Water Play

I love power washing. I know that sounds kind of weird, but I really do enjoy it. It's adult-sized water play. On the one hand, power washing is a whole lot easier than scrubbing mold and mildew and rust. It gets the task done in record time. I find something so wonderful about seeing an old rusty, dirty, filthy piece of machinery or the picnic table and chairs come clean. Or getting all that gunk off the deck to reveal its true color. It's a little like painting only with water. It may be old, but it's clean.

On the other hand, once the machine is turned on, it is zone out time! It's so entertaining to make a design or two while you watch the grime disappear. Or you can practice your musical skills as you listen to the sound of the zing of the water on the wire as you clean the cage. You can practice sweeping motions to create rainbows. Of course, if your husband comes to investigate your progress, you must look as if you've accomplished something. But once he leaves, it's back to Play Time!

When I look back at my growing years, I see that I have always enjoyed water play. Sprinklers? Loved them. Swimming? Baths? Bring it on! I could stay in the bathtub for hours. (amusing myself by creating shows for the general public - who sometimes listened outside the door) My dad has pictures of me lying underneath the water at my aunt's cottage just for the fun of being a mermaid for a few minutes.

My love of water play is the reason my sister would never let me wash the dishes. I could find a million ways to watch water fall through containers. Anything with holes caught my attention. Colanders are particularly interesting. Those tiny holes fill up, and let water go in record time. The only thing to do is to lift it up and watch it go through the holes again. Absolutely mesmerizing. My sister never appreciated this way of washing the dishes. (She's very task-oriented). She didn't like standing there watching the water stream through the holes of the colander. It was not entertaining to her. It only served to annoy her.


She eventually told me I couldn't wash the dishes anymore if we were in the kitchen together. I had to DRY them. (No hard feelings here.) She could wash them in record time and be out of the kitchen before I'd even grabbed the dishcloth. Personally, I think that any unsolved issues in her life are due to the fact that she never took part in the therapeutic benefit of water play. However, she did end up having more free time.


As I grew and had my own household, I became a little more task-oriented myself. I hardly ever find myself enjoying the benefit of water play. Sometimes the passage of time changes your perspective. Getting the kitchen clean takes priority over the entertainment value of watching water cascade through a colander. If the colander was "Puff The Magic Dragon", I'm sure it would write a song about being abandoned by a once attentive child.

As for power washing, I will continue to enjoy that. It combines the best of both worlds - getting a job done and enjoying mucking about with water. And my husband keeps finding more things for me to work on. There's rabbit cages, and manure collectors. A hay wagon and the old gas tank, as well as the fences will round out my list. Last night, I was very pleased to see that the front porch has a lot of moss that needs to be removed. So it looks like I'll be able to play with water for a while to come.