During the Self Imploding Potential Renter Days........

As that comedy was in its first act, 'dump day', Susan vs. Pool began. During the time the guy was suppose to show at 0900 and when they appeared much later, I decided it was time to take off the pool cover and geo started. I bought this pool cover at the end of the season of the first year I was POOL SOLO. Taking the cover off in the spring was its final act of my Dad's I CAN FIX THAT mode for the cover above. One of the last times my Dad closed the pool.  That cover had been used for years. He had patched it into 'where is the cover?' mode. Although the pool isn't directly under any trees naturally we still end up with leaves on the cover. Due to the field north of the property which often yields field corn, we also get corn stalks and leaves. Branches, which I obsessively pick up in the yard daily, also find their winter vacation home on it. Now and then a squirrel, mice, voles get stuck and freeze to death. So cleaning a cover off in the spring is always fun. My Dad always anchored the cover with field stones, railroad ties, cinder blocks and bricks. HEY, WHY SHOULD I BUY ANYTHING I HAVE ALL THIS STUFF JUST LAYING AROUND.

The first year it took me 2 weeks to store the anchoring material, the same 2 weeks to capture all the goodies on top of the cover and 3 dozen or more fillings of the wet vac to remove the remaining debris. THEN....Stuff still gets in the pool despite the cover. But when I finally got the cover off after a Olympian struggle including getting in the green cold water and pushed the cover out....oh always some water which tumbles off the cover, then I faced lots of leaves in the pool. Oh yea, leaves + corn stalks + branches + creatures. Why more than normal amounts? Because the 'patches' put year after year on the pool cover-WITH DUCT TAPE- flopped around still attached but NOT over the holes any longer.

Another week of fetching all of the above out of the pool and dribbling water from the hose in, I had the water level ready to fire up the filter.
When the deaths door cover was off, between other tasks, and spread out over the yard I took my revenge. With a pair of shears I cut it up. A few pieces of usable size was the result and the rest into the trash. Why you might ask did I keep pieces of this 'dear departed cover'. My father's daughter? Hm, bet I will be able to use that! On what? No clue. When? No clue. I just knew that the moment I threw it away I WOULD NEED IT. So neatly folded I put it with the tarps. Tarps? The ones my dad used, the ones which where shredded beyond use-I can fix that-, the new tarps still in cover-because they are a good buy.

So at the end of that year I would need a pool cover. When that time came I took the measurements of the widest/longest points of the pool and ordered a cover to fit. And it arrived, the pool cover that could cover Asia. The pool cover which I could rent out for the a pavilion at the next Royal Wedding. I watched the pool guys wrestle it open, into place and anchor it down with those 2 compartment bags filled with water and laid around the pool to keep the cover secure.

Last summer pool people took it off, rolled and stored.

In the fall I got it from where I stored it, unrolled it, and put it on. And last week fully rested I suited up to deal with the pool cover.......while the Duo of Disaster began their self destruction.

Now this was one of the several days of temperatures in the 90s. And this 'pool cover that could cover Asia', heats up faster than a gas stove on high. In my head I can hear my Dad yelling...."THE LAWN hurry and get it cleaned up and moved-its going to kill the grass!" But remember the 'Duo'?. It was about this point I turned around and saw they had arrived and were in the midst loading the first dump load. So I went over-noting from the previous post they didn't seem to need me-so went back to the cover. Sprayed it down at which point they asked me a question. I went back and answered them at which point we discussed how we would handle payment for dump runs....they left. I went over and started to flip the cover, mentally covering my ears for the inevitable fit from beyond. But as I was attempting to spread the cover to the other side to rinse it and midway I picked up the edge it wasn't heat or steam that emerged, it was smoke. I then hauled ass to drag the monster to the front yard under a tree where I spread it out, out of the sun and away from potential combustion. As I walked around the LH back toward the yard there it was.

A PERFECT RECTANGLE. {Its amazing how loud a bellow from beyond can be}. I'd killed the grass. Dead.

Being my normally creative self, I thought? If someone were to ask I could say I'd come up and there it was, an Alien Crop Circle. Of course the next question would be "Then why it is a perfect rectangle." Certainly I could find some creative way to explain the uniqueness of this particular crop circle. But, I went onto my next explanation....this had been the recent site of a Royal Wedding and when they brought down the awning~THEY had left it too long and it burned the grass. THEY planned to pay me for both the rental of the tarp as well as the damage to the lawn. OK then, how about, it was a one of a kind piece of performance art on the subject of geometric shapes.

But, no one was around but me and no one lived there at this point. My Dad? He wasn't going to buy any of those stories. "Yep Dad, I killed the grass. But it will grow back, trust me." I can hear it now "FORGET IT, NEXT TIME I'LL DO IT MYSELF"
Well, back to finish uncovering the pool.