The Pool

I gotta tell ya, folks - it may be little more than a glorified kiddie pool, but this family is straight-up hooked on our Intex.

Fo' real.

Now, it is only April, but we're already getting a lot of use out of the damn thing, and the weather hasn't even broken into that soggy 90s crap yet (give it a month). While the rest of the country is facing floods, snowstorms, and gusting winds, down here in the hot, urban sprawls of Central Florida, the Houghs are getting a crap-ton (technical term) of use out of their kiddie pool in the sunny high-80s.


For those of you who haven't read about this previously, we picked up a 12' x 36" Intex Easy Set pool shortly after our mega-garage sale. At Toys 'R Us, this set us back about $90 (thereabouts). Now, since then, we've had to drop $40 for a ladder, $12 for a solar cover, $15 for a floating chlorine tablet dispenser, $10 for a ground cover, and about $30 in pool chemicals. The add-ons is where they get you, for sure... but, despite some of the eyebrow-raising reviews, the pool seems to be well worth the pay-out.


After a twenty-minute swimming session in the pool, both are kids are so worn out that they practically put themselves to bed.


That right there, for me, is well worth $200.


Anyway, like I said before, its a smaller pool - twelve feet in diameter, and about three feet deep. As such, an adult - or tall hobbit - wouldn't really be able to 'swim' in it, per se; sitting flat on my ass, the water reaches up to my nose, so its definitely a lounging pool. That's cool with me, as I'm not a big fan of exerting energy when I don't have to. In this upcoming Hell that is a Florida summer, its going to be brutally humid out, so floating is about all any of us will be wanting to do anyway.

Speaking of floating, that's definitely at the top of the Pool Crap to Buy Soon list - a floating cooler. If its one thing I can't stand, its having to burn calories while consuming them. Does purchasing an inflatable cooler make me white trash? Maybe. But is it practical for this father figure's needs?

Yeah. Yeah it is.

- Brian

The Hough's 100th Episode: Cannonball's Pool

We'd been hunting down one for the last two weeks, and finally managed to snatch ourselves up a kiddie pool for the kiddie.

This Spring Break, while incredibly uneventful, has been blessed with amazing weather. After enduring three months of Michigan-esque weather (sort of), we finally got nearly a week-long stretch of sunny weather in the low to mid 80s. Perfect weather. As such, we were hoping to find a kiddie pool so the kid could enjoy splashing about in the backyard and take full advantage of this awesome heat.

Well, evidently 'kiddie pool' is synonymous with 'holy grail.' No one - Target, Wal-Mart, Pinch-a-Penny, Bob's Pool Outlet, Family Dollar, Big Lots, or any of the numerous Dollar stores in our immediate vicinity - believed in stocking the molded shrines of plastic this early in the spring. 'Screw them!', says we.

Salvation, as so often before, came to us via Toys R' Us. As a kid, this magical retailer was the holiest and most badical place on the face of the earth. Not surprisingly, it still sort of is, and we ended up finding several different kinds of pools over there.

So, to Toys R' Us, we'd like to offer a heartfelt 'thanks' and 'atta boy.' Much appreciated, giraffes.

Anyway, the kid loves the pool. Loves it. Here's some pics. Enjoy.

- Hough