FRIDAY:
First, Friday was Sage's last day of 9th Grade. She's a Sophomore now. I can't believe it. She keeps reminding me, so that I will believe it. I keep telling her I haven't seen her report card yet, so she can't technically be a 10th grader. Yeah, whatever Mom.Friday after school, the pool was ready to be filled with water - so we left both hoses running all night. The past two summers we haven't opened the pool, and the summer before that we opened it for only a month. It pretty much looked like a lagoon.
SATURDAY:
Saturday was the beginning of a basketball tournament weekend. We had to be there at the crack of 8:00 am. She played better than I have ever seen her play. She was smart, and fast, and right where she was supposed to be. Her team got to play the elite teams, which meant they lost every game, but she had SO MUCH FUN playing that it didn't even matter what the score was. She even got to play FOR one of the elite teams, because they were short a few players. So exciting. All in all they played six games this weekend. Worn out girls - that's for sure.
In between games we would come home to check the pool level. Between the last two games, the pool was ALMOST full, so God added a little rain to help me out. With my new fence, and the broken trees gone, and the pool blue for the first time in years, It was a beautiful sight!
When I felt like it was full enough, I turned off the hoses and prepared to get the equipment working. It was time to start the filter and chemical process at last! So, I got my "get wet" clothes on, and fired up the filter!
WOOSH! Water went EVERYWHERE! I immediately turned OFF the filter and took a look at the equipment. There was a crack in the handle thingy, which I later learned was called a Valve Head. That crack was creating all kinds of problems and I knew it had to be replaced before I could do anything with the pool. So, in ten minutes I ran to the pool store, didn't know the name of the part so I came home and took pictures of it, and took them back to the pool store to show the parts guy so he could hook me up. Then, off to another game!
SUNDAY:
Sunday morning we had two more games to participate in. After the games, I started on my project again. I correctly installed the valve head, turned on the filter, and WOOSH! Water started shooting out of the drain that leads to the sewer! NOT GOOD! When in filter mode, no water should come out of anywhwere. So...back to the drawing board.
I had this brilliant idea to look up and read the user's manual for the filter I use (something I haven't done in the 11 years of owning a pool). I discovered there are parts that I don't even use, but that I should! So, I played around with those, and with the various settings of the valve, and you will never believe this, but I FIXED IT! The filter has been running for two days with no problems. I feel like Wonder Woman. I shocked the pool, added a giant chlorine tablet to the skimmer basket, and by tonight it should be good enough to swim in! It's so clear I can see how I already have to vaccuum the bottom, but that won't be a problem at all. It's just SO EXCITING to have an operating pool and it isn't even JUNE yet!!
Now it's time to plan my next pool party! Woo Hoo!
SUNDAY, PART II:
Off to Lake Haven! (i.e. AndyLand) I will post something on that later.
until then, enjoy the short work week!!
