Good times with the pool

We've all been sick for what seems like forever. Bad colds all around. And it's taking forever to get over them. We're all still a little sniffly at times. And today there is something in the air outside that is giving me the same allergic reaction I get when I'm around cats - itchy, watery eyes, throat closing up, runny nose, etc. Benadryl helped a little, but of course makes me super drowsy. I tried to nod off a little on the couch but Gavin poked me and said "wake up!" Good times. In the midst of being sick over the last couple weeks we've been working on our pool. We got it opened up, cleaned out, and the water is now clear. We also added a saltwater system to reduce the need for chemicals. In dealing with the pool I have learned a lot about pool chemistry and have actually found real world uses for what I learned in high school geometry, algebra, and chemistry classes. The guy at the pool store jokingly asked me if I wanted a job when I knew more about the chemicals I needed than he did. Measuring a portion of the circumference of the pool I was able to determine our pool is 24ft in diameter, which is pretty big for an above ground pool. We're still working on getting the salwater generator to produce enough chlorine. Friday we went ahead and put the stairs inside the pool.

 There they are laying sideways on the far end of the pool. This is not where we put them mind you. When you put the stairs in place you're supposed to put sandbags on a shelf underneath them to keep them in place. Well when we opened up the pool there was lots of sand on the pool floor. I figured one the bags of sand the previous owner used for the stairs last summer must have ripped. It was my bright idea to use bags of salt instead. I figured that way if it leaked we wouldn't have to vacuum it all up, we could just let out some of the water to maintain the proper level of salt in the pool. That obviously is not going to work. With the pump turned on the stairs went round and round the pool until the salt bags fell out. And the weather is in the 60's today and it's been raining off and on, not exactly great weather to fix this mistake. Oh well. Hopefully sometime this week we'll get everything straightened out and be ready to swim. The garden is going a lot more smoothly. So far everything I planted is growing and nothing has died: