I know it's only February, but I keep staring out the back window at that big, black, ice-covered mass out there longing for weather warm enough that I can open it back up. I wanna play with it. I wanna try out everything I've learned from this site and all of the helpful people here. (I mean that I want to try out what I learned from the helpful people, not that I want to try out the people themselves. 
)
Once mid-March rolls around, I'm going to have to fight the urge to open the pool just so I can play with it, even though it will still be way too cold to swim. I opened at the end of March last year because the liner had been leaking all winter and the cover fell in (along with all the gunk it had collected over the winter,) which somehow caused the liner to come out of the track and also fall in. Once I got the liner re-hung, I wanted to get the gunk out of the pool, so opened it up and then just left it open, even though I couldn't use it. I won't even mind all of the milkweed fluff I will have to deal with.
When we first bought the house (last year was our first summer here,) I expected that the pool was going to be a lot of work and a real pain to deal with. I found that it wasn't as much work as I'd expected and that I really didn't mind it. Vacuuming the pool a couple of times a week was something I started looking forward to. It was quite relaxing and a great stress reliever. I even found myself vacuuming the pool when it didn't really need it, just because. DW asked me to teach her and the older kids to do it so they could help. I kept telling her "no, it's a lot more work than it looks like." In reality I didn't want any of them "stealing" my job. I doubt that any of them would really enjoy it, but I want to do it. (Is that insane, or what!)
The biggest problem I had last year was that I hadn't heard of TFP or BBB and was relying on the pool store for guidance. That was expensive. You know the drill: add a chemical this week, and next week add something else to undo whatever I just did. (What is really surprising is that even though the retail people were trying to sell me everything in sight, the repair guys (from the same store) were doing everything they could to save me money.)
I started comparing notes with a friend who has a pool, (and who is a lurker here,) and he recommended this site and BBB. He was spending a whole lot less on his pool than I was.
SO..., I can't wait to get started with BBB this spring and try out all this new-found knowledge. Heck, if the pool wasn't a block of ice and I could get water out of it, I'd test it just for fun. COME ON SPRING!!!!!!!
)Once mid-March rolls around, I'm going to have to fight the urge to open the pool just so I can play with it, even though it will still be way too cold to swim. I opened at the end of March last year because the liner had been leaking all winter and the cover fell in (along with all the gunk it had collected over the winter,) which somehow caused the liner to come out of the track and also fall in. Once I got the liner re-hung, I wanted to get the gunk out of the pool, so opened it up and then just left it open, even though I couldn't use it. I won't even mind all of the milkweed fluff I will have to deal with.
When we first bought the house (last year was our first summer here,) I expected that the pool was going to be a lot of work and a real pain to deal with. I found that it wasn't as much work as I'd expected and that I really didn't mind it. Vacuuming the pool a couple of times a week was something I started looking forward to. It was quite relaxing and a great stress reliever. I even found myself vacuuming the pool when it didn't really need it, just because. DW asked me to teach her and the older kids to do it so they could help. I kept telling her "no, it's a lot more work than it looks like." In reality I didn't want any of them "stealing" my job. I doubt that any of them would really enjoy it, but I want to do it. (Is that insane, or what!)
The biggest problem I had last year was that I hadn't heard of TFP or BBB and was relying on the pool store for guidance. That was expensive. You know the drill: add a chemical this week, and next week add something else to undo whatever I just did. (What is really surprising is that even though the retail people were trying to sell me everything in sight, the repair guys (from the same store) were doing everything they could to save me money.)
I started comparing notes with a friend who has a pool, (and who is a lurker here,) and he recommended this site and BBB. He was spending a whole lot less on his pool than I was.
SO..., I can't wait to get started with BBB this spring and try out all this new-found knowledge. Heck, if the pool wasn't a block of ice and I could get water out of it, I'd test it just for fun. COME ON SPRING!!!!!!!
