Backyard Showers

I have never taken a shower outdoors, but I can only imagine how great it would be! The first outdoor shower I ever saw was on television, in an Irish Spring commercial, and aside from the big, dopey guy in the ad (with the bad fake accent) , I thought that shower was the most amazing thing ever! I still dream of having one, but my reasons have changed.

We are in the process of putting in a backyard (above-ground) pool and in my wish list of pool accessories is a great outdoor shower. I picture it on my deck, with a door that has that proverbial outhouse symbol, the crescent moon, carved in it (above peeking level of course!!) I would hang nautical themed towels from fun hooks and wire baskets would hold a nice bottle of shampoo, shower gel, and a sea sponge. Visiting kids (and my own) could rinse the chlorine out of their hair and dirty feet making tracks on my hardwood would be no more. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it?

Then reality throws just enough water in my face. My "middle child" has an issue with water... He is usually in the shower for up to 20 minutes (to wash a small body, no less) before we notice that the water coming from the taps is unusually cold and he is not in his room getting settled for bed as we had presumed. This is our obstacle to a poolside shower. We can just picture him (and to be fair, his little sister) hopping in and out of the pool to "warm up" under the hot shower. We are purposely not getting a pool heater due to the high cost of it, so the amount of hot water we'd go through in a day with a shower would defeat this cost saving measure!

My only hope is that my husband will come through on his promise to come up with a creative solution to heat the water naturally (think modified rain barrell) and rig something up so that I can achieve my girlhood fantasy of standing under a shower in the great outdoors while the birds chirp and the kids splash in the pool nearby. On second thought, maybe I had better rethink that moon-shaped cut-out...I don't want any little pranksters traumatizing me (and themselves) while I'm trying to fulfill a dream!!!