My Solar Pool Cover Still Has Some Pop
Solar-powered pool covers also make great bubblewrap playthings.
My backyard– Summer is almost over, and it will be time again to throw on the winter pool cover from the semi-above ground pool I dug with my own hands when I was a mere boy of eight. This aquatic ritual must be done in order to preserve and protect the precious condition of the delicate, vulnerable plastic pool liner for the next pool season–that, and to keep the neighbours’ cats from ending the ninth of their nine lives at the pool’s soon to be frigid bottom (or perhaps I really need to stop using tuna-flavoured pool chemicals).
The harsh Canadian winters can wreak havoc on outdoor recreational equipment, although that could be attributed to when the pool is turned into a public skating rink.
The heavy Winter pool cover is like Saran Wrapping a large bowl of soup, and can be just as tricky to seal the entire thing without having the edges crinkle up, the way grandma showed me how not to do. This is not to compare the pool to a bowl of soup, however this gives me a great idea for the hot tub, and the upcoming family pot luck dinner!
Throughout the summer, we use a solar-powered pool cover to heat the pool, because it’s an energy-saving earth-friendly alternative to heating. Well, I say energy-saving because I’m saving energy, and it’s really only earth-friendly until the pool cover ends up in tatters and then ends up in the local landfill. But because these nifty pool covers are made of the same plastic material as bubble-wrap, me and the kids get to spends hours of fun popping the little bubbles, making them sound off like Chinese fireworks. This also has the positive benefit of scaring the same cats who might otherwise be using the pool as a final resting place.
I’m grateful for the pool-warming heat that these pool covers provide, because it eases the transition between shock and ahhh caused from the temperature differences between the naturally-heated pool and the electrically-heated, soup-warmer-slash-hot-tub. If I didn’t love popping that bubblewrap so much, that pool would probably be even a few degrees warmer…
This brief opinion about pool covers and the endless fun of bubblewrap popping, is brought to you by the soup-loving, cat-friendly writing staff of The Toque, Canada’s leader among living, breathing, Canadian humorists.
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