Closing the Pool for the Winter.

It's late September and that means only one thing: it's past time to close up the pool for the winter. Now, one might think that with the heat and humidity of the South that the winters wouldn't be so bad.  Far from it.  We get lots of rain, some snow and most assuredly ice.  Closing up a pool, especially an above ground pool takes a special knack.

So, I was drafted into helping to close the pool at my neighbor's house.  Now when I owned a pool, it was as simple matter of removing a little water and adding the cover. With him, well, he has this plan to keep the water from collecting on top of the cover.  I am intrigued.  So, in no time I'm pulling that big pile of milk jugs out of the storage and filling them with water.  They will be weights when were done.  

The next step is to create a little pyramid of air pillows for the center which will create an apex and allow the water to run off.  Lots of planning and tying of ropes and re-thinking and only one of us had to get into the COLD COLD water!  (It wasn't me.)

When it was all done, the cover is held firmly in place by the jugs and (hopefully) the water will run off and not collect in little puddles. Little Puddles means stagnant water and stagnant water means mosquitoes next spring so, of course, little puddles are not desired.

It took us 3 hours. We're waiting for the first rain so we can see how well the water runs off.  We may find ourselves out here in a month or two reworking it.  So, anyway....that was my weekend.

...in the South...like you didn't know....