The preparation for another season
I don’t live on a farm, and my contact with the seasons is rather detached. So much so that my markers for the oncoming of winter include such important details as a) the neighbours now have their snow sticks, b) the “abri Tempo” garages are starting to go up (fewer than in other years) and my personal favourite, c) the pool is closed.
I didn’t swim in the “fake cement pond” this year, due to my advancing age and good common sense. It was turned on when the ice was all gone, and it is now in its winter phase before the ice reforms. And, with experience, it takes much less time than it did back when the liner was young.
How we fretted, those first couple of seasons. The very first year, I had everything put away in early September, after attending a seminar at the pool store where sale of chemicals is “job one”. Of course, the warm weather gave plenty of calories to the algae, so that when the ice finally appeared, it was on a firm foundation of soylent green.
The next year, I was better prepared, and I carefully shut things down according to all the best advice available from the neighbours. Better. Also, more work.
Now, with a decade of experience, I dump the water by pump to the street, strip the pipes out and throw a gallon of sweet smelling antifreeze into the ground drain. Quick and dirty. Stick some foam in the strainer, hide the ladder near the barbecue and my pool is ready for the worst nature can throw in. Everything except an ice storm; after a decade the system is no longer insured. If the walls collapse, we take up lawn bowling or petanque. I always wanted to learn “the sport of crazed ex-pat French people”. Steel balls and a keen eye are all that are needed to become an argumentative eccentric.
There you have it. The seasons are progressing, and although I won’t have an igloo again this year, I can be proud of my skill in preparing for winter. A note; we had a skunk in the front yard last evening. One more sign that our neighbourhood is now a mature eco-system.
