The weather is finally starting to turn fall-like. Yesterday evening, under the lights, Andrew and I took the ceremonial final swim of the 2011 season. We beat last year’s date, September 26, by 3 days. The kids’ first swim was on May 22, the same day we uncovered the pool. That made for a swim season of just over 4 months. We’ll put the winter cover on this weekend. Looks like our now 4-year-old record late swim date, October 9, is going to stand for another year. It’s anybody’s guess when it’ll be broken.
September wasn’t a good swimming month. The persistent damp, dreary weather kept the water temperature under 80° for most of the month. The pool was only used twice after Labor Day, last night and Monday 9/12. The water temperature last night was around 78°, which as I’m fond of saying, is great for swimming laps, but a little cold for anything else. Andrew, our 5 year old fish, was game to get in, but it was too cold for Michael and Mom. We stayed in for around ½ hour.
Next Spring, we are looking at getting the pool remodeled. New waterline tile, new coping, new plaster, new skimmers, some structural work, and other minor repairs. The pool will need to be drained and sandblasted. It won’t be cheap, but the end result should be very nice, and it’s certainly overdue for it.
Turns out the 29th wasn’t the last swim of the season after all. On 10/1, I was working on closing the pool for the season, and I found that the ladder in the deep end was stuck in the pool deck. Normally I grease the ends of the ladder so it won’t be too much of a pain to pull out. But this year, we got so much rain that it washed all the grease off, and I could not get the ladder to budge. I had to get in and unbolt the ladder rungs, so I could twist each side of the ladder free of its respective mounting hole. The water was 72°, which is pretty chilly, but it felt warm relative to the 55° air. Given that it wasn’t a *voluntary* dip in the pool, I think I should still consider the 29th as the last “official” swim of the season. 🙂