There’s a Hole in my Bucket

    Last night on my return from the pool at 23:30, I discovered that the city had turned our water off. (No, I paid my bill…) There was a leak from the pipes in the street, and they were busy fixing it. And they were still busy when I went to sleep shortly before 1 AM.

  This morning the water was still off. At 6am I exasperatedly called the emergency number of the city, and was told (after a LONG wait- I guess I wasn’t the only person needing to wash their hands*) that the water would be on by 7am. I informed him that my special needs teen needed a bath and that her ride to school arrives at 7:15. Even a fountain at seven am just wasn’t going to help much! (And in the end, it was 7:15 before the water was turned on.)

   However, I was in luck. One of my three dear daughters –in-law hates our water, and always requests bottled mineral water when she visits. For once I was truly glad, because in order to accommodate her, I had bought water in the super, and had a bottle and a half of pure H₂O.

    So with the half bottle we washed our hands. And I even had enough left over for another true necessity: my morning coffee.

   Then Ricki chipped in: “With the other bottle I can have a sponge bath>” (“Great problem-solving thinking!” I noted to myself.) “I hope it’s enough” I commented aloud.

   “If not, we can refill it from the tap….” she added.

    As the self-inflated balloon of my pride at Ricki’s logical thinking skills deflated a bit, I couldn’t help but smile as I remembered the song from my childhood:

There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza,

There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, a hole.

Then fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Then fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry, fix it.

With what shall I fix it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

With what shall I fix it, dear Liza, with what?

With straw, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

With straw, dear Henry, dear Henry, with straw.

The straw is too long, dear Liza, dear Liza,

The straw is too long, dear Liza, too long,

Then cut it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Then cut it, dear Henry, dear Henry, cut it.

With what shall I cut it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

With what shall I cut it, dear Liza, with what?

With an axe, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

With an axe, dear Henry, dear Henry, with an axe.

The axe is too dull, dear Liza, dear Liza,

The axe is too dull, dear Liza, too dull.

Then sharpen it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Then sharpen it, dear Henry, dear Henry, hone it.

On what shall I sharpen it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

On what shall I sharpen it, dear Liza, on what?

On a stone, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

With a stone, dear Henry, dear Henry, a stone.

           But the stone is too dry, dear Liza, dear Liza,

The stone is too dry, dear Liza, too dry.

Well wet it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Well wet it, dear Henry, dear Henry, wet it.

With what shall I wet it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

With what shall I wet it, dear Liza, with what?

try water, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

try water, dear Henry, dear Henry, water.

In what shall I fetch it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

In what shall I fetch it, dear Liza, in what?

In a bucket, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

In a bucket, dear Henry, dear Henry, bucket.

BUT there's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza,

There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, a hole.

* Religious Jews was their hands every morning, and until they do so do not touch food items