Having a hot tub requires a bit of responsibility in life. There’s the weekly shocking of the water with the very nasty chemical that for an hour flows through the unit killing all forms of nasty bacterial life. It’s so powerful that the hot tub cover “must be left off or it may be damaged” according to the bottle it comes in. That warning always causes me to carefully open the spa shock bottle and not get any on my skin.
Besides the weekly shocking, there’s the tablespoon of chlorine that must be added after every use of the tub. I suppose that is to rid the water of the cooties left behind from which ever human happened to be sitting in it. Nice gesture on our part to purge all evidence of us having been in the water. This keeps the tub fresh and clear for the next user. Awww. Clear warm water ready for soaking our tired old bones and muscles. Delightful.
I was sitting on the deck, having shocked the hot tub an hour plus earlier (therefore the cover was off) and was about to get up and close the cover. The cover protects the water from falling debris and also insulates the tub making it easier to keep the water at it’s body soothing 101 degree temperature. It’s a good thing. Our cats enjoy sitting on the cover while observing the events and individuals throughout the back yard and the barnyard.
Our part time house cat Chirp came running up the boardwalk that parallels the deck at a high rate of speed. She was a much younger cat at the time and was lacking both experience and wisdom. Leaping from the boardwalk, she flew over the side walls of the hot tub not realizing the cover was off.
If you’d grown up with Loonie-Tunes or Merrie Melodies cartoons, you’ve seen cats jump straight up in the air a couple of feet off the ground and then shoot sideways at the apex of their leap, leaving the visual area of the television set. Replace the cartooned feline and insert an image of Chirp and you have the sight that I beheld. Chirp literally shot straight up and then blew across the yard (in the air) sideways and out of the visual area of the back yard.
I got up and closed the hot tub cover.
“Tha-tha-tha-Tha-THAT’s All Folks.”
straight from the john 