#939: The Frog in the Pool

Cousin Geoff’s grandparents on his dad’s side owned a huge piece of property in the country with a swimming pool, and the most amazing landscape to explore.  Grassy fields gave way to trees, and I don’t think we ever hit the end of the property when we went walking.  It simply went on forever.  Any time we went there, it was a treat.  We spent a few days at the property that summer, swimming and running pretending we were Jedi or superheroes.  The house had an amazing “back yard”.  There was a steep downwards incline, which you traversed via a series of stairs and landings.  To us it was huge!   It seemed like you were climbing down a mountain.  At the bottom: the swimming pool and all the land you could run through for hours. – Record Store Tales #909

RECORD STORE TALES #939:  The Frog in the Pool

The most precious of childhood memories took place around that swimming pool.   I remember my grandpa picking me up like I was a rag doll and tossing me into the water.  Then I’d swim back and ask him to do it again.

There’s a funny old picture of my grandpa at poolside.  I remember that he liked to roll his own cigarettes.  I remember the tobacco tins and my mom having to explain to me what he was doing.  Well apparently he really loved to do it.  In this photo, he obviously packed up all his tobacco and rolling gear, and just sat there at poolside rolling cigarettes!  He looks so happy with a huge pile of tobacco in front of him.  It strikes me as hilarious that he brought all that stuff with him to spend a day at the pool.

Sergeant Winter reporting for duty.

There’s one notable event that happened at that pool that we don’t have pictures of.

I was really young.  Just a few years old.  And I must have had to go bad, so I pooped in the pool.  I remember the little teeny brown nugget at the bottom of the pool.  “Nobody will notice,” I told myself.

Well they noticed a lot sooner than I thought, so I resorted to my “plan B”.  I thought the little poop looked like a frog at the bottom of the pool, so that’s what I claimed it was.  “Just a frog”.  Nobody bought it and somebody got a pool scooper and picked up my poop.  I probably denied that it was mine right to the very end.  This might actually be my first admission that I pooped in the pool!

No it was not a frog.  It was me.  I confess.

25 comments

    1. Well I was about 3 years old so I can’t really give you an answer lol. Did I let it out myself? Possibly. I never considered this question before now to be honest lol. It is possible I just let the poop out myself and blamed a frog.

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        1. I have a few memories from that age. I have some of before my sister was born when I was 4. All good ones I’m happy to say. Actually I have a lot of memories from that age now that I think back.

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        2. That’s awesome! At least those are happy memories. I was talking about memories when I was three not too long ago with my mom. ‘American Idol’ premiered when I was three and I have no memory of watching that season.

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        3. I can remember watching Star Trek with my dad in the basement, and I think it was the episode with the giant amoeba because I remember asking my dad why Spock didn’t just lean out the window and shoot it with his phaser.

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        5. I can remember when my mom told me I was going to have a little sister. But I wanted a brother! LOL

          There is a picture of the day that they brought my sister home, and I am just scowling.

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  7. Meh you were young and probably afraid of getting in trouble as much as anything. Kids do all sorts of stuff. I remember, when we started taking our son to the Y for Parent & Tot swims, there’s a shallow therapy pool there that they keep super-warm (I swear they’re trying to cook people), and that’s where they had the wee ones. Our first day there, another Dad caught my eye and said “whatever you do, don’t go underwater in this pool.” Not thinking, I said “why not?” to which he replied “because this pool is about 70% kid pee and the chlorine is the only thing saving us.” I knew he was right.

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    1. When I’m in a super warm pool or hot tub, I like to sit there and go, “I’m softboiling me eggs…”

      True about the kid pee and chlorine too!

      I totally didn’t want to get into trouble but I got more trouble for lying! I think they found a dead frog in the pool that summer which is where I got the idea.

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