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Farewell 2011 Pool Season
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…
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Battle of the Bulge
Well, as it always seems to now, summer has arrived in May in the Mid-Atlantic. We opened the pool last weekend, and the water temperature is already pushing 80°. By Sunday, it’ll likely be up to 82 or 83. Amusingly enough, we had the cover off the pool at 9:30am and the kids were in…
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Odds and Ends
We closed our pool this past Saturday, 10/2, and not a day too soon. Less than 24 hours after we put the safety cover on, it was completely covered with leaves. Our final swim of the season was Sunday, 9/26, which although a couple weeks shy of our all-time record, was still pretty late, considering…
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Long Sleeves
Not much noteworthy about today’s ride, except that I wore a long sleeve jersey, for the first time since probably May. As hot as this summer has been, I didn’t think this day would ever arrive. Won’t be long, and I’ll be griping about how cold it is and how I wish I could get…
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Snowpocalypse
Unfortunately, Snowpocalypse 2010 has put the brakes on bike commuting for the time being this winter. If I can’t do it safely, I don’t do it, and the roads are not in good shape for biking. I’ll be back out as soon as some of it melts, and/or I can find a safe route to…
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This morning’s fun
Today’s pool maintenance fun.. Spend 30 minutes with the leafmaster, vacuuming up all the junk at the bottom of the pool from the storms last night. Achieve pleasant sense of accomplishment and well-being as I begin to remove the leafmaster from the now-clean pool. Watch leafmaster bag separate from leafmaster as I’m pulling it out…
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This and That
So.. another summer is upon us. Howard County schools finally let out at the end of this week. I remember when I was a kid, summer vacation was almost 3 months long, and now it’s down to barely two. Instead, there are tons more random days off during the school year, for “professional teacher work…
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Chlorine Generator Manifold Repair
I’m in the process of installing a salt-water chlorine generator (model DIG-60 from AutoPilot) for my swimming pool. As part of this, I need to plumb the salt cell in downstream of my filter. The cell is part of a big inline manifold which includes a 3lb spring check valve. The valve’s purpose is to…
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Gorilla Glue Test
We have an automatic cleaner for our swimming pool. It’s the kind that runs on water pressure and uses a booster pump. I have kind of a love-hate relationship with it. When it works, it works great, but when it doesn’t, I’m constantly swearing at it. It’s got a lot of moving parts (belts, gears,…
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O.C.
Here we are in lovely Ocean City, MD for Thanksgiving. You know you’re getting older when it becomes more appealing to go to O.C. this time of year than in the summer. It’s nice and laid-back here, although not surprisingly, a lot of the seasonal places are closed. Can’t wait to see what Avon, N.C.…