Rochester Life

I have a monstrous vat of algae in my backyard that some people refer to as a pool. 

It was never my intent to buy a house that had a pool.  It just so happens that the perfect house had one– 26′  in diameter and 4′6″ deep at the center (i think).

The first summer I lived there I could not have been more excited to try my hand at pool maintenance and enjoyment.  I spent hours upon hours lounging in my outdoor bath–  it was heated by one large solar cover and really warmed up by the end of July.

Each year has brought a new lesson in pool care-

Year one-  how to repair a hole

Actually come to think of it, year one was about learning how to do everything:  connecting all the tubing, vacuuming and backwashing, the right (or wrong) amount of algaecide to include. I personally do not recommend pouring a whole bottle in.

Year two– How not to try to open the pool yourself

After dumping a large quantity of rotten leaves into the bottom, it took me quite sometime to clean out the very center of the pool where they all seemed to congregate.

Year three–  How to purchase an appropriately sized winter cover so that closing the pool isn’t a total nightmare.

Honestly, as long as you let MHG be the engineer of the whole process it’ll actually be a somewhat painless process.

So here we are in year four– 

And while in past years I have jokingly stated that I wanted to knock the pool down….this year I came SO close to actually doing it. 

This summer was a green pool disaster.  It turned green almost immediately.  And round-after-round of visits to my dear friends at Clover, it stayed green.  

Jesus loves me this I know… because it did clear up briefly.. long enough for the guest at my sister’s baby shower to not think that I was white-trash.  But not in time for Princess Ria’s first visit to a big-girl pool on July 4th.  She went in anyway….

(JAY will you add that cute picture of RIA here)

….really as long as there are plenty of cherry tomatoes to be had– Ria is happy.

After a brief respite– it was back to green and this time, it seemed, to stay…

I had reached such a level of frustration that I called an “expert.”  A nice man who ran a pool service visited and spent some time explaining the chemical process, informing me that my peeps at Clover had sold me a terrible product , and diagnosing and “fixing” my pool.  A day later, it seemed be on the mend.

HA HA HA!

Quickly the nation of algae revolted against my chemical weapons attack and reclaimed the territory.

I tried to contact the ‘very nice’ man that had come to my house only days before.  And he ignored me! (so if you’re in need of pool care in the Rochester area I would not recommend Clear Choice Pool Services)

I then decided to take drastic measures.  As if I hadn’t already!  I was going to drain the entire pool, scrub it down and start over.  I was just about to start the draining process when my neighbor Dave intervened.  He asked me to give him 3 days to see if he could de-greenify my pool.

AND HE DID IT!

Now it never achieved the crystal clear appearance that his own pool had..but I could actually swim in it!  So for the last month or so, I have obsessively worked my little behind off trying not to destroy his beautiful work. With few exceptions, I think I’ve made him proud.

Determined to get a reasonable amount of use out of it, I kept my pool open past Labor Day this year. [Really, I was worried that Labor day would take on a whole new meaning if JAY tried to help in the process–so I’ve waited until this weekend when I can enlist some other family members to assist in the closing] I’ve forced myself and my sister to get in that pool and to enjoy its lack of green-ness. 

Sadly, this week has turned out to be rainy, cool and very busy so there have been no dips in the pool.  BUT, as I prepare to drain it tomorrow, I have good news….

….my pool is now crystal clear and ready for swimming.

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