We All Live And Learn, Don't We?
By CatsandDogs
@CatsandDogs (13963)
United States
May 16, 2011 3:47pm CST
Hubby and I are so embarrassed but as I said, we live and learn. It is about our well and pool. During the time when the pool is closed, we have to lower the water level in the pool so it won't freeze in the pipes to the pump and drain the pump. Then we put a pool cover over it to keep the water from getting dirty from leaves and debris. When it rains, the pool cover gets filled up with water and pushes down into the water so we have a small pump to pump the water out or off the cover. What we didn't know was, the cover isn't water proof like we thought so, once it hits the water level, water seeps through it and is on top as well as under. Are you getting my drift here? We've been pumping out our pool water as well!
Dumb dumb dumb!! BUT we didn't know! We do now! And it won't happen again!
So as we do every summer, we use our well water to fill our pool. We turn the hose on for a half an hour each day till the pool is filled to where it should be. Being that the water level was so low, it took more tries than ever before because before we had balloons to hold the cover up and around the edges was the rain water that we pumped out. The balloons had deteriorated to the point that they weren't useable anymore so we went without them for the first time.
Our well couldn't handle all that water being taken out and began to get really muddy and dirty so we had to wait a few days for it to clear up again thus, going to my parents place to wash a load of clothes, fill the water containers and get showers on Friday. Today we had a delivery of the rest of the water that was needed to fill our pool which cost us $150. that we didn't have but we'll survive somehow some way. Like I said, lesson learned!
Anyway, our well is still muddy and dirty so hubby called the well diggers to ask some questions and they said it will take about two to three weeks for the water to return to normal but that all is ok to hang in there. So at the moment, we're having to take sink baths which is ok as long as we get a bath! LOL It's been raining quite a bit the past few days and supposed to carry on till Friday which will help fill our well once again so that'll help too.
So folks or should I say first time pool owners, ask questions! A lot of questions! No question is stupid UNLESS you know the answer!! We did ask questions but also missed a few too so we learned a valuable and expensive lesson here and want to pass it on to others that are thinking of getting a pool but have never experienced the up keep of having one. You don't want to feel stupid like we do now! LOL
As for me and my cat bite, it's getting better. I woke up in a pool of sweat so I broke the fever last night while asleep. YAY!! I am getting better, slowly but surely.
PG my Siamese kitten is doing really well. Thank God! I have such horrible luck with Siamese cats but I won't give up in having one because I so love the breed! Maybe with PG being saved broke the bad luck..... Maybe? I sure hope so!
Have you had anything happen to you that you thought was a good idea and found it to be the wrong thing to do? Did you feel stupid like we do? LOL Oh well! We all live and learn as we go through life.
3 people like this
8 responses
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
16 May 11
My husband is a big reading and learning everything before we do anything new, problem is, he forgets to tell me...The first year we had a pool, (it's a large kiddie pool, 12x3 because we are not allowed to have above ground pools out here..
) and so we have to take it down every year..Well, my husband, as slow as he is at getting the pool up, (I have to literary get on him to help me set it up Memorial Day weekend) when it comes to taking it down, he doesn't want to.
I want to use the same system public pools use, close down on Labor Day, after all there is a reason, right??? Well, sure enough, Labor Day comes and it is hot and will still be hot for a while, but this is the last 3 day weekend I will have him home to help, but nope, he wants it up longer..
Suddenly before we know it, the highs were in the 60's and at the temp, I am not one who feels like getting in the pool to clean it and make sure algae is growing..Sure enough, by the time he was ready, the sides of the pool had to be scrubbed down really well before draining and scrubbed again to get every bit of slime and gunk off..
Has he learned? Yeah,I think he has, though we didn't have the pool up last year,(really didn't want to I guess) but this year if we don't have it up by Memorial Day, I am letting my daughter have it...
I am glad to hear your cat bite is doing better, and too bad it isn't hot enough for swimming, the chlorine would have helped it heal...
) and so we have to take it down every year..Well, my husband, as slow as he is at getting the pool up, (I have to literary get on him to help me set it up Memorial Day weekend) when it comes to taking it down, he doesn't want to.
I want to use the same system public pools use, close down on Labor Day, after all there is a reason, right??? Well, sure enough, Labor Day comes and it is hot and will still be hot for a while, but this is the last 3 day weekend I will have him home to help, but nope, he wants it up longer..
Suddenly before we know it, the highs were in the 60's and at the temp, I am not one who feels like getting in the pool to clean it and make sure algae is growing..Sure enough, by the time he was ready, the sides of the pool had to be scrubbed down really well before draining and scrubbed again to get every bit of slime and gunk off..
Has he learned? Yeah,I think he has, though we didn't have the pool up last year,(really didn't want to I guess) but this year if we don't have it up by Memorial Day, I am letting my daughter have it...
I am glad to hear your cat bite is doing better, and too bad it isn't hot enough for swimming, the chlorine would have helped it heal... 1 person likes this
@CatsandDogs (13963)
• United States
16 May 11
Why are some husbands so stubborn? Procrastination bites the person in the rear almost every time. We women have to learn all that mechanical stuff that men do so that we can do what needs doing when they won't. But some of us aren't mechanically inclined, I'm not but I try. I make a mess of things but at least I try.
We don't go by what everybody else does but by the weather. We'll open the pool the 1st of May after all the helicopter leaves and blossoms have fallen to the ground and it stays open till it's too cold to swim in it. We want to enjoy it for as long as we can before we have no choice but to close it up.
I hope you have a better time getting him to set it up this year.
1 person likes this
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
16 May 11
Oh I have no idea and I was told to move forward and go ahead and try to fix things, because even though I am not mechanically inclined either, it is better than nothing. I set the pool up this way not to follow others, but because it has to be put up and down every year, waiting until it is too cold to swim, makes it too cold to drain and clean it...lol
1 person likes this
@CatsandDogs (13963)
• United States
16 May 11
I understand why you do it when you do. I couldn't imagine that cold water touching us when we have to drain it some for the winter months ahead. It's hard enough to have to clean it with the vacuum to get all the debris out before putting the cover on. Hubby stands on the edge and walks around the pool with the vacuum cleaning it and prays he doesn't fall in! LOL
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157652)
• United States
17 May 11
At the moment I cannot think of anything we have done like that, but that does not mean it did not happen, it just means my brain is tired. I am glad to hear that the cat bite is better and PG is surviving from her surprise swim. I do not have a pool, and I think having a YMCA membership is good enough for us.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157652)
• United States
17 May 11
Y memberships vary from one community to another. I remember when ours was 45 per year, now it is that much a month for a couple or family. Actually we were scholarshiped in because neither of us are working. I need to make sure to use it a whole lot, as I am terribly out of shape. We had Siamese most of my growing up years.
@CatsandDogs (13963)
• United States
17 May 11
You think it's funny, eh?! 
Ahhhhh go ahead and laugh steph, it's a stupid but funny and expensive mistake but it'll all come out in the wash in the end. We had a company come out and finish filling our pool with water which cost $150. and today we had the well company come out and check the well and come to find out, it was our water softner filter that was causing the problem of dirty water so that was changed out but cost us another $100. but at least we have peace of mind KNOWING what is wrong with our water. It'll be a few more days to a week before it all cleans out.
It's still too cold for us to swim in our pool too but it's ready when it gets warm enough!
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
16 May 11
SOOOOOO glad u are feeling better. I do not know anything about a pool & really don't want to know, lol. I don't swim & have never been fond of the water. Noone gets too old to learn new things so don't be so hard on yourself. Hope your well gets fixed soon. I know that has got to be a BIG aggravation.
@CatsandDogs (13963)
• United States
17 May 11
[b]YOU are such a doll!! Thank you so much for caring!! I am feeling more like my self today than I had the past few days which is nice to be on the mend, finally.
My mom and aunt aren't fond of water either. Neither one of them learned how to swim. My brothers tried to teach me but couldn't so when I joined the 4-H club and went to the summer camp, they taught me there. I've always loved the water. I've always wanted a pool and finally got one. But had no idea about the cover not being water proof or that our well wasn't but so deep. We know now! and that's what counts, right? LOL[/b]
@sender621 (14894)
• United States
17 May 11
We don't all live by the live and learn rule. so many of us go through our lives living and learning by what we do. others will make not see the mistakes that are made along the way. some of us live and learn while others have not yet learned.@CatsandDogs (13963)
• United States
17 May 11
Well, when a person makes a mistake and sees that it's a mistake, they do learn from it. I have to agree though that not everybody learns from it and continue to make the same mistake over and over before the realize it's a mistake and not make it again. However, this mistake that hubby and I have made, has been learned and we won't make the same mistake again.
@CatsandDogs (13963)
• United States
17 May 11
It's what I call 'Life's little lessons' because that's exactly what it is. We live life and learn as we go through life. This is a lesson that we've learned and will not forget it. Just wish the pool installers would've told us this when we bought the pool.
BTW, welcome to mylot! Hope you enjoy your time here and make a lot of new friends!
@CatsandDogs (13963)
• United States
16 May 11
Oh yeah, all of us have at one time or another. None of us are immune. Although I will say some people have luck on their side and others don't. Why that happens, I don't know but it does happen.
My mom's motto is "A day isn't a total loss when you learn something new" So it was a huge learning experience! lol
Thanks! I am getting better! I feel better today than I have the past three days so that should mean I'm on the up and up! Yay!!
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
16 May 11
hi catsanddogs here I have no pool problems or well problems either as i am i n this dumb retirement center. I wish they did have an indoor swimming pool so some of us that still have brains could swim as exercise. when I grew up on The South Dakota farm far my parents had an artisan well and every so often that to have a well cleaner clean it for us but I loved the taste of artisan well water so much. nothing like teh icky taste of chlorine in it, just pure water from the artisan wells around South Dakota.
1 person likes this
@CatsandDogs (13963)
• United States
16 May 11
There's no pool in the retirement center?? Why not? With all the money that they make, they should put some aside and have a pool built for you all. Seriously! It would do a world of good for a lot of the retired folks who live there. That's physical therapy at it's best! You could have water arobics and other things which help with mobility. Maybe if you suggest it to the staff, they might consider the idea. It would create jobs for those who are out of work.
I do know what you mean about the taste of chlorine! BLA! That's why we live in the country appose to the city. We can't stand the taste of city water. With our water being what it is now, city water is better than this! LOL But we know it'll get better in a week or two or three. We just have to hang in there till then. Have you considered getting one of those containers that filters the water? That might help with the taste of it.
Wells back in the day, when they were first dug, concrete pipes were put in so the walls wouldn't collapse but they don't do that anymore. Just like when we lived in Texas and our septic tank collapsed on us, the mess went everywhere in our house. Come to find out, the septic tank was made of fiber glass!! No wonder it collapsed! Luckily for us, the insurance company cleaned it up but we had to buy a new septic tank and this time it was CONCRETE! Much much stronger than fiber glass. How things are done is changing all the time, some for the better and some for the worse. But in the end, it's all about money.
