Better late than never, we took our first swim of the season today. It’s nice to finally be using the pool, because it makes the hassle of maintaining it seem more worthwhile. It’s not quite worth all the effort and expense IMHO, but still, it is nice to be able to hop in the pool on a hot day. And when it’s not full of leaves and other assorted crap, it’s nice to look at too.

I got a pleasant surprise when I uncovered the pool this morning.. the algae clinging to the diagonal hopper walls was almost totally gone. So, it appears that repeated brushing and superchlorination is the ticket to getting rid of this stuff. Apparently I don’t need a steel-bristled brush after all (although it may hasten the process, so I may pick one up anyhow). In future years, I’ll try to be a little more faithful with the off-season chlorination so the algae won’t take hold like it did this year.

Also, I made a test cut in the pool deck with my new diamond blade. And I must say, it cuts very easily — much more easily than I expected. As I suspected, the circular saw doesn’t cut quite deep enough. However, I can now go ahead and rent a larger concrete saw with the confidence that it’ll do the job. The current plan is to take a day off this week (work schedule permitting) and do it. Still not quite sure how I’ll do the curved sections. I’ll figure something out I hope.