Well, that was money well spent.
I'm talking, of course, about the water tank out back, what we once happily referred to as "the pool".
We ended up using it all of three times.
The first miscalculation came in the "refreshing" department. We got the pool in mid July and it took the better part of a day to assemble it and fill it. The next day we went in for our first dip, and it was, in fact, cooly refreshing, water temperature around 80.
But we're talking summer in Bakersfield with constant triple digit temps, and the next weekend when we went climbed in the water was around 96 degrees. As I floated around on a raft at roof level, staring at our air conditioner which was working overtime, it occurred to me that I'd much rather be inside where it was cool rather than sweating on a raft in water that was at body temperature. The next day, we tried again, but ended up spending even less time in the water.
We took a break from the pool for a week or so, but by then the figs had started falling and dissolving into a gelatinous goo and the pool had the consistency of warm spit.
It took several weeks of the boyfriend's best efforts at modern pool chemistry to finally return the water to something that looked non-toxic, but by then the weather had started to turn and so did our attention.
To be honest, I hadn't really given it much thought since then. It had always been the boyfriend's little obsession. I had tried to put the brakes on the whole pool crazy train, and failing that, I made it clear I wanted nothing to do with the maintenance and upkeep.
The other day I was on the floor of the bedroom giving the dogs some quality time, as I do each morning. But this day I noticed something was missing... the low hum of the circulating pump for the pool. It was one of those sounds that just fades into background white noise and you fail to notice it until it isn't there anymore. Come to think of it, I hadn't heard it in days.
Upon inspection, I discovered the filter was not in fact running. And wouldn't run. It was broken. And then I looked at the pool.
The water was a lovely, vibrant shade of green. Not unlike my eyes, which I'm told is my best feature.
The boyfriend came home for lunch and I drilled him about the pool... what are we going to do about it? Rather, what was HE going to do about it? It was now nothing but a mosquito hatchery.
So, that's the task at hand for the weekend... draining the pool. How? I haven't a clue. Not my problem.
