This was going to be the big reveal. 

I’ve done it countless times, yet each year it’s different. The moment arrives on a weekend because that gives enough time to deal with whatever is under the cover. It arrives when it’s sunny; it’s warm and there’s little to no wind.

Sunday was reveal day. 

I hadn’t sent invitations, besides no one would find this exciting and they knew they’d get roped into assisting. I gathered the necessary tools including one motor, a plastic tube with a tooth at one end, a can of WD 40, a leaf blower, a four-foot section of half inch line, a wrench and a wheelbarrow.

I slipped the tube over the first or three dozen fasteners, rotating it until the tooth engaged with the rim of the stainless steel spring applying tension to the strap at the other end. Now free of the fastener, the spring went limp and the reveal started. By the third spring, the cover started to come free. The water looked remarkably clear and (from what I could tell) only a few leaves had made it beyond the cover. That hasn’t always been the case which calls for scooping out gobs of gooey rotting muck laced with drowned worms and broken sticks. I wouldn’t be faced with that, thankfully. 

But another condition was revealed, one that I have yet to solve. The customarily blue sides and bottom of the pool were green, a verdant dark green that put my lawn to shame. Experience told me this would have to go and to get started I would need to install the pump, open the pipe to the skimmer – the rope would make it handy to free the plug – and secure connections to the filter.

For those who read enough of how to open a swimming pool, move on to the letters or the editorial. But if you’re looking for insights on battling algae, carry on.

I’m not fond of chemicals, especially if you plan to swim in them. In addition, chemicals can be expensive. However, I have learned if you want to fight algae that has been growing in a pool for months, short of draining the pool you’re going to need chemicals.

I found – or at least I tell myself – a way of reducing the chemicals and naturally cleaning the pool. By the time I take the cover off, pool water is up to the rim. It’s water I need to drain. It’s also water I can use to clean the pool. Having hooked up the pump, I then vacuum the pool but -- instead of directing the flow through the filter -- it goes directly to waste. The pool level recedes and with it goes the algae. 

 I went for my plan, which started off fine until a green cloud stirred up by the vacuum enveloped the pool. The water level was where I wanted it so I switched from waste to filter and blindly vacuumed. Soon the pump was straining and I needed to backwash. 

I shut down the pump and positioned the valve to backwash and turned on the pump. Fountains gushed from connecting pipes. The motor groaned. I had failed to open the outlet to the backwash. This was going to require surgery, but the pool store wasn’t open. I still had the wheelbarrow to roll the cover to the garage, so I did that. 

The pool was green and far from clean.

And you guessed it. I don’t care for chemicals and I’ve always liked the color green.