I'm Ready For Nice Weather!

[CarlD]

After weeks of snow, followed by days of rain that brought down 3 trees in my yard, one blocking the driveway and one partially blocking the road, I AM READY FOR SPRING!!!!

This has been one miserable winter and I cannot wait to put it behind us!

[Watermom]

ME, TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are finally starting to see signs of spring. The trees are budding, the forsythia is beginning to bloom, seeing robins and finally, it is warming up. Of course, we are now dealing with flooding in the area. On top of the melting snow, we got several inches of rain in 24 hours this weekend. The rivers are all swollen and a lot of flooding. At least two people in the area dead after being washed away by floodwaters. One was a volunteer firefighter trying to help people and his boat capsized. The haven't found his body yet I don't think. I live on the top of a mountain, so don't have to worry about the floodwaters. But in the winter when it snows I don't like having to slide down.

At any rate, I'm with you Carl. It is time for this winter to end.

[chem geek]

Got my solar turned on last week when the water was 53F and it's up to 65F already and still climbing. We'll probably fire up the gas heater and start swimming sometime in April. Can't wait! :)

Richard

[aylad]

Air temps here are finally in the mid to high 60s during the day, still getting into the low 40s at night. Have lots of weeds blooming in the yard, but everything is still pretty wet.

I at least see the light at the end of the tunnel!
Janet

[AnnaK]

It was in the mid-60s here yesterday and I just saw on the weather report that it might get to 70 today. After 6 months of cold, grey skies, snow, ice rain, high winds and just plain nastiness this balmy day will be a real treat!

Last October I planted some spring bulbs in pots and set them in my garage. I kept them moist by dumping a few handsful of snow on them every now and then and, during the dreariest time in February, I moved them on my covered porch. At the beginning of March I saw the tiniest little green shoots poke through the soil and a week later the blue iris were blooming. I can't begin to tell you how that lifted my winter depression!

The ice floe in the pool is nearly all gone, probably will be thawed by this afternoon. Well, okay, maybe not all of it but I can break large pieces off with the skimmer pole and swish them around to make them melt faster. There are some leaves on the bottom and lots of bracts and as soon as the plumbing is connected again I'll be able to vacuum.

This year I'll be more careful and will try not to fall in.

AnnaK

[CarlD]

Spring has sprung!
Th' grass is rizz!
I wonders where the flowerz iz?

[aylad]

Well, we HAD flowers down here in Northern Louisiana due to the 70 degree weather for the past week...until it SNOWED again today! Now they say it's going back up to the 70s for the rest of the week......

Janet

[aylad]

Amazing....this time yesterday it was snowing, today it is currently 68 degrees and beautiful outside. Gotta love Louisiana weather!!

Janet

[AnnaK]

It is simply astonishing that you had SNOW in northern LA!

We've had a few really nice days here in PA but today it was just pouring. And even though I'm itching to get my garden in I know the ice storms will come in April just about the time when the trees have fat buds and leaves on them. It never fails.

Anna

[aylad]

It's great to see you back around the forum, Anna!!

Today is beautiful, 74 degrees, and we're headed for the horses this afternoon when the girls get home from school. Finally have a case of Spring fever and hope we've seen the end of the cold stuff for this year!!

Janet

[AnnaK]

Thanks for the 'welcome back', Janet. Once I started reading through some of the older posts here I realized how much I had liked the warmth and fellowship here.

Has anyone heard from Lisa?

Anna

[Watermom]

I'm here! Still on one of my chemo drugs taken orally every day and also recovering from my surgery. Kinda slow going though which according to my surgeon is pretty typical for someone who previously had radiation. She said surgeons don't really like to operate on someone who has already had radiation because you don't know how well they are going to heal. She is also referring me for physical therapy. After having lymph node surgery twice now, I am having some range of motion issues. And, as if I need something else, I am having pain in the calf of one of my legs. Had an ultrasound looking for a blood clot a week ago but nothing showed. They may want to repeat it as sometimes it isn't found on the first try. The other thing it may be (and what I actually think it most likely is) is a bulging disc in my spine causing some sciatic nerve pain. As long as it doesn't rupture like I had happen about 9 years ago. It was EXTREMELY painful so hoping that doesn't happen. Not sure what I hope it is. Blood clot or disc problem? Neither one is a very good choice. At any rate, I'm doing ok and ready for spring! Thanks, Anna, for asking!

Lisa

[CarlD]

Hurting, in pain, AND this lousy weather? Ouch! We had a few gorgeous lovely days after lots of storms, then more storming and lousy weather. We lost three trees just over a week ago.

[AnnaK]

It sure was good to hear from you, Lisa! Though I am sorry to read about the aches and pains and all that in addition to what you're already going through. I have sciatica now and then as a result of a slipped disc and OUCH! You have my sympathies!

No robins here yet but the forsythia have that distinct yellowish tinge they get just a couple of days before the blossoms open. And the lilac buds are about to burst.

We opened out pool over the weekend. That's just a manner of speaking because we don't cover it over winter. We connected the plumbing and are in the process of topping it off it from the well which will take several days. The tests I did this afternoon are all within acceptable ranges, FC is way low, of course, so I think I'll go dump in a bottle of bleach and stir it up with the leaf net. Gives me something to do on a sunny afternoon and keeps me off the streets, as they say.

Anna

[Poconos]

The stupid robin birds arrived here a couple weeks ago and unlike prior years, the day after was nice with no ice. Got all my equipment hooked up yesterday and the only thing I'm dealing with is a tiny leak at the pump outlet fitting. We're supposed to get a little snow in the next couple days though. Won't last, temps are too high but at night it will dip into the 20's. Probably will take the plow off the tractor and put the mower deck on in the next couple days. I sure am enjoying warm days for a change. Yes, 50's seem warm.
Al

[AnnaK]

Sigh.

The weather is messing with my head and I am not happy! This business of opening in March is great and all but then the weather people tell me it's gonna drop to 22 F tonight and all I can think of is the water that's now in my pump and filter.

We haven't done a leak check yet, haven't run the pump yet, I'm contemplating plugging in a heating pad to cover the pump. Pardon me, but this sucks!

Is a night's worth of 22 F enough to crack the PVC pipes?

[Poconos]

Can you just run the pump? Water in pipes has to freeze solid before they break. The temp probably won't be low enough and long enough to do damage. The mass of water in the pump and filter won't even come close to freezing in one night. If your gauge is on the filter you'll probably lose that. It's a low thermal mass and water in the tube will freeze and screw up the zero and calibration. Cheap to replace or if it's good now just unscrew it and take it inside. If you have a multiport valve on top of the filter put the handle in an intermediate position to let water drain out of the valve assembly. Being north of you all I plan to do tonight is wake up around 3 and run the pump for a couple minutes and go back to sleep. Being lazy I'll just put the laptop by the bed and won't even have to get out from under the covers to do this.
Al

[AnnaK]

We did get enough water in the pool to run the pump on low. No leaks, oh yay! I took the opportunity to dump in a large bottle of bleach and get that whole process started. The chems tested out pretty much as expected except the pH is kind of high at 8.2 but the water is really cold still so that might not be an accurate measurement.

Now, as to your remote controlled pump, I am so impressed!!! But why are you waking up at 0300? Can you not activate some sort of timer software to turn the pump on and off? That way you could snooze right on through.

[Poconos]

Certain things should have human intervention like looking at the pressure to make sure nothing is frozen. I do have a mechanical timer on it too but don't use it much. At 9:45 it's already down to about 30.
Al

[AnnaK]

Brrrr! Cold night, 24 F when I got up this morning.

Do you have a webcam on the pressure gauge?

[Poconos]

19 here last night and yes, can look at most stuff in the poolhouse.
Al

[CarlD]

We had sub-freezing the last couple of days as well. Now it's warming again a little.

[Watermom]

We are having rain and upper 50s to low 60s today and maybe tomorrow but supposedly 80 on Friday and Saturday and lots of sunshine all week.

[aylad]

Ah, we're back in the 70s again!!! Wishing that my installer would get here and put in my new liner!!!

Janet

[CarlD]

Weather s***s again. Rain and the dogs are a mess.

[Watermom]

We had a gray day with sprinkles today but weather i supposed to improve all week. Sunny and 80 by the weekend. Can't wait!

[simsjim]

Me too, but I couldn't wait. I pulled the cover off this past weekend. Water looked good. A toasty 54 degrees. :D Some worms and a few leaves and 'leaf-dust' in the bottom, but other than that, pretty clear. PH was suprisingly close to 7.4, but I want to bring it up a bit before I start to chlorinate. Every year at this time I contemplate getting a heat pump......