Adults, After the Newness Wears Off, How do you use your Pool?

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I'm just beginning my 2nd full swim season with my pool, so maybe I'm still in the honeymoon phase. So far I'm using it more. Last summer I still felt a little guilty for having a pool (raised that guilt was healthy! :crazy: ), so I used the pool as a reward for hard work - inside and outside (I'm retired). Well, so long guilt and hello fun in the pool. I'm in or in-and-out of the pool most of the day on most days. It's great!

My solution to the swimsuit issue... Some days, I wear my swimsuit to do the gardening. Other days I wear my garden clothes to swim in. It's usually a matter of which I do first - swim or garden!

Agreed - 2 piece tankinis are the way to go. (never thought I'd be back in a 2 piece...)

When the pool isn't warm enough, we always seem to have plenty of warm/hot days sprinkled around the year. On those days I enjoy sitting in my chair on the sun shelf. There's nothing like cold water on tired, hot feet to cool you down quickly - very relaxing.:crazy:
 
I tried gardening in my speedo's once...neighbors didn't appreciate it and the sun burn was....uncomfortable....
 
I know a lot of people who have the "dont use it anymore" conundrum, likely because I live in the north with an already short season.

i am not one of them. No kids at home, 50 and 60 y/o here, but not only do I use it every day six years in, I also pay stupid amounts to heat it to therapeutic levels...now year round.

I think the two are connected because even in mid summer, Michigan nights can be cool. I'd likely barely use it if it wasn't always at my preferred min temp. That's because my first hour of use daily is early morning. Then I usually don't swim again until evening if long work day. Day-night differentials can be as much as 30 degrees.

On weekends, I'll float off and on all day if I have a good book on my "pool kindle" that I've rigged up to be more waterproof. (Its a spare I bought second hand for this express purpose.) One of the best things I got was a water hammock that lets you be partly submerged. Some night I plan to sleep on it.

However, it seems rare that I have many quiet weekends to just float because I came originally from Canada and seem to have friends from afar staying most weekends throughout the summer. I try to alternate weekends between out-of-town guests and local chill, but between parties and book club and local friends for dinner, its not entirely quiet on the alternate weekends either ;)

Of course, to "use" the pool this way requires things in addition to heat...like a serious mosquito control vendor, and a respectable entertainment budget etc. ;)

If I waited til hubby felt like swimming, I'd also likely use it less. But because I use it so much, it occurs to him more often to join me for a night float, beverage and chat.

If it makes you kinda sad that you don't use it more, I seriously recommend just getting up an hour earlier and enjoying a quiet morning hour in a warm-enough pool. You'll feel great all day, and be getting more mileage out of your investment. Plus, as you age, stretching and a few strokes will keep you limber! Then every day feels a bit like a holiday at the beginning, no matter what else is thrown your way!
 

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Flbeachluvr said:
Much easier for a man to walk around in swim trunks and just throw a shirt on if needed. My husband wears his suit all weekend. Not so easy for a woman and not healthy for us either to wear a damp suit. :oops:
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And the women's suits wear out so much faster then board shorts :'( I wear a lot of two piece suits at home because they are easier to change in and out of and dry faster.
 
I have a shorter season, and I think that it helps with the pool use. I was ready to close last october, and then I was chomping on the bit to open at the beginning of may.There are two of us in our 30s with no kids. I do let my dad's dog come over sometime to swim :p I am a water baby, and the reason I bought this house was the pool. I also don't have central AC, and we try to hold off on putting window units in as long as possible, so jumping in the pool to cool off is a big motivator. I also like to lay on a float and read, or sit under the cabana and surf the internet on my laptop and just enjoy watching the pool and garden.
 
Only my 2nd year with a pool and I'm an empty nester. We put the pool away from the house, so that we can't hear phones ringing, the TV, or anything, really. It feels as though we're on vacation when we're out at the pool -- very separate from the "house area," and very relaxing. I'm a major gardener -- I put my women's speedo on underneath my gardening clothes and once I'm sweaty and hot, boom, into the pool I go. Once I'm in the water, I start exercising -- swimming laps and after that, I play in the water -- then I come out and dry off on a chaise and go back to gardening, rinse and repeat. Basically, I use the pool a lot and I expect that I'll keep on using it a lot. I love the water -- my favorite activity is swimming -- and I can't imagine not using the pool. I also find just looking at it very zen and relaxing. I even find skimming debris off the top in the spring relaxing. Call me crazy. Or smart. :)
 
To me, the aesthetic element of having a pool has become just as important as the ability to swim. I look at it as the same reason I prefer having grass, plants, bushes and trees. All of them require work and it's a lot easier having a backyard full of rocks, no trees or no pool. I have lived in several houses like that in my bachelor days, but it makes your home feel really depressing. Especially in the middle of summer in Phoenix.

But now, even when temps reach 110+ and it's even too hot to swim while the sun is out, I find pleasure in looking out my kitchen window to admire the pool, green grass and landscape. At night, it's equally beautiful to have your backyard glow with a pool light. In winter, having a beer near a fire pit along with the pool glowing can't be beat.
 
^This. We may not get in it as much as we did when the kids were kids, but we still spend plenty of time around it. We enjoy the beauty and relaxing atmosphere it brings to our home now as much as the day it was finished... if not more.
 
We are in our 50's with all children grown and gone. We just got our first pool 3 months ago so the newness hasn't worn off yet, but one of my plans for use is a "dive in movie" night. I'm setting up a large screen and connecting a projector to my laptop and watching movies while floating in the pool.

C
 
Paul & Crystal said:
We are in our 50's with all children grown and gone. We just got our first pool 3 months ago so the newness hasn't worn off yet, but one of my plans for use is a "dive in movie" night. I'm setting up a large screen and connecting a projector to my laptop and watching movies while floating in the pool.
C
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That's a fun idea, and lots of people do that...."Dive in Movie" very clever. :lol:

But!......Keep your wet hands out of my popcorn bucket!! ::epds::
 

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