DIY...... The Movement!

     I was off on more DIY chores this weekend.
Still working on my swimming pool.   Its normally clear blue visage had  assumed the look of milky dishwater with a greenish tint.    The leaves on the bottom were barely visible and looked uneasily like a body.    I had opened the filter assembly a couple weeks back and sprayed down the filters.   No, I didn't take them all apart.    The water was very cold so I rushed through it.    You can call it lazy.   I call it basic DIY survival.  
     When I reassembled the contraption the pump pressure wasn't too high at all.   About 18 psi.    Cool!   I let it circulate for hours.       I went out to check the pressure later and found it up to 24 psi.   Hmmmm.     I did notice a lot of dusty looking pollen in the pool water but didn't snap to it till later.    I set the pool on auto circulate for a few hours every morning and hoped the water would slowly clear.    No luck.    The pressure kept climbing and the next moment I had to mess with it was this weekend.   By this time the pressure was up to 30 psi!     I disassembled the filter again to find it totally coated in what looked like gold dust.    Pollen.     This time I totally tore the thing apart, sprayed everything down and cleaned all the crap out.     When I put it back together and test ran it, the pressure was 14 psi.    Way cool.
     I then added 6 quarts of DE material and let it circulate all Saturday.    That evening I added algae killer and then this morning I added a double load of shock.     I even bought a new floating chlorine tablet dispenser and anchored it to a brick in the spa.     I know it sounds weird but my dog Mixie has decided that she must save us all from floating aliens in the spa.    She has killed several chlorine dispensers in the past.    Hopefully the brick will keep the little terror at bay.
-----------------------------------
     The above isn't bragging about my DIY skills believe me.     I have had to do many of these odd jobs twice and sometimes three times due to my inexperience and even ineptness.    If I had just hired a pro it would have been done perfectly the first time I'm sure.     Still, I'm somehow driven to prove that I can do this type of thing.    It's power or empowerment of some sort with the topping of potential money savings.
     Just this weekend I heard from two friends on their DIY projects.    Neither of these guys would normally consider this type of thing so I was surprised to listen to their stories.    Both of these men make their living with their brains, not their brawn.     One dug a 40' trench and replaced a gas line at his pool heater.    Sounded like some serious work.    He spent several days doing the labor and hunting down the parts.    Was it to save some money?    Nah, he could have easily afforded to hire it done.   Of course the money savings is a great perk but that doesn't measure up to the sense of accomplishment he now has.    Money can't buy accomplishments of this nature.
     The second buddy carried 7  yards of mulch in his pickup and hand moved it all over his yard.   His only help was two very cute and skinny little girls.    Not sure if you have ever spread a yard of mulch but I highly recommend it once.    Just for the experience.    7 Yards!   I don't know.    I do know that he has now bestowed a tremendous sense of accomplishment to two little girls.    They and he have just finished a chore that most people would have dodged.    He too could have paid to have it done.   Instead he chose this hard way. 
       CRACK!   (That was a beer opened.   Properly earned and deserved.)
Kudos to the both of you guys.    Maybe what we have here is a movement!    You guys might put manual laborers out of work temporarily.    Just kidding about that.   The people that do that type of thing for a living are very fast and efficient.   Just the opposite of most of us DIY types.
     What we have here is a reclamation of power, muscle, determination, the direction of our money, and the face we show the world and each other.    Nothing feels better than a job done well and done with your own hands, back, and brains.