Resurrection of Pool

Good evening, Internet.

Note Kris, hard at work.

So, as the weather starts to heat up and the air continues to grow more soggy with each passing day, I decided that it was about damn time to set up the Hough family pool.  I didn't want to wait as long as we did last year, waiting until mid-June to set it up (not that we had a choice last summer, what with moving into a new house and all, but still. . .), so we ordered a ground cover off of Amazon and started the long, shitty process of 'getting our swim on.'

"Hey, wait a sec - that's not where you set it up last year, is it?"

Very observant, reader.  No, it's not.  Last year, if you'll be so good to remember, we set up our pool along the side yard, where the ground was flatter.  Unfortunately, we failed to clear the land beforehand, so when we lifted up the pool, we were left with a 13ft-wide, stinking disaster of rotting, dead grass that stunk up the entire yard and took days to clear out.  Oddly enough, this dead patch of filth and disgustingness filled in with awesome grass without the aid of grass seed or fertilizer (don't ask me how that happened), and now our side yard has awesome grass.

In contrast, the area of yard surround-ing our trees is pretty crappy.  In the areas where we dug up trees, we have patches of weeds, areas where the grass didn't fill in well enough, etc.   Not very eye-pleasing in the slightest, and I'm a stickler when it comes to yardwork. Therefore, despite the fact that the ground itself was uneven and full of peril, I decided to place the pool directly off the back porch.

Sure, it took a few days of hacking and slashing through the top-soil, raking up grass, pulling up leftover tree roots and stubborn weeds with my bare hands.  I was sore for days, and my hands covered in cuts and blisters, but, by the end of the week, the earth was flat and ready to rock and roll. . .

These potted plants had been left for dead.  I threw them behind the shed because I didn't seem them springing back to life any time soon.  We had never seen them bloom like this, either, so you can imagine our surprise when, randomly while setting up the pool, we looked back and saw this insanity popping up from the shadows of the shed. . .

While the pool began to fill up, we took a break to head inside.  Kris wanted to try making S'mores for the girls.  Marshmallows, chocolate. . . what kid wouldn't enjoy s'mores, right?

Our kids.

Abby came around eventually.  That didn't surprise anyone.

Alayna, not so much.

I blame the marshmallows, personally.  Kris bought marshmallows that were the size of grown man's head, and somehow deemed them 'legit' to serve betwixt two graham crackers. 

This is a long, nerve-racking process, filling up one of these stupid things.  They advertise the ease of doing so, but it obviously isn't as 'easy' as Intex swears it is.  One has to get down on their hands and knees, smoothing out the bottom of the pool before the water pressure per square inch makes it impossible to eliminate the creases and crevices that can trap and encourage the spread of algae.

Tools of the trade.  (Jesus - I really need new flip-flops)

We resumed filling the pool the next day, waiting to see if any of the water drained out into the yard.  You don't want to discover a leak after wasting hundreds (or thousands) of gallons of water filling up a pool to its brim.

Fortunately the levels held, so we were good to go.

Behold the Summer '13 Hough Family Pool.  I'll have to hit it with calcium, chlorine and stabilizer, but hopefully by next weekend it'll be ready for action.  Stay tuned for what I'm sure will be copious amounts of pictures of my kids swimming. . .

- Brian