My pool is open. The screw I mentioned in a previous post has not turned up, although everything seems to be working right. This was after trying to vacuum it out of the lines with another pump. So right now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that everything will work right.
I shocked it a bunch of times, and now the water is clear. The greenish cloudiness turned to dead algae in the form of little sand-like piles on the bottom. My procedure is usually to take my spare pump and just vacuum this to waste, once the water level gets higher. I have a diatomaceous earth filter, which is great for clearing the water, but in my experience will get plugged quickly when vacuuming sediment, so I just go to waste. I mean, the worst thing that would happen is I would have to regen and put new earth in, but that's kind of a pain.
The pools is about 61 degrees F right now, so not to attractive for swimming. But eventually we'll get a heat wave, and not only will the temperature go up but the cold water will feel good. I've thought about getting a pool heater, or even trying to work out some kind of solar heater, but I'm not sure if it's worth it. Not just for me.
The pool is an excess, and kind of a money sink. I do admit, that if my house hadn't come with it I wouldn't have had it put in. Not this time around, at least. I grew up with a very nice above-ground pool, and if I had a family I would probably get one (or maybe an in-ground). But for now I could probably survive with out it if I had to. Or, at the very least, on one of those temporary pools with the inflatable ring. But since I have my pool, I enjoy it.
It was raining today. Hard. And haling. It started when I was in the office, and there was some nice pounding on the roof. It let up a little, and picked up again after I got home.
So now I got some extra water in the pool, and an excuse to put off mowing for another day or so. It's also cooler out. I think I can get by without running the air conditioning tonight, unless it's too muggy.
The air conditioner I have in my bedroom is nice, but I kind of like not running it if I can. If it's cool enough I can open the windows for some air when I sleep, without the noise.
My pool is green. But, it's clearer after I shocked it. I opened it a few days ago, and it's getting there, but it's got a ways to go before I can really swim in it. It's not hot enough yet outside.
One issue – the skimmer and main drain are connected to each other. There's a little fitting that goes over two openings, one leading to the drain, one to the pump. So you can control the flow of water from the drain, and the skimmer at the intake to the filter. Before installing this, I dropped a screw down one of the openings.
I have a second pump I typically use for vacuuming. My plan is to use this to vacuum the screw out, just by holding the intake hose to each of the two openings. I'd rather try this than have it get stuck somewhere in the piping.
After this, I should be able to get the filter going.
I just dumped a bunch of shock in the pool. The water is too low for the filter, but I've got a spare pump that I'm now using with a couple hoses to just pump water in a circle, to stir. Eventually I'll add more, and will be able to run the skimmer. I could probably cut the skimmer off and run the drain, but I'll just stick with this for now.
The pool stays pretty cold, but it gets up when we have our summer heat wave. I only have air conditioning in my bedroom, so it's a key part of my strategy to remain somewhat comfortable when we get our heat wave. We usually get two or three big ones a summer up here.
It's extra work, particularly with chemicals costing more these days, but I think it's worth it considering I have it. It was a nice perk that came with the house, although I'm not sure I would have had it put in had it not been there.
Today it's reaching the 90s (f), in what might be the first real heat wave of the season. I'm going to go and take the pool cover off, and maybe do some other yard work. Or stay inside and do some cleaning or whatnot.
I use my laptops to browse the web and do other things that tend to be graphical in nature. I also use them for the terminal, sometimes to SSH into another system, sometimes just to edit something using emacs or whatever. Laptops are generally nice, so long as I can fit my hands on the keyboard and have enough screen real estate to do whatever I need. They also tend to use more power than I think necessary for the simpler terminal-based tasks.
The one I'm using now, a Lenovo x131e, uses about 8 watts or so with TLP installed, running from battery. My Dell XPS 15” uses about 6 watts idling on battery, without TLP installed. It only seems to go up a little while browsing the web or working on a document. (Obviously something like Youtube, or a heavier app will use more.)
On the other hand, a Raspberry Pi uses maybe a couple watts. A Pi Zero W I have uses about 1 watt. A display is going to bump this up, as will a USB accessory (the Pi Zero W in this case just has a USB to Serial adapter connected, and is connected to Wifi). But, for typing a text document, or using SSH, I'd like to think a small, basic display wouldn't add too much more. Something like a text-only smart phone.
There are various projects for cyberdeck type things popping up, which I guess are close to this. It doesn't have to fit in my pocket, but being straightforward to use and low-power would be key.
I'm going to head out and build a small fire. Tomorrow I don't have to work, and it's a nice, warm night. Plus, I have a lot of sticks that have build up over time, which I would like to get rid of.
I have an outdoor fireplace, which makes this relatively safe. My yard slopes a little, though, so I have to be careful how I position it. Still, it should be a nice way to spend an hour or two this evening, once it gets going and is stable.
I'm lucky enough where I live that I get to experience the change of seasons. This can be good and bad, depending on your attitude toward inclement weather, particularly snow. But the snow melts, and eventually it gets beautiful and green around here. The weather gets warmer, we get heat waves, and the cooler weather starts to sound nice again.
The funny thing is that as one gets older, I've found, the changing itself can get kind of constant. I still look forward to spring, and summer, fall, and winter, but I know they're coming. Sometimes a surprise comes, like a freak snow storm, or warm weather in December, that's a nice change. But I know that come this December I'll likely be shoveling snow.
This goes for other things in life as well. You're in a situation in which new things come your way, novelties that require new attention, but there's always more of them. I don't think everyone looks at it this way, of course. Sometimes, a more substantial change is needed.
Right now I'm trying to decide just how substantial that should be. I'm thinking about my job in this case. Do I want to move? I kind of do, but I don't. I'm looking at something that would just be a different building, and I look at it with both excitement and apprehension. I think I'm ready for something different.
It's so peaceful at night. Where I live I can hear the sounds of a highway sometimes, and they pick up again early in the morning. But from 11 PM until then, maybe 5 AM or so, it's pretty peaceful.
I'm more of a night owl than I would like. I'm not as much of a morning person as I would like. But sometimes it's worth staying up to see the stars, or watch an eclipse or some other event. Or even just to look at the lights of the town (or the city or wherever you are).
It is starting to get nicer out. The weather has been alternating between nice and wintery, but it's heading more in the direction of nice, spring weather. The trees are starting to get buds, and the grass is looking good. Maybe this weekend I'll take a look at the garden.
The solar is doing well, enough power for casual laptop charging and other uses. This is a simple off-grid system, mostly for fun and occasionally backup power, but I make use of it when the sun shines.