The weather this past week has been relatively mild, Bako-wise, with the temperature hovering around 100 for days. It finally crossed the century mark today and we were looking forward to a nice afternoon in the roof-top pool. It was only then we discovered a potentially fatal flaw in our summer relaxation plans...
The pool temperature was 95.
We went in anyhow, and it was OK for awhile. But after about 30 minutes it just felt like a bathtub and wasn't particularly refreshing, so we got out.
Now, the pool has no heater and it's partially in the shade of our trees. And for Bakersfield, it's been a pretty mild summer week in July. That's supposed to change in the coming days as the temperature shoots up to around 110. By next weekend the water temperature will probably be over 100.
Rather than a pool, we may have just installed a 7000 gallon water heater in the backyard.
Something a contractor told me suddenly makes sense. We'd had him out here a couple of months ago to get a quote on pulling out the remains of the old spa. In the end it proved to be too expensive, but he said something that sounded a little kooky at the time and I just let it go. He said he actually spends a lot of his time removing and filling in pools. I asked him why and he said "It's just too hot in the summer for a pool in Bakersfield". I just thought he was insane, kind of my catch-all for the people here. But now I realize he was referring to the water, not the weather.
And it seems to be true. I know a lot of the houses in the neighborhood have pools, but I have never once actually heard anyone using them.
Unless of course, they only use them to cook lobsters.
