Precious pool parts

It's November and we're finally getting ready to close the pool for the winter.  We made a HUGE mistake last year by not following our usual steps in getting it closed and it was very difficult getting the water right this spring.  We vowed to not let that happen again.

Our problem is finding the time to get the chemicals we need and then finding a couple days in a row where the pump can run, pool can be swept, chemicals added, pump running a little longer, adding more chemicals and then finally closing.  Last weekend I took in a water sample and bought the required chemicals needed to get the water where it needed to be to finish the process.

Jay was planning on vacuuming one last time this week and then adding the chemicals.  This morning, Lane looked out the patio doors and said, "Uh-oh.  Is Hank supposed to be chewing on that?"  I proceeded to the door very curious about what the Precious could've found...I was racking my brain trying to remember what I could've left outside and within reach.

And there it was...the piece that is vital to the functioning of the pool vacuum.  The piece that connects the hose to the skimmer.  You cannot run the vacuum without it because it creates the suction necessary to suck the gunk up.  It now lies on my deck in about 300 little pieces.

I'm barely even phased anymore by Hank's shenanigans.  But here we are ready to finally get that project wrapped up and now we'll have to seek out a new pool part.  Jay worked last night and had crashed before the mess was discovered so I haven't even broken the news to him yet.  I'm sure he'll notice when he goes out to work on the pool and can't find that piece.

Funny thing, Lane wasn't concerned at all about the pool part.  Lying just to the left of the pool part pieces was the top to a sprayer, the sprayers we used to cool the pigs this summer in the heat.  Lane was all about that sprayer and being glad he had another one.  Hmm, I'm okay with that one right now, I don't think we'll need those to cool the pigs anytime soon.

You know you always hear people talk about how expensive a pool is, how much the chemicals and parts cost, what a pain it is to keep the pool in working order, buying the pool floats year after year, all the time spent on maintaining the pool...it's not the pool that is our problem, no, our problem is the Precious.