April 27, 2009
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Uncovering the pool
Every year uncovering our pool is an adventure. It is a balancing act to get the cover off the pool without dumping the leaves and other detritis that has collected on top into the pool and yet not pump all of the water out of the pool while doing it. One year that actually happened. My son was siphoning water off the cover and left it too long. When he came back there was no water on the cover but there was also only about three inches of water in the pool. That is not a good thing. Then there was the year that the younger three thought that they would help me by taking the cover off themselves. They managed to dump the entire contents of the cover into the pool. Several hundred dollars later and weeks of scooping leaves out of the pool, I finally managed to get the water clean.
Last fall we eliminated part of the problem by cutting down the poplar tree that grew behind the deck. Yesterday Ian announced that he had a plan for getting the cover off without getting the junk into the pool.
His plan started with a trip to the shop. Ian is a tool guy and every job has to involve tools.
And duct tape.
Mary-Kate, don’t dump Matthew into the pool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course every job involves Matthew being put into some awkward or precarious position. Don’t worry, he loves it. They used a hose with a four inch outlet to siphon the water and quite a few of the leaves off the cover.
MK scooped leaves while Matthew hung on for dear life and kept the end of the pipe under water thus maintaining siphoning.
They turned the cover into a bag with the remaining leaves and water in it and then used a tractor and bucket frame to lift it all out of the pool.
This is what I have to work with. Crystal clear water. A little chlorine and algecide and we should be good to go.
Comments (7)
A clever fellow, your Ian. And it’s good to see a family working together like this!
Tools and Duct tape — yep real man. real job…well done!! When do you start to swim?
@ugotafriend - Matthew and I got the chemicals and sand this morning. He spent the morning getthing the pump and filter all hooked up only to discover that their is no electric to the deck anymore, so Ian will have to address that when he comes home from work. Meanwhile we are putting the rest of the water into the pool now and then I will put the chemicals into it. We will run a cord temporarily to filter the water and mix the chemicals in. If all goes as planned and Ian does his job we should be able to use it by Wed. If you hear of a cold snap in the northeast you will know that my pool is all set for swimming. That is usually the way it goes.
I’ll be watching the weather reports…we’re in the middle of a cold snap (okay cold for us)…
That’s what Ian and Matthew are there for. To figure things out and be experimented with, respectively.
How very clever and if it involves tools and danger you can almost be certain a guy was in charge!
Happy swimming!
@P_Obrien - If only you had been there too. That would have completed the comedy team.