My $800 swimming pool
In Part II of My Favorite Things, I talked about my $99 circle pool. That was then and this is now. I haven’t become richer, but when my wife said she would swim in a rectangular pool I decided to give up swimming like a shark, and swim like a human. Okay– so I can only swim 3 strokes in each direction. In another essay I praised the saltwater system that I bought for my new pool at Walmart.com for under $200. My pool water stays so clean, so easily, that I wouldn’t care if I could only take 1 1/2 strokes each way. The clean water alone is worth the added cost of the pool.
My wireless pool temperature gauge
From my bed, with a push of a button, I can read the temperature in my above-ground pool outside. This becomes especially helpful when it is dark or cold or rainy outside, and I can’t easily get to the pool. I need to know the temperature to help me decide whether to turn on my pool heater with a switch on the side of my bed. One benefit of living in Southern California and having a small pool is that it only takes a few hours to heat the pool for swimming in the winter.
My apple corer
I try to eat an apple a day. And my apple corer makes it easier and more fun. I wash my apple (Prevention magazine says that the insecticides can be washed off with some water), grab the plastic cutting board and the corer, and in seconds I have 8 perfectly sectioned apple pieces. I can sit at the computer and nosh, and I know that I am getting healthier with each bite.
My super scissors
I can’t cut through steel, but I can easily cut wires, and cut through those hard plastic wrappings on most electronic and other devices. Today, while I used them to cut through heavy plastic for a project I’m working on, I heard myself muttering “Thank you, super scissors!”
The long white wire attached to my nail clippers AND the retractable wire attached to my favorite gel pen
Why the white wire? Without the wire popping up in my nightstand drawer, I likely would never be able to find those nail clippers when I wanted them. Why the retractable wire? The pen is always there, and there’s no clutter. The white wire costs about 10 cents, and the device with the retractable wire is $1 at Home Depot.
Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen@hotmail.com?
