Not the Pool!

Last night we went out to Grapevine Mills to eat and see The Dark Knight. We left at 6, and the pool pump typically comes on at about 6:15. We got home at mid-night, and the driveway and side yard were flooded. We knew that that wasn't a good sign, and raced to the backyard to find this in the pool.

Here is a closer shot of the stairs. The pool had been wasting water for 6 hours! I couldn't believe how low it was, and I went into slight panic mode because we're having a beach pantie party (without the panties...long story!) on Friday, and I was scared that the pool was going to be out of commission.

This happened a few months ago, and it was something as easy as a spring in the filter. It only costs $5, but when it is rusted through, it causes a lot of problems. We were happy to quickly find the problem, unfortunately, we had to order it last time because it's not something the stores stock. Enter panic attack number two. Without this spring, we can't filter. If we can't filter, we can't add chemicals. Without chemicals, the pool turns green.

Case in point!

We ran to Leslie's hoping that they didn't close at 4 on Sundays. We got there at 3:54 and saw that they were open until 5. Good news! As they were looking for another part we needed, we talked to the guy about getting the spring in. He said it would take 7-10 business days. Bad news! After talking to them for a while and trying to figure out what to do next, they decided to call around and see if anyone had any in stock. Colleyville did. Apparently someone had cancelled their order, so it was sitting in the store. Good news. It was now 4:18, we still had to check out with out other items, and we were in Mansfield. Bad news. We decided to try, so we raced out to Colleyville, hitting all but one of the 10 or so lights that we passed. This surprised me because we were on the major street, and a lot of the lights we ended up stopping for were residential or coming out of shopping centers.

When we pulled up to the light before the store, there was another man in the left turn lane. He whipped into the empty parking lot that we were driving into, and I thought it would be really funny if he too were trying to get to Leslie's before closing time. Turns out, he was. Not only that, but he also came straight from Mansfield. That cracked me up.

Anyway, we got the part, Mitch fixed it, and we have been filling the pool with cool water now since 3:15, so about 4 1/2 hours. Crisis averted!!!