When you live in a damp, cool climate, straw bale swimming pool steps fall apart regularly.
Early June, 2014, and the steps don’t look so hot from the side.
It seems like just yesterday when we built my pool steps, but it was a year ago. Almost exactly.
They look a little worse from the front. I’m pretty sure Winky ate them last year.
We did such a nice job, I was certain they would last forever. Don’t they look nice?
Late June, 2014 and the steps look great!
Look at them. Falling apart again. I couldn’t even get into my pool any more!
Late May, 2015 and they are pretty useless.
It’s pretty humiliating to ask for help, especially from humans. But The Bartender is a Professional Engineer, so that helps take the sting out of it.
I’ll just swim in this mud puddle here, since I can’t get into the pool!
I don’t want to point any fingers, but some of my co-pets actually ATE some of the straw out of those bales. I think the rabbits, maybe. Just look at these decrepit steps. Rabbits, for sure.
Just pathetic by June 2015.
What happens to the old steps, anyway? We are very clever and toss them behind the pool. The lilacs have grown fat and it’s hard to walk back there, so the New Pool Step Project suddenly included a diversion called Pruning the Lilacs. They aren’t very interesting anyway, once they have finished blooming and stinking up the place.
Pruning is one of my favorite jobs!
For some reason, wild mallards showed up for lunch and a swim, right in the middle of all the work. They are useless, but sort of decorative.
The mallards think they live here.
The Bartender hauled the wet, stinking former steps around the back of the pool.
Standoff between Mrs. Mallard and The Bartender.
I’m supposed to be impressed by the new pool steps, but seriously, they are no different from the ones we built a year ago.
This looks familiar.
How long will they last? More importantly, when are the goldfish going back into the pool? I can’t be expected to swim in invisible water. There is a reason why I usually have the goldfish perform a test swim.
Fine. Take a picture, if you must. “Me And My Steps”- big whoop.
I think I’ll just hang out in my wading pool for a while.
How long until they fall apart again?
Dobby the Capybara 
Good job!
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Oh Dobby, you are so funny. You look so proud and regal in that 3rd photo down: holding your head up with the famous capy rump sticking out. Why don’t you get Stacey to test the water first instead of the goldfish? In fact they could both do it. Maybe get someone with a camera to immortalise a re-run of that wonderful photo decades ago of a young baby smiling as he/she was swimming underwater. Once the checks have been done, you could then have another photo shoot with you included this time. In fact! Why not go the whole hog and have Stacey, the goldfish, you, Melanie and Mudskipper and even Chico. (Hope I haven’t missed anyone out.
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