We Have A Small Pool At Our House. It Came With ...

We have a small pool at our house. It came with the house. My wife and the kids were glad to get the house because it had a pool. I was glad to get the house even though it had a pool. I remain convinced that the best pool to swim in is someone else’s. They’re a lot of work. Every spring, right about now, I’m almost convinced to become a believer in evolution as various life forms begin developing in the murky depths of that pool. Things begin to swim and crawl and chirp and jump – and that’s before people get in the pool! The first few years, I used to go through the whole process of cleaning out last fall’s leaves and then trying to get the filter going and cleaning up that water. I’d take a sample of it into good old Joplin Pools. They take the sample, analyze it, and then give a computer printout of exactly what you need to add to the water to make it safe again. Then, the owner gets a box, your computer-generated shopping list, and begins to fill it up with stuff. “Oh, you’ll need this to balance the PH. You’ll need this to raise the total alkalinity. You’ll need this to bring up your chorine levels. You’ll need this to kill algae. You’ll need this to prevent algae…” All that time I’m watching the box get full and thinking to myself, “I wonder how much it’s going to cost to open it this year.” After working all that stuff into the water, a few days later, it would all start to clear up, the life forms would disappear, and it would be safe to swim in. 2 years ago, I discovered a different way: empty out all of the water, refill it with clean water, and you’re good to go!