Pool girl

I notice I haven’t posted lately, and that’s because all I do is cook for various pets.  Don’t let that be a deterrent to you if you’re considering homemade pet food, because you probably have a reasonable number of animals, and you’ll be able to cook for an entire month in just one day.  The best I can do (given the size constraints of my cooking pots and refrigerator) is about one week for dogs, and four days for cats.  The animals are definitely appreciative, though, so I know the effort isn’t wasted.  I’m learning some shortcuts, too, so eventually I’ll be able to finish up in fifteen minutes.  Twenty, max.  Carlo is still here, still not using the litterbox, but is only pooping about three times a day.  That’s a huge improvement from the 20+ times I had been dealing with, and I think he just needs to grow a bit and get stronger so he can have more control.

I called this entry “pool girl”, because I finally figured out how to really clean the pool this week.  We had the pool built about five years ago, and the company that installed it gave us one “orientation” lesson where we were shown all the parts we needed to clean and maintain.  We were given no written instructions whatsoever, and everything we needed to know was thrown at us in a twenty minute lesson.  I remembered how to monitor the chemicals and how to empty the filter and cleaning system baskets, but that was about it.  We ended up calling a pool service every time we needed the filter cleaned until one really nice man from NPS took the time to write out complete instructions for me.  I thought that was so kind of him, because the instructions were sort of tedious, and they meant that I’d no longer need to call NPS for service.  After that I was able to clean the filter myself, even though I hated it (I just kept reminding myself I was saving $75).  I was sure there were a couple of other steps I was missing, though, so when the pool’s self-cleaning system became useless this year, I figured it was time to pull out the manuals.  We’d been given all the installation manuals for all the pool components, and by digging through those, I was able to figure out two components that I was supposed to clean weekly, but had never cleaned since the pool was built.  Lo and behold, I took a rubber mallet and popped the cap off one piece and it was just full of crap—plastic bags, leaves, dead bugs, you name it.  Flippy and I spent a couple of hours outside (I took things apart and she cleaned them up), and when we were done, the self-cleaning system worked again.  We were probably really lucky that we didn’t burn out a motor or something by not doing proper maintenance.

Our pool is really, really easy to care for, all things considered.  We don’t have to drain it in the fall, we don’t have to scoop leaves out of it, we don’t have to use one of those cleaning devices which crawls through the pool—we probably have the closest thing to a maintenance-free pool that you can have, but it still needs some TLC occasionally.  I think that after five years, we finally understand what needs to be emptied periodically, and how, so I hope we’ll be able to have smooth pool-sailing from this point forward.  One thing I’ve definitely noticed is that the pool has become harder to care for since the neighbourhood around us became built-up; people bring trash, and trash invariably ends up stuck in the pool drain.

It would be very nice if we could actually get into the pool, but so far that hasn’t happened.  It’s definitely been warm enough for a while (if I’m not careful with the solar heater, the water will heat up to 96 degrees), but work keeps interfering with our leisure time.  We’ve had “feet dangling time”, but that’s about it.  I need to get in it soon because in no time it will be October, and I’ll be sadly putting the cover on for winter and wishing I’d used it more often.  I need to remind myself I’m in the pool for health reasons—a swim and a nap every day to keep the doctor away.  It’s more fun than an apple.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 06/24 at 04:02 AM

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  1. But… BUT… THAT MEANS GETTING WET!!!!!!!

    Skeezix has one of those backyard ponds, too, but sumone lets their woofie poop in it. Now there’s a cleanin nitemare!

    At the last compartment (before I was efun borned), the furnace filter was well-hidden. In fact, there was a second filter someone had put in the wrong place to slow the air flow (after removin it, they blew bubbles for Bonnie using the vents for blowers). Mom replaced the filter she saw but they still had problems, so the main-tennis guy camed an replaced the filter an scolded Mom fur not doin it. So she showed him the one she replaced, an he showed her the REAL one. But Bonnie got her bubbles!

    Posted by Victor Tabbycat  on  06/24  at  08:48 AM

  2. Victor, my cat Bing loves to wash all her toys in her water dish, and she ends up with water everywhere!  She doesn’t seem to mind water at all (or maybe she’s part raccoon).  Thank goodness no one poops in our pool (except maybe the occasional bird, which I can forgive).

    I can totally understand the furnace dilemma.  I’m still learning how to use/maintain certain aspects of our current house, and we’ve been here for six years.  I’m dreading the day I have to climb into the attic to change a furnace fuse, as I no longer have my cute young male neighbour to do that sort of dirty work for me.

    So Bonnie likes bubbles, eh?  Does she have those special catnip-scented ones?  Our cats all love them, and the bubbles last for hours.  The bubbles are actually a bit creepy and persistent.

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  06/25  at  05:01 AM

  3. Washin toys is diffrint; I do that, too. They gets thirsty.

    Bonnie says they’ve been in this house about 9 years an still don’t know efurryfing they should!

    Bonnie hasn’t chased bubbles in years an I’s not too sure bout them myself. I see them, but then they disappear afore I can sniff em. We gots the catnip bubbles now, but she was chasin reglar bubbles when she was TJ’s age.

    Oh, Mom says those are girly shoes fur werk, but wif low heels cuz, duh, she gots to walk in em!

    Posted by Victor Tabbycat  on  06/27  at  06:59 AM
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