Do you know how to swim?

[LJH]

My mother-in-law couldn't swim. One day at the beach a big wave knocked her down and swept her around ten or twenty yards. She started yelling "HELP" and such.

A lifeguard got there before I did, grabbed her arm...and said, "Mame, you can stand up now."

We used that for years, every time she started to get excited about anything, we'd all say, "Mame, you can stand up now."

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

 

[Soundguy]

35%? really..

yikes!

 

[RobertBrown]

I think humans are like most mammals in that we have the abilty to swim innately. There are those of us who don't seem to have this ability, and subsequently fear the water. That is as it should be.

I once knew a woman who could not swim, could not even float. She seemed to lack any buoyancy at all, even with her lungs inflated. It was hard for me to understnd why, but perfectly clear that she should fear the water and should avoid it. Since knowing this woman, I never try to coearce anyone to enter the water, or ridicule anyone who fears it.

I was never taught to swim, I just knew how to locomote through the water using any number of methods. I suspect that if someone needs to be taught to swim....they should probably use a bouyancy device to assist when in the water or in a boat.
Many years ago (20?) it became in vouge to give birth in a pool. Since a fetus is in a fluid anyway it's not likely to drown, provided things go well. It was also popular to introduce babies to the pool and apparent that they could swim before they could talk or even walk.
Giving birth in a pool of water is far better for mother and baby
Water birth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Stimw]

I don't remember when I learned to swim but I would guess between 6-8 years old.
I have been a certified SCUBA diver since 1986 and the class taught many more water skills. Snorkling and Free Diving to name a few.

 

[DKCDKC]

I was very fortunate to grow up in a home with a large pool... We had an inherited farm with amenities like the pool... Just little money. Farming was not that lucrative. But I did learn to swim about 3 or 4, I am told. We were never good stylists, just water-babies who spent hours in the water. The pool was spring-fed with constant flow-through - overflow supplied a cattle water trough down the hill. So it was very cold. But, on a hot July day, when there were hundreds of hay-bales in the field ready for pickup, we would soak in the pool for a half hour and be cool most of the afternoon as we worked. We would then return after supper for a night swim, and sleep wonderfully.

I still loved to swim, but do it rarely - at the Y usually. The water is too warm and has too many chemicals. But there is still something about the weightlessness of swimming and playing in the water.

All my kids and most of my grandkids are excellent swimmers. One of the grandkids was actually born in a swimming pool and did beautifully. It wasn't what I would have wanted, but it worked for them.

 

[jymbee]

The pool was spring-fed with constant flow-through - overflow supplied a cattle water trough down the hill. So it was very cold. But, on a hot July day, when there were hundreds of hay-bales in the field ready for pickup, we would soak in the pool for a half hour and be cool most of the afternoon as we worked. We would then return after supper for a night swim, and sleep wonderfully.

Great description- and I can well relate as it brings back memories. But shoot-- seems like most farmers these days don't ever "pick up" hay bales-- at least in the sense that you and I recall. Kick balers and round bales? That's almost like cheating! :laughing:

 

[uglyboywith11fingers]

I grew up on the north shore of Lake Erie, near Kingsville... back in the late 1950's when the water was still clean. I was 10 or 12 at the time, we always made our way thru 5 foot water out to the sand bar.
One time a bunch of us ended up at the Kingsville dock, others were jumping in, I hesitated, having never been in water 15 feet deep. I found out that day I did not need the comfort of knowing there was a bottom just below my feet. Not an expert swimmer, but I can keep myself out of trouble.

Pete

 

[TCJatko]

I can swim , but not like an expert. In my later years I've developed some increased volume as a flotation aid.

 

[grsthegreat]

oh heck yes.... learned when i was a wee tike.

then again now days, im so fat i just float hehe

 

[DKCDKC]

Great description- and I can well relate as it brings back memories. But shoot-- seems like most farmers these days don't ever "pick up" hay bales-- at least in the sense that you and I recall. Kick balers and round bales? That's almost like cheating! :laughing:

A sizzling summer day... My father driving the tractor pulling a large haywagon... My brother and I - in t-shirts and gloves - with scratched and bleeding arms, taking turns picking up bales and stacking them high on the wagon. The hay chaff would stick to sweaty skin, your fingers would be sore from the twine, and your knee from kicking the bale up to the wagon floor, or high to a stack.

The wonderful and cooler ride to the barn, then unstacking the bales one at a time to an elevator - with its reluctant engine - that would parade them up into the barn... And taking turns again in the mow - eternally stacking as high as you could reach, while watching for holes in the flooring (through which the hay would later be tossed to hungry livestock).

Sometimes dark clouds in the west would drive us at a frenetic pace to get the hay in before a rain... Then, when it was in, keep us from the pool until the lightning passed.

It was a hot, hard time... A time of sharp stubble, short breaks, and sweat... It was hard on the back, tough on the hands and terrible to the allergies. But it was a time of brotherly competition, showing-off, visible accomplishment and family satisfaction. Overall.... It was great.

(Of course, that's colored by the 55 years since, years of offices, travel, computers - and no hay at all. At the time I may have seen it a little differently.)