Jump!

A trampoline has long been a fixture at our house.  We're actually on our second trampoline as a hurricane turned the first one into a twisted mass of steel about 15 years ago.  We purchased another and it has stood the test of time; however, we did have to replace the mat this past fall.

The trampoline originally came with certain safety features like foam padding that covered up the springs, designed to keep you from falling through.  Those are long gone now, disintegrated by age and wear.  It also originally came with padded posts around the perimeter that held up a net enclosure that kept you from bouncing out when doing flips. The net got ripped and eventually dry rotted a couple of years ago. I took the posts off and re-purposed them.  The posts are now the anchor points in the garden for a trellis that supports my birdhouse gourds and luffa gourds.

 The kids jump and whenever their friends come over, they jump.  The kids find new and creative ways to add to the "trampoline experience."  They pulled the basketball goal next to the trampoline and fly through the air, dunking the ball. What fun!

It sits underneath sprawling live oak and pecan trees that keep you in constant shade.  Tricia calls this area the "grove" and it is the perfect place for jumping on the trampoline.

Big Boy, our Great Pyrenees, take great pleasure in the trampoline as well.  He digs monstrous craters underneath the trampoline and reclines in the cool dirt in the shade. The only problem is that when it rains, his craters fill with water and he has to dig new craters. He will jump up on the trampoline from time to time.  I wish he'd stay up there rather than excavate our yard, because when it rains, all his loose dirt washes away and goes down the bayou.  He's causing quite the erosion problem.

The other day, the neighborhood kids came over and asked if they could jump. "Sure," I said.  When I walked outside, they had pulled the trampoline right next to the cattle trailer. "Watch this, Mr. Kyle," they would yell.  Then they would bounce real high and jump on top of the cattle trailer and then jump off and back onto the trampoline.  You'd be surprised how high you can jump.  Gravity is a powerful force. I walked away thinking that is exactly some of the things my brother and I did as kids growing up.

A few days later, however, I was getting competitive pricing on homeowner's insurance to try to get some lower rates.  One question that every insurance company asked was, "Do you have a trampoline?"  When my answer was "Yes," the follow-up question was, "Does it have protective netting and padding?"  When my answer was, "No," I think I heard a cash register in the background at the insurance company go" cha-ching."  Needless to say, we're staying where we are with insurance for the time being since this new policy would be quite a JUMP up from the current one.  I don't have the heart to get rid of the trampoline.