Big Blue Blues

Life had been moving along much too smoothly.  When that happens for more than two days in North Idaho, you know it's time to start worrying.

Well, I hadn't gotten to the worry mode quite yet.  In fact, yesterday was turning out to be another day of bliss.

No stresses, no deadlines, nothing to drive me into my familiar routine of overcoming the crazy challenges that seem to haunt me most every day of my life.

And, Big Blue's to blame for most of yesterday's bliss demise. 

Actually, there were good things happening.  The sun was shining.  In spite of the obstacles, I also fixed a nice dinner for me and for Bill to enjoy later after his return from fishing.

The menu included slow-baked chicken breasts, swimming in margarine, garlic salt, salt, pepper and topped off during the last few minutes of baking with fresh asparagus.

The meat met with a lovely salad, all picked from the garden----beautiful, crisp, chilled lettuce, fresh celery from my lovely celery patch, onion and a few pieces of red chard.  

Of course, the Mennonite garlic bread provided a tasty mop for the chicken juice and honey mustard dressing.

Yeah, it was a delectable summer dinner, and I deserved it after the stress that blow-up pool had caused me throughout the afternoon.

This winter I decided to leave Big Blue outside rather than trying to fold it up.  I've never folded up an elephant before, but the two times I've put Big Blue away for the winter, I could imagine the feeling.

So, this past winter, as an experiment, Big Blue stayed in its spot.

Never again.  

Besides Sunday's many hours of  filling Big Blue with 4,000-plus gallons of Oden water (some seeped out, so I know we went beyond capacity), I had already spent most many hours on earlier days,  scouring out the insides of Big Blue.

See, when those pools sit out all winter, they gather up algae and everything else that comes along to squat within a vinyl enclosure. That meant picking up the elephant--er-pool and trying to drape it between two fence posts.  

I got some of it cleaned that way, but then I dragged the massive vinyl monster up to the pickup bed to finish the rest of the job.  My body had a workout that day, I'll tell you. 

It must have been one of the few warm days we had cuz sweat was dripping so badly I had to go in and take a bath after the scrub session in the swimming poo.

I couldn't clean the exterior until Big Blue got filled up with water, and I warned Bill not to get too panicky if he looked out there at that smudged-up  pool.  It was clean inside, I assured him.

Bill didn't seem to care one way or the other----I know he does care when he sees the water bill, but, thankfully, my husband never says a word about such sticker shock when it comes to a pool out behind the barn that offers him moments of summer refreshment on hot days. 

He also liked coming up with the clever thought yesterday:  you just tell people that you're helping with the drawdown of Lake Pend Oreille when you're filling that pool. 

Well, I'm so busy filling the pool, I haven't got time to talk to people, but I'll be sure to remember that quip next time someone asks, "You're on a well, aren't you? . . . No, oooh, that must be pricey!"

Besides his kindness of not complaining about the water bill, Bill also does not volunteer to help when I'm lugging and filling Big Blue.  After yesterday,  I've decided that he needs to join the pool-raising committee next time.

You see these blow-up pools need a lot of nurturing while being filled with water, and if the nurturing is not done just right, you've got 4,000 gallons either threatening to escape or already escaping on a weak side.

Before any water threatened to escape, I went about the duties of getting all the necessities for Big Blue.  Shock and Swim was stirred into the water Sunday night.  Chlorine went into the little floating container yesterday morning.

Then, I brought out the pump with its hoses and hooked them to the pool.  Miles of extension cord was carefully hidden on an indirect path from the barn to the pool.  I don't like mowing extension cords.

I brought out the compressor to fill the rim around the top, which has a leak.  I have checked numerous times but can't find it, but the rim usually stays pumped up for a couple of hours before self-reducing into a limp, wet noodle. 

Everything was ready for swimming by about noon yesterday----or so I thought.

I came out from lunch to discover that the pump had quit working.  

Three years into Big Blue I figured it probably had gone south.  So, my trip to town would include buying a new pump.

They cost $70, but after all the work I'd done to get the pool ready for hot days, I wasn't gonna let one item foul it all up.  I did go to the returns section and ask if I could return it if the pump wasn't the problem.  30 days, they said.

Well, it's going back to Wal-Mart today, 29 days early cuz when I got home the original pump was working.  Turns out the water level was not quite high enough to pour enough water through those hoses to keep it working all the time.

Figuring a simple fix would be to add more water, I put the hose back into Big Blue, turned it on and went to the house to check my email.

There was a note from my editor at the Appaloosa Journal, asking for a photo or two.  Stressor No. 2 had shown up to ruin my deteriorating day.  

It wasn't sending the photo that through me into agitation; it was the fact that no matter what I tried, the photos would NOT send in their original size.  Magazine folks want photos in their original sizes for clarity.

An hour later, the graphic artist had saved me from a total conniption fit by explaining to me the website called "YouSendIt."  All that stress was dissipating as I tried the site and the photo went right through in its full size.

Little did I know, however, that while my stress was dissipating inside, the pool water was dissipating or should I say "disappearing" outside.  

After sending a couple of photos, I told the graphic artist that I needed to take a break to check the pool.  

From a distance I could see one side of Big Blue was pointed and that wet stuff was cascading from the now limp rim. 

Bottom line is that as the pool fills, it fills more on one side than the other, sending water to the ground and lowering the level on the other side where the hoses need that water to make the pump work.

The first band aide I tried was to prop a board up against the weak side.  Worked for a while, but as a person who did not take physics but understands it just a bit, I know I'm doomed.

I turned off the pump, turned off the water, straightened up the pointed side of the pool and gave up for the day. 

There's water enough to swim in it, and Bills says that if we can get the pump to work part of the time, that may be okay.  

Basically I have a Big Blue snafu on my hands, but I also have 4,000 gallons of Oden water inside that snafu, and my lawn does not need watering. 

So, today I'll ponder on this situation some more and hope for better times ahead.  The one thing I do know today is that if anyone wants me to send them a big picture, I'll just bring up YouSendIt, and all will work out fine. 

Guess that's enough from the Lovestead circus. Happy Tuesday.