A day ago, I went to buy a 3-5 gallon size bucket to catch the shower and bath water that I don't use when I wait for it to get warm.  Because I had my daughter with me, that bucket ended up being a really nice 3 gallon size, with a comfy handle and....wheels.  Yep, wheels on the bottom for it to travel around the house.  She liked it so much, that while we were at the hardware store, she started to pretend it was a friend that had needs and wants. She did not want to use it like a shopping cart to carry things...oh, no! 'Bucket' could not hold anything heavy and wanted to drive around the store and check things out.  I started to get worried because I thought she might get so attached to ‘Bucket’ that she would not want it to be used for its intended purpose.

 

We finally made it to the parking lot and as I tried to load ‘Bucket’ into the trunk, my daughter says, “She doesn’t want to sit in the trunk!  She wants to sit next to me!”  Silly me, I should have known.  So ‘Bucket’ got to sit next to my daughter on the trip to New Leaf Community Market.  At New Leaf, ‘Bucket’ still refused to hold any items we were purchasing and sat down next to our table with us as we started to eat a snack.  When we finished our snack, we puttered our way slowly out to the car.  My daughter must have been wiped out or something because she had trouble focusing on where we were going and moved really slowly.  When we got to the car, she noticed something was missing and screamed, “BUCKET!!”  We jumped back out of the car and as efficiently and as fast as I have ever seen us both move, we ran back to the store and found ‘Bucket’ safe and sound still sitting under the table.  Phhew!

 

When we got home I explained that she is welcome to play with ‘Bucket’ anytime, but ‘Bucket’ needs to be used for collecting water in the bath sometimes.  When she, ‘Bucket’, is in use for that, she can’t play.  That seemed to do the trick and ‘Bucket’ is doing her job as a water collector and gets to play with my daughter when she is off of work.  So far, the bucket has been working great to collect excess tub and shower water.  I use the extra water on my dirty dishes or my plants.  I feel like I am saving more water…..3 gallons at a time.  And maybe just as important, my daughter gets to play AND learn about conservation at the same time.  Do you have a ‘Bucket’ in your future?  ‘Bucket’ needs friends too.

-- Melinda

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