Ben's comment above, where he says the air is literally yellow fogged with pollen right now, is a good reminder that you don't need trees anywhere near your pool to be a beneficiary of the yellow haze. In our area, when the spruce, fir, and pine trees pop everything gets covered in yellow. The pool surface is like a magnet for pollen.

We've never had the pool thawed this early. In past years it was the end of March/beginning of April before all the ice was gone, and the end of April before the water got warm enough to support algae growth. We're a month early this year. I want to get the equipment hooked up to make cleaning the pool possible because I just do not want to deal with the mess created by stagnant water.

Adding bleach and stirring it in with the skimmer net works fine for a little while but in the absence of a proper chemical balance it's a less than ideal solution. Right now I have no CYA, the pH is at the bottom acceptable value and I'm not entirely convinced it's an accurate reading, the TA is only 40. Must get water balanced!

We have cheap electric rates at night. Running my 2-speed pump on low doesn't even make a dent in the bill. I agree with Ben: having a pool open and needing to maintain it long before you can use it will get old fast but the alternative is watching it get greener by the day. I'd rather not.