By golly, it works!

My husband happily informed me this morning that the new solar heater for our pool actually works. (I already knew that because I had it on all day yesterday before I swam in nice 88 degree F. water in the afternoon.)

It had gotten down to around 59 degrees F. last night so the pool water was around 84 degrees under the solar blanket. brrrrrr

At 8:21 this morning, this was the outside temperature (the top reading).

(Click on pictures to make larger.)

At the same time, this was the reading outside on the platform:

I am so relieved that we apparently didn't waste our money and the darned thing actually works as advertised. We shall see, however, how much longer in the season we can really swim before we turn into icicles.

Now that you are all thoroughly bored over my enthusiastic ramblings about our pool, we shall go on to a much more enjoyable topic: more company coming.

Yes, on Wednesday of this week daughter + 3 will be the first arrivals of the day. Then we can expect Jimmy and Sandy, and son Brian, Reva, and son Brandon. On Saturday, our son-in-law will be arriving for the day. We will have the pleasure of everyone's company until they all have to take off on Saturday. And won't we have fun doing all the usual things -- eating, swimming, laughing, talking, watching movies, playing with the kids, and maybe some visits to the Amish? Who knows what we will do.

Sandy and company will be arriving on motorcycles so our yard will again look like we are holding the Sturgis rally here. The Little Sturgis rally was held last week starting on Thursday, and all we could hear and feel for four days was the deep, throaty rumble of cycles as they passed through our one-horse town. The Little Sturgis rally is held in Sturgis, KY, which is 23 miles down the road. Our town is the last place for bikers of all kinds to gas up, use the bathroom, get a cold drink, eat, or just rest before they hit the infamously rowdy biker scene down the road apiece. Yep, you see 'em dressed all kinds of ways. Especially cute are the ones you KNOW are weekend warriors trying to look so hip. Some even sport tattoos and wear leather.


And for those who plan to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love, wear your helmets:

If you're in our neck of the woods this weekend, y'all come on down. The food'll be good, the water warm, and the company mighty fine. There'll even be a place for your bike, if you're so inclined.

Our quest for heat

Excuse No. 1: Why I haven't been blogging

Husband and I have been working on something for the last several weeks. This project (another of my brilliant ideas that was a "I want vs. I need" project) began as a small investment and has subsequently turned into a money pit.

The project I'm speaking of is the purchase and installation of a solar heater for our pool.

Prior to actually purchasing this relatively inexpensive device, we pondered about whether we wanted it, what the benefits would be, and where we would put it. You have to have a southern exposure with direct sunlight for at least six hours a day for it to be useful. Our southern exposure is shaded by a very large tree. So, we had to come up with an alternative location.

We finally decided that the most effective way for it to work would be to build a 4 foot by 20 foot platform that was at least as high as the pool. This ensured that the solar panels would receive the most amount of sunlight all day. After deciding how we wanted to build this platform, we made a basic list of the lumber and supplies we needed. Then we measured, re-measured, placed stakes for corners, and made sure everything was square and level. It was hot, sweaty, hard work.

Then I called the "call before you dig" number at the telephone company because our telephone line is allegedly buried in our yard and apparently lies directly under our platform. Meanwhile, we rented a one-man auger -- the back breaker -- to dig the eight holes for the posts. We only had one day so we had to get this portion of the project completed and return the horrible machine. Boy, were we glad to get that baby back to the rental store. That done, the "call before you dig" lady showed up on Monday. To our complete surprise, our telephone line was actually buried under our pool and under our deck steps. Ugh!!!

Husband finally got everything connected per the instructions. The next problem resulted when he actually turned the pump on again. One hose completely blew and all the other connections leaked. Back to the plumbing stores to get new connectors and valves.

To make a long story very short, the project is now complete. My hunky pool man worked like a dog and this is the result of all his hard work.


This has turned into a "Rube Goldberg" project. The end result definitely DOES NOT look like the picture on the box or online when we originally researched this.

Our pool pump now looks like this.

We have PVC hoses and valves snaking everywhere. It should be really interesting when we try to use the weedeater in this corner.

Here is husband making one final adjustment.

Phase 2 of this project involves building a shelf the length of the platform and enclosing the entire thing. This will be used for storage of our pool and gardening supplies. We will get this done when our money train rolls into the station after the first of the month.

I've procrastinated enough today so I guess I will get off the computer and do something useful. Time to go swimming.

My hunky pool man

Some people are lucky that they have a hunky guy come over to clean their pool who wears a sexy bikini and brings them mai tai's as they lounge around.

This is what I get.


Oh, well. At least I don't have to contend with a lot of bugs and other gunk while I swim. I guess I could go get my own drink and maybe one for my hunky pool guy.

You can come over and swim with us if you're in the neighborhood.

Where, oh where, have I been?

I've been home, with husband, piddling around the house. We're watching our pennies because gas has gone through the roof and we expect it to get worse. We filled up our van today and it cost $44.00 for 15 measly gallons of gas. We've been working on the garden and the yard, trying to overcome all the damage from our April frost. Things are looking better around here but we're still pretty disappointed. I noticed some of our irises were blooming today.



We have several other varieties planted in the same patch, but these are the only two colors that bloomed. We had a few Paperwhites to bloom but nothing like they usually do.

Thanks to those who have asked where I've been this past month. To tell you the truth, I faced a hurdle and just couldn't get past it. I think I'm better now, so thanks for thinking of me.

(Double-click on pictures to enlarge.)

Daughter Alipurr at her baby shower on April 28
Only about 28 days to go before Baby Boy is welcomed to this world

Little Sister and Dancer Girl were very helpful
in helping mommy open her gifts

Both girls couldn't wait to play with the pull toy
we got Baby Boy

Daughter had a great time at her shower and many of her friends attended. She received some really nice (and useful) gifts for the baby. We were very happy to see the girls again. They had been sick quite a bit since the middle of March and the shower was the first opportunity we had to see them since then.

Husband has opened our pool for the season but it's still too cool to swim. I can't wait. I'm looking into getting solar panels to heat the pool and extend the swimming season. Although Spring is my favorite season of the year, I also love the hot summers spent swimming and lounging around the pool on our deck. (So, if you come to visit us, that's probably where you'll find us.)

Some of the annuals we planted yesterday in front of the house

To tell you the truth, I was actually at a place where I thought about shutting down my blog for good. I asked myself if I wanted to continue, and the answer was no, I didn't want to stop blogging. I took a little time for myself and now I'm back -- a little worse for wear -- but still sane. I hope you will continue to visit me (during my hiatus I didn't stop reading your blogs but I might not have left comments) and I will continue to visit you. After all, where would I be if I didn't blog? I would be all alone with husband and seven cats and that ain't good for my temperament. Ask husband. He can tell you how grouchy I've been lately.

Just before it started raining (again) this evening