New Big Blue Takedown, Yuck!

Snow on Schweitzer this morning.  It looks like just a dusting, but it was fully visible as I walked back home on Selle Road.  

Twas nice to see the ski hill fully visible.  I'm not so sure I like to see snow, but to be able see it after several days of socked-in views of the mountains was kinda nice.  Today's walk through crisp, clean autumn air was exhilarating. 

I wasn't feeling so exhilarated by the time yesterday afternoon ended, but I'm guessing that the snow on Schweitzer meant it was good timing for my project to disassemble New Big Blue, the Lovestead swimming pool. 

New Big Blue seemed to like algae this year.  I think it was the heat.  Anyway, I had to empty the pool once in mid-summer just to get rid of all the green yuck in the bottom of the pool. 

Trying all those pool cleaners, including the specially made "vacuum," just didn't work.  So, I emptied the pool as far as it would empty on its own.

The rest of the emptying required the shop vac and several hours of standing in the squishy stuff on a hot summer day.  I glowed a lot that day----I learned long ago that women "glow" rather than sweat-----sorta like "fluffing" instead of farting. 

Anyway, I eventually got all the liquid out of the pool and then went to scrubbing the bottom.  Seems like it took two days to get it clean and then an extra day and a bunch more Oden water to fill it again. 

So, with memories of that fun time, I've been thinking of kinder, simpler ways (for me, of course) to empty the pool, which had accumulated another good batch of ugly algae.

Yesterday, I came up with a plan. Take all the framing and accessories from the pool, let it collapse, get the Kubota tractor, stuff a portion of the pool into the front loader and lift it way up into the air.

The water and maybe even some of the algae HAD to come out.  Physics taught me that. Of course, I did not take physics, but my quick brushes with brighter minds who did take physics rubbed off a bit. 

Well, everything seem to work reasonably well, except for the small tear in the vinyl which had gotten caught on the corner of the loader. 

There's patching for that next summer, I figured.  

The algae?  Let's just say it's pretty stubborn stuff.   A lot of it likes to glue itself to the vinyl.  

So, I sprayed and sprayed the hanging pool with the hose.  Some algae came off, but a lot more stayed firmly stuck to the pool.

I went to the house and brought out the mop.  The mopping helped, but still when I sprayed with the hose, large patches of algae remained glued to the pool.

By the time all this was happening, my shoes were soaking wet, my vest was sopped, and my impatient temper had warmed up to a boiling point. 

The area was a mess with all the pool framing scattered around the yard.  I'm sure the tractor with that big blue thing hanging off the front looked a little strange to passersby.

My tolerance for rubbing away at that algae, spraying it down some more, walking through all the puddles and getting wetter by the minute eventually reached zero----especially when I went to climb on to the tractor and realized that all my hose work had left a lake in the tractor seat.

I pulled out some of the dozens of wadded paper towels in my pockets (ya know how old ladies are with their pockets filled with snot rags), and I wiped the seat off. 

Next, I climbed aboard, lowered the loader, got off and stuffed some more of New Big Blue into the loader---imagine working with an elephant covered with green slime,  and you get the picture of how easy that task was.

Once a major percentage of New Big Blue was stuffed into the loader, I once again carefully raised it high into the air and slowly drove to an area behind the barn where I could dump the pool somewhat out of sight.

Now, New Big Blue and its protective cover (which did not do its job) sit in big blue wads,  waiting for me to decide if I'm going to continue this cleaning and storing process or if I'm gonna drive the pickup over to that spot, load the works in the back end and head for the county dump. 

I'm betting some Colburn mall shoppers would love to take it home cuz, in this case, the price would be right.  

I told Bill last night that there comes a time,  when one is 66 years old, that fighting with a massive piece of dirty, unruly vinyl offers little or no fun. 

I now know why those folks who have real pools call the workers to come and do the cleaning job.

Happy Thursday.  I'll spend the day pondering New Big Blue's ultimate fate.