way through my parents, grandparents, my Father's seven siblings, their spouses, and various cousins until lunch. Then I'd repeat until dinner. The times I couldn't find someone to go in with me were tooooooooooorment . Sand castles were for jellyfish days. Shell hunting was what you did when the guards weren't on duty.

They tried to tell me I'd outgrow it but, either out of orneryness or my actual nature, I never did. Now I get to stay in the water if there's a break in the string of relatives to play with.

What else would I do down the shore? I don't tan. I can read on the train home. We can talk just fine in the water while we go over waves, under waves, ride waves, get flipped over and driven head-first into the sand by waves... its all good.

Creeks, ponds, lakes, and pools are all good too. I was on swimteam and later guarded lakes and pools and taught swimming. I probably should have become a mermaid or an underwater demolitions expert.

ita's aquatic wildlife concern, iirc, is lake whales.

No, not really. I was freaked out to hear that whales in the St Laurent river needed to be discarded as toxic waste, but that's more a pollution thing than a whale thing.