Summer Ending? Well, Alright.

Now I'm afraid I will have to concede that summer is definitely over. It's not because school has started. It's not because our daytime temperatures have dipped by forty degrees. It's because the swimming pool has now been drained. We thought that we could maybe get one more warm stretch of weather to use it, but at this point, it would take another ninety degree week to amply warm the water. The water would have been great to chill a dozen kegs or so, but we don't have that many friends, so the draining commenced.

There actually was one sole who thought he could still enjoy a night swim in the frigid waters, but he learned the hard way that swimming at night is dangerous.

Sorry PETA, but we did have a sign that said, Pool Closed.

This is the first year we have had a pool this size. I quickly found out that a pool of this size requires a little more work to put away for the summer. Once the water was drained, I tried to prop it up on the swing set to dry. I could barely drag it to the swing set. I opted to spread it out on our hill to dry. I also found out that pools like this one don't do the lawn any favors. I now have a fourteen foot diameter brown crop circle that smells like a barn. Sweet Pea was mad because she couldn't play in the backyard anymore because of the smell. Her highness can also feel a pea under a dozen mattresses.

Now I have to scrub down the pool with bleach because of the mysterious growth on the bottom. The pool's bottom, not mine. I don't know where the pool will go once it is cleaned, dried and folded. It's pretty heavy when all rolled up. I'm sure it won't go back in the box. Maybe, I can fill it up in the basement and have that indoor pool I've always wanted. Lady Di says our basement already has enough 'smells' and doesn't need to add 'barn' to the list.

We'll have to see how the summer treats us next year. If it is as hot as this summer, we should get our money's worth of swimming.

Although, I think next year I will hire a pool boy.