Monday 12 August 2019

August 12, 2019

I've been somewhat absent from posting lately. It's mid August, a bitter sweet time for me. I feel like summer is slipping away, I'm thinking / not wanting to think about returning to the classroom (we go back in early September here), the nights are cooling off, the summer flowers have faded and look bedraggled.

A big part of our time has been taken up with pool issues. Last year, at the end of the season, it became painfully clear that we would need a new liner. We had some significant tears that had been repaired, but were beyond that now. We had such a cold, wet spring this year, and other factors, and it prevented us from getting to the point of getting things ready to order a new liner (we do the installing - we do not have a pool company that does the work for us). The pool was completely drained (not an easy task when it rains nonstop in the spring), detailed measurements were sent away to the company with which we were dealing to order the new liner, frogs were saved.


A pump can only do so much, after that you are working by hand - shop vacs are a beautiful thing!

'Twas a tag team effort, husband pushing the full shop vac up the slope and emptying it into buckets, me carrying full buckets of hideous swamp water up and out of the pool area to dump elsewhere. I got my workout that day!

What's the expression - as mad as a box of frogs? Well, here is a box of frogs. It was sooo hot that day. We managed to save quite a few frogs. A couple made their way back later.

The old liner was pulled out and eventually the new liner was shipped to us. Putting in a pool liner yourself is terrifying the first time you do it. There isn't a lot of room for error. It is slightly less terrifying the second time you do it, as you know which errors to avoid. Last time, I assisted husband. This time, son was available (he was 11 years old the first time - now much more of a help!).


Spiderman son clinging to the sides at the deep end.

There's a whole lot of lying on one's stomach in this part.


Gorgeous new liner being sucked into place by a shop vac (you can't see it in this picture), with water being added to the bottom. Bottom main drain cover has now been put in place by husband. As the water level rises, other intakes and skimmer holes, etc get cut out and re-installed.

Yes, this is all very late to be doing this now, in Ontario, where the main time for pools is June and July, but it could not have been left empty and undealt with through the winter. We will get a few swims out of it before the water becomes too cold and it will be time to "put it to bed" in the fall.

It was husband's birthday two days ago. We went to the drive-in! Drive in movie theatres are going the way of the dinosaur, but we are very fortunate to have one in the little town close to us. It was always a summer tradition to go to the drive-in with the kids when they were little. They would be dressed in their jammies, snacks would be brought, drinks in a cooler, and the van would be backed into place, so the back could be opened up. The kids would snuggle up with blankets and pillows in the back, watching the big screen, husband and I on lawn chairs. Sometimes we would just stay inside the vehicle because it was too cool, or buggy.

When we went two nights ago, very little had changed, there were young (and old) kids running around on the grassy area in front of the screen before the movie started, tossing a football around. Little ones were in their pajamas, ready for when they nodded off before the movie ended. Some people were in the backs of their pick up trucks, with air mattresses and pillows. It's a nice tradition. In the "olden days", of course, you pulled up and attached a speaker to your partially rolled down window.


source

Now, you tune your radio in to a particular station and listen to the movie over your vehicle speakers.
We saw both features, making it a late night! Son was able to join us when he was done work, missing only a little bit of the first movie. Daughter was there for both. Much older, and not dressed in their jammies, but still a nice bit of tradition. We saw "Shaw and Hobbs" with Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham and "Yesterday", the movie about the Beatles' music. Both were good. The first was action adventure, but funny, which is necessary for me because I have little patience for violent good guy, bad buy movies, and the second one was also funny but sweet and I loved the music. I know the Beatles were not my generation's music, but I did go through a phase in university where I bought up tons of their old albums from a used record shop in the city and spent a lot of time listening to my favourites. Do you have a drive-in movie theatre near you?

44 comments:

  1. Hi Jenn,
    What a challenge to get the pool liner out and a new one put in. Glad you could save the sweet little frogs that were living in the pool lol! Summer is going way too fast. I feel like with our move I missed a lot of the summer. Have a good week ahead. xoxo

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    1. Most people do not do their own liners. Some people say we're crazy! The sweet little frogs are easier to catch when it was just the liner with a tiny bit of water / sludge in the bottom. When they get into the pool when it's full of water, they dive down deep and it is almost impossible to scoop them out!

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  2. That is one big pool!Outdoor cinema has just arrived here,usually in pub car parks.I am not tempted to go.Watching films on the tv from a comfy sofa is more my scene.

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    1. A drive-in theatre is a little different, I think. There are drive ways and specific spots to park cars with a great big screen, concession stand, "projection room", and washrooms. It runs in late spring to about early October. It may look like a big pool, but it's just like any other inground pool.

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  3. That pool looked like hard work, but great finish in the end. I enjoyed Yesterday but haven't seen Shaw and Hobbs. Never been to a drive-in. We have outside showings in the park in the summer which I suppose is the nearest to a drive-in where I live and they show old films, not latest blockbusters. Sounds like a fun night for the birthday outing and a bit of nostalgia.

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    1. It was good - we hadn't been at all last summer, and this was the only time we'd been this summer.

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  4. Ah you did miss out on some really hot, wish I had a pool, days in July. Thankfully the task is done & good for (hopefully) years. Fingers crossed there are still lots of hot days to be had. Lucky frogs to be saved. We do have a drive in theatre close by, although we have not been in years.
    ... Mary-Lou =^..^=

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    1. Oh, I know, hottest summer in a great long while and no pool. Oh well, that's how it goes. I do hope it is still hot for the remainder of August and into September.

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  5. What a project to have done it yourselves, Jenn, and a great job as well. I;m sure you will get some warm or even hot days to use it before it's closed up. And, you are ready now for next pool season! Yeah on saving the little frogs too. Belated birthday wishes to your husband and what a great way to celebrate at a rive-in. My parents used to take my brother and I to one in our native NJ many years ago. It's now gone and not any in this area where we live. I do remember the speakers that attached to the car window too.

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    1. There are very few drive-in theatres left here, as well.

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  6. Wow, you made a good job of that pool. Drive-in movies sound like so much fun.

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    1. They are fun - but you are at the mercy of the weather sometimes.

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    1. I know he has a pool. I took note of his use of vitamin C to clean his pool.

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  8. I didn't know you could repair splits in pool liners - good to know. Mine is about the same age as yours and getting very faded. When it was installed I was told it would last twenty years. My response? I'll be in the old folks home by then! Still here.

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    1. Yes, you can make repairs above and below the water line. Husband has done both. But, these tears just got too big. (they are not the ones you see in the photo, those we did so we could drop a tape measure straight down for measuring). I'm thinking twenty years is a bit of a stretch.

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  9. We do indeed but we haven't been in many a year (too many to count).

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    1. It's just a fun tradition - sitting on your couch watching a movie is also nice - and comfortable.

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  10. The new one looks so cool!

    How did you get the water out? Does it just drain out?

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    1. Well, there is a main drain, we also used a pump, and finally a shop vac for the yucky swampy stuff at the bottom.

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  11. That is a massive pool, Jenn! I did not know that there was such a thing as liners like that, with the tile print and suctioned down. Learn something every day...What a job!

    I have great memories of drive-ins when I was a kid; the Starlight and the Sundowner were the ones in my city. They mostly vanished from Australia when the real estate became too valuable and the VCR was invented.

    In winter there was a heater that was hung from the window alongside the speaker. We always went in our pj's but I refused to get out and play before the film started as I was so embarrassed! My brother would always fall asleep in 2 minutes but I'd be glued to the screen from the view in the back of the Volkswagen. I remember blubbering my eyes out when Jesus was left behind on the cross in Jesus Christ Superstar. How could they just get into their Combi van and drive off like that??

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  12. That pool is quite the undertaking. In good shape for next year, I'm sure.

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    1. Yes, next summer will be so much easier and more relaxing!

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  13. I just saw an ad the other day for a scuba diver who will come and repair your pool liner! Your new liner looks great. We do have a drive-in movie theater very close to us. Called the Malta Drive-In, it has been in continuous operation since 1949 so is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year.

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  14. Jenn, the Saver of Frogs! :D

    The new pool liner looks gorgeous.

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    1. Confession: it was husband who managed to catch all the little beggars - but I wanted him to, and was happy to have them saved. I really do like animals and don't like it when they have to suffer.

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  15. Our drive-in closed years ago, but I still have great memories of the one in my hometown. I haven't seen the first movie, but loved Yesterday! Like you, the Beatles were slightly ahead of my time but I enjoyed their music.

    The pool looks great! What a lot of work.

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  16. I was sure I had commented, but apparently not. I love the look of your new liner. May you have many happy hours in it! We used to have a drive in in our area until 1992. Nice memories....(I am sure I wrote that this morning. I wonder if I wrote it and didn't press "publish"?) The Beatles were my generations music. We had fabulous music! Folk, Motown, English invasion, rock n roll......

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    1. I'm pretty sure I've done the same (written a comment but not hit "publish")! I'm the youngest of four siblings and I find I have a greater affinity to their music than that of my own generation. I listened to a lot of Motown as well.

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  17. I just recently found you on Pat's side bar and started reading back a bit. I got back as far as a bit before your birthday. I then decided to wait for your next post before commenting as I had been reading posts that were already past. Then there was a gap and I started to wonder where you had gone. It's good to have you back. I am enjoying your writing.

    That is an amazing job you have done on the swimming pool. I have never seen a drive through movie. I am not sure if we have ever had them here in England. It sounds like a fun family activity.

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    1. Hi and welcome, Carol! I tried to find your blog, but I'm thinking you maybe don't have one. Thank you for reading so many of my posts. I'm not a "post every day" type person - it just depends on how inspired or busy I am, or if I have anything to write about.

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    2. Aw, thank you for trying to find me. I do have a blog - www.carolschickens.com/blog/

      It's mostly chickens, I was interested in your chickens, but sometimes other things such as our garden and allotment. I am passionate about my chickens.

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  18. I knew pools could be a challenge but I had NO idea. Yikes -- that's a job!

    Your husband and I either share or are a day off on a birthday. Happy Birthday to him! We have no drive ins left. I think there is one in Michigan, maybe more but I only know of one. They were fun!

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    1. Hi Jeanie - his birthday is the 10th. I suspect that people who have pool companies come in and install and maintain their pool don't have nearly the challenges! However, that was never in the budget for us and husband has never shied away from a project.

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  19. Drive in theaters...wow, you are right about them. There may be one left in Indiana. You and your family have been busy with the pool...hoping you get some hot days to use it this year. You certainly will next year. I hope we have a better weather pattern next year. Blessings to you and yours, xoxo, Susie

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  20. Wow, those are some great before and after pictures of your pool! It looks amazing now. And I'm so glad you saved those little frogs. :)

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  21. God, that pool liner looks like a hideous amount of work. Too bad it doesn't magically fill immediately after so you can jump right in, all hot and tired.
    Good luck with your new school year. Soooo glad to be retired and not poised at the starting line anymore.

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  22. The new pool liner looks lovely.

    I have always wanted to go to a drive in movie theatre after seeing them in films when I was a kid. It's not really a thing here in the UK but there are some places now that do outdoor film screenings the latest being Bohemian Rhapsody with a tribute band too in the grounds of the castle where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned. We had tickets but I couldn't go as I wasn't well :(
    Hugs-x-

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  23. Wow! Good work on the pool.

    All the best Jan

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