Random Micro Thoughts

I hadn't realized it has been so long since I posted. We've all been down with the flu, I was the last to get it, and so I got the benefit of extra virulence with it having passed through the rest of the family. Also all the kleenex were used up, and the tylenol cough medicine was down to the last dregs. I missed an entire week of work; I tried to come in on Wednesday, and immediately realized I had made a big mistake, when I nearly passed out in the parking lot from a coughing jag. Icky. We're all better now, mostly, thank you.

We spent the last several evenings trying to get the swimming pool ready to use. We never opened it last year, the weather was cold and rainy for a large part of the summer, and this year when we took the cover off, it was to discover the entire pool is a swampy green frog pond. We bought a high pressure washer and rented a high volume sump pump to drain the pool and clean the crud off the walls and bottom, what a mess. The frogs are highly incensed, but little do they know it will get worse when we pour the shock into the pool....Meanwhile it is 90+ degrees outside and we have to wait until evening to work on the pool, it's just too frigging hot in the afternoon. Why is it, if you're swimming in a lake or pond, it's perfectly OK for the water to be opaque green, but if it's a pool it has to be crystaline clear? Even the ocean isn't clear, mostly. For a few years we had a pontoon boat that we took (or docked) at the local lake, but eventually realized we were using it more as a swim raft than a boat, and that it would be a lot easier to stay home and jump in the pool, so we sold the boat and put in the pool. It's all landscaped and decked, so it looks pretty spiffy (except for the green sludge right now) if I do say so myself. Still, it is a fair amount of work, skimming out leaves, adding chemicals, testing the water, adding water, vacuuming. Fifteen thousand gallons......And I thought a 20 gallon aquarium was a lot of work.