If someone was to say, "let's head for the pond for a cool dip," little attention would probably have been given by some of us folks who haven't squeegeed our toes in mud for some time.
Besides you can't just drive along the road on a hot Sunday afternoon, and all of a sudden decide to take a cool dip.
Harold Lowrey's farm west of Peru has two ponds a fur piece back in the field, making it convenient for us folks who decide (without planning) on taking a swim to wash off the heat of the day.
And so Harold, and his three sons, Bill, Bob and Frank, Bob Toler, the boat sinker and myself, cooled our toes in a country pond. For a few, it was an unscheduled swim but then, it had been a long time since we had taken a skin-swim.
First thing to do is don life jackets (swimmers included), launch the boat and row across t'other side to the favorite swimming part of the pond.
Along the way, one of the passengers decides he is pretty cocky and figures he can splash enough to keep the turtles away, and so he graciously flops from the boat into the water . . . cool, man.
For the brave old folks, there is a rope attached to a tree. You grasp hold and swing out over the pond. You're chicken if you don't let go over the pond.
The real fun of course is the big splash. And a big bare splash it is, life jacket included to make the splasher bob from the cool water depths to the surface like a cork.
"Dad" Harold Lowrey shows his sons that swimming should be done in a cool and calm manner and strokes the pond while puffing away at a cigar. He admitted later, the cigar got a little juicy.
And then there was the bareboatman, Bob Toler, who was cruising along in the middle of the pond when all hands decided it was time to sink the unsinkable boat. The passenger looked with concern as the water began to flow rapidly over the sides of the boat and he was still looking concerned when the boat disappeared beneath him. But then, he didn't mind getting wet again and so let his life jacket do the floating work and relaxed in the cool green water.
Meanwhile the boat bobs to the surface . unsinkable it is.
Naw, you just can't drive along the road, completely unprepared, and expect to go swimming in the pond.
er [illegible] can you?