Happy Birthday Ronald!

Today, Ronald, my Dad turns 69. (I must digress here and explain, when Syd was a baby and we started the grandparent name search, I asked my Dad what he would like to be called – I was quickly and gruffly informed that “Ronald suited him fine”, so Ronald it was!)

Instead of telling you about my Dad on his birthday I’m going to tell about one of my favorite “inventions” of his in celebration of his special day.

Daddy doesn’t like to throw things away and always seems to find a second life for almost anything. I had a doll as a child, Baby Magic I believe was her name, she had a motor that propelled her arms and legs. When Baby's appendages went caput she was disemboweled and her motor was used to create a car for me. Old washing machine motors became air compressors and pea hullers; old lawnmowers became go-carts and the list goes on and on. You just never know what will show up as what…

One weekend we arrived from Nashville and there sitting on the patio was this unusual looking contraption: The tank from a toilet was sitting atop a wooden platform and there were two small steps of about six inches leading up to the platform. The top of the toilet tank was missing and the tank was full of water. Attached to the bottom of the tank was a water hose.

My Mom was sitting on the patio when I spied this thing:

Me: What in the hell is that?
Mom: Don’t you know a dog waterer when you see it?
Me: Obviously not.
Mom: You mean to tell me you don’t have a toilet tank/dog waterer on your patio?
Me: No, Guess I'm not lucky like you...

Earlier in the week Daddy had replaced one of the toilets in the house and couldn’t bear to see the tank go to “waste”. SO, he built a platform with a small set of steps, mounted the tank on top of the platform, attached the hose to the bottom and VOILA! Maggie, the Rottweiler now had continual fresh water! When the level got low; it automatically refilled, if you wanted it completely refreshed, you simply FLUSHED. The steps helped Maggie reach into the tank! And you haven’t lived until you’ve watched a 110 pound Rottweiler daintily climb those steps and drink out of that tank.

I’m not sure what became of the Maggie's water bowl, I don’t much think Mama liked the way the waterer looked on her patio, I think maybe it might have clashed just a bit with her patio furniture, ferns and all those impatients. That toilet tank was just a LITTLE hard to disguise.