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It was summer, and Jake decided to install a large in-ground swimming pool in his back yard. He'd been living next door to a giant recreation center for years that had an olympic-sized pool, as well as a year-round skating rink and bowling alley, but he was tired of paying $10 every time he wanted to go swimming. He wanted his own pool! Jake ordered a huge outdoor pool, and hired hired a neighbour with a backhoe to help, and after a few days, there was a gigantic rectangular hole ten feet deep in his yard. All that was needed was the pool. The pool, a huge one-piece tank constructed of reinforced fibreglass and steel, arrived the next day on the back of a flatbed truck. The backhoe operator attached some chains, and lifted the pool off the truck and onto the ground. He said he'd be back the next day to help lower it into the hole ... a tricky operation requiring some skill, since the pool had to be lowered slowly straight down, or it would get hung up on the sides of the hole. It was going to be a tight fit. Unfortunately, when the next day arrived, the backhoe operator called to say that his machine was having engine problems, and would be out of service for a week. He offered to show up with a small bulldozer instead, to help install the pool. But when he arrived, Jake immediately knew there would be a problem. The bulldozer had a flat blade that could push the pool, but couldn't lift it. Jake realized that just pushing the pool over the hole would cause it to fall forward, rather than straight down, and it would hang up. The neighbour agreed. After a few phonecalls, it was determined that there was no suitable piece of machinery anywhere in town that could lift the pool. Jake was stuck. But then he had a brilliant idea. It cost him some money, but within a day or two, his pool had been gently lowered into the hole, and was ready to fill with water! How did he do it? Other than his own pickup truck and the bulldozer, he used no special equipment. Can you figure out how Jake solved his problem? press the bar below to fade the page to black, and read Jake's brilliant solution! Jake went next door to the Recreation Center and convinced the manager to sell him the ice on the rink. He agreed to a deal, and allowed Jake to break up the ice surface and haul off many truckloads of ice ... which he dumped in the hole. Eventually the hole was full to the top with ice, and the bulldozer was able to push the pool onto the pile of ice. As the ice slowly melted, the pool was lowered into the hole! |