That F&*kin pool does it again.

I did everything right last year when I closed the pool. I bought a new cover, pool balloons, everything needed to have a happy Spring/Summer when I opened the pool next year. Sometime around December, the water level starts to drop. I think maybe it’s my imagination, and maybe it will freeze before it goes any lower, neither happens. The weather stays warm and wet. The cover grommets holding the cover from falling into the pool come loose and eventually the cover falls into the pool, dirty water, leaves and all. I know it’s going to be a mess in the

Spring, but I’ll get a head start on it and fix the pool liner, and get a new filter, it’s gotten worn out. Late April, early May I get to work on the pool. I clean the dirty water out of the pool, leaves, whatever else has fallen into the pool that doesn’t belong there. I dream of days past where I’d have both daughters working with me or at least hanging around with me waiting for the pool to be ready to get into. These days, like last year, it is barely used. I had great hopes for this year. I leave several inches of water in the pool so the liner doesn’t shrink. Holes in the pool in the past have been around where the ladder is. I excommunicate the ladder when I find a hole from last year has opened up again and it’s the problem. I give Teri carte blanche to find another ladder. I patch the hole. While doing that the left side of the liner comes loose and with Elena’s help we smooth out the bumps in the floor of the pool near there.

When I patch the hole, it is up against the wall. As it begins to fill, it moves several inches toward the center of the pool. I hope for the best. As the level of the water increases over a week it seems to be fine. No water is leaking out. So on Saturday or Sunday, near the end of May, I go all out and fill the pool to the top. Sunday night it looks wonderful. It’s clean, it’s blue and it’s too cold to swim in. Tuesday coming home from work, I see it has gone down, and there is no question about it.

So it has sat for the last two weeks. Nastia and I got in and walked the pool looking for possible leaks and found nothing obvious. I called a couple of pool companies, one doesn’t do above ground, the other wants $195.00 to patch and there are no guarantees. They said they’d send me a contract, then make an appointment to come patch the pool. We’ll see where this goes.