We give up.

We're going to drain the pool.

Jim and I went over there this morning to work on it. Jim devised a clamp for the vacuum filter out of some chain and three bungees. When he got it going it filled up instantly. The filter was clogged with masses of Maggie's hair. After spending an hour in the blazing sun we gave up.

There are several problems with keeping the pool.-
1. It's in Dad's back yard. That's a good enough reason right there. The place is a total crap hole (those 2 dogs generate a LOT). You can't sit on any of the furniture because it's rotted. After spending hours getting the pool cleaned we would have to do a ton of yard work just to be able to stand being there. Supplies end up broken and missing.
2. The expense. We have to buy the chemicals. We'd have to pay Dad for the electricity to run the filter.
3. It's in Dad's back yard (part 2). When we're over there Dad wants to come out and "shoot the bull". There is no one in this world (except for Jim) who knows how utterly sick I am of Dad's endless storytelling. I have to put up with it when I drive him to Loma Linda to his doctor's appointments. We have to put up with it when he comes over 3 and 4 times a day. We have to put up with it when friends come visit and he pops in uninvited, sits down and lassos the conversation. I'd like to go for a nice swim and get some exercise but I don't want to do it with Dad there and I can't very well ask him to stay out of his own back yard. Paige and Lindsay feel the same way.
4. Ken and Sherri have a pool and they're just down the street. They are much more fun to talk to. Dad is almost never there.

So that's it. We tried. When we first moved here I thought that having the pool available would make living here more bearable. Turns out it was just another source of frustration and totally not worth the amount of work involved. Battling a geriatric filter system will suck the life out of you.

Just ask Jim.