Stuck with a Pool?

We are looking for house and most of the houses in the area have the freaking pools.

Two questions:

1. What can you do with the pool in your backyard if you don't like swim?

2. How hard is it to learn basic swimming, ie basic arm stroke and kicks in freestyle? I can do either, but just can't do them at the same time.

Since you're in Texas, I'd go with large freshwater aquarium. Throw in a few hundred pounds of lava rock, dechlorinate, keep at 70-80 degrees year round, throw in a couple hundred "assorted African cichlids" and let the colonies form. Yes, I'm serious.

Get a kick board and learn to do the kicking motion of freestyle really well while taking your arms out of it. And/or learn to breast stroke which may be an easier stroke for you to learn quickly. Get your daughter real lessons and at least consider them for yourself as well. Its never too late to learn to swim decently!

Chris M wrote:Get a kick board and learn to do the kicking motion of freestyle really well while taking your arms out of it. And/or learn to breast stroke which may be an easier stroke for you to learn quickly. Get your daughter real lessons and at least consider them for yourself as well. Its never too late to learn to swim decently!

Funny you mention to get Lucy real swim lesson. She was at 4 years old check up and her pediatrician strongly advocated we taught her swim for safety. He believes swimming is must in Texas due to the heat and lack of mountain for any other activities etc. She had been well trained since.

Last year, she scored a goal in a summer camp soccer scrimmage and came home claiming she wanted to play soccer instead.

When she didn't want to go to training, she claimed she chose soccer because she hated swimming and we forced her to pick a sports.

I am taking her to a select team tryout today after work. It's going to be tough considering she played rec only a year. But she is a good runner.

We've had a pool for last 23 years. I have never swam more than a few laps at a time and will never claim to like swimming or be a swimmer. The kids and all their friends enjoyed it when they were little but now they're grown and gone. So here's how we use it now: We (Wife & I) mostly use it for sitting by while drinking beer; We seem to have weekend gatherings and a lot of guests get in and splash around or sit around the edge; It feels great to just jump in after most hot summer runs; I have used it a few times for injury rehab.

Sounds like a giant ice bath to me.

Before we got rid of our pool, I would run in it for cross training, or just float around in it on a raft with a cocktail.

Sometimes we would open it really early in the spring and I would stand in it after running long, kind of like an ice bath.

Mostly though, we never used it and don't miss it. It was an above ground pool and was an eyesore. We have a nice flower garden there now.

Consider raising piranha.

A fully stocked pool of 'em will come in handy when you want to intimidate Lucy's future suitors.

I'm just amused by the fact that the topic on the front page reads "Stuck with a Poo..."

I've never had a pool in my yard, and I never wanted one - however, you must absolutely get Lucy swimming lessons ASAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've got a pool. After seeing our kids standing in the back of our yard, waiting to be invited over to their house, we decided we'd get one. Good decision.

And, we go with the attitude that we'd rather be the house with the neighborhood kids over rather than our kids being out of our site at other kids homes. Better to keep an eye on everything.

I wish I had a pool and lived in a climate that would accommodate a pool year round. Sounds like a good problem to have!!

What do you do with a pool?

You use it to sell your house. We are moving as well and the only thing that was an absolute must in the new house was a pool. I can't fathom trying to sell one without it. Sounds like you are in the same boat. (Except that we use our pool all the time.)

For those keeping count, that's +2 for aquarium. Just sayin'.

Mike MacLellan wrote:For those keeping count, that's +2 for aquarium. Just sayin'.

Mike, what make you think you have a vote in my house when I don't even have one?! Just sayin'.

Jerry wrote:

Mike MacLellan wrote:For those keeping count, that's +2 for aquarium. Just sayin'.

Mike, what make you think you have a vote in my house when I don't even have one?! Just sayin'.

If you don't have a vote, why are you asking us?

Jerry wrote:

Mike MacLellan wrote:For those keeping count, that's +2 for aquarium. Just sayin'.

Mike, what make you think you have a vote in my house when I don't even have one?! Just sayin'.

Jeff F wrote:

Jerry wrote:

Mike MacLellan wrote:For those keeping count, that's +2 for aquarium. Just sayin'.

Mike, what make you think you have a vote in my house when I don't even have one?! Just sayin'.

If you don't have a vote, why are you asking us?

That's indeed a good question.

I'm stuck with a pool too. Your daughter and her friends will use it,it's nice to sit around and drink beer during parties when it's very hot it's refreshing , the maintenance is not fun! or cheap

amyjoann wrote:I'm stuck with a pool too. Your daughter and her friends will use it,it's nice to sit around and drink beer during parties when it's very hot it's refreshing , the maintenance is not fun! or cheap

Well, I don't want my daughter sit around there doing nothing, lazy like Jerry.

healdgator wrote:What do you do with a pool?

You use it to sell your house. We are moving as well and the only thing that was an absolute must in the new house was a pool. I can't fathom trying to sell one without it. Sounds like you are in the same boat. (Except that we use our pool all the time.)

I read that having a pool can make your house harder to sell, for people like Jerry who wouldn't really use one and it's just an added expense, I guess. We don't have one and the only pools around here are the city and neighborhood pools that open Memorial Day wkend.

Julie wrote: I read that having a pool can make your house harder to sell.

That varies widely based on climate and location. In the north, that staement is probably true. In the south, especially in residential communities, not having a pool can be an issue.

Pretty much everybody in my neighborhood has a pool, too. It is strange if you don't have one.

Buy a big floating chair with a cup holder and stay cool in the backyard.

Martin VW wrote:

Julie wrote: I read that having a pool can make your house harder to sell.

That varies widely based on climate and location. In the north, that staement is probably true. In the south, especially in residential communities, not having a pool can be an issue.

Funny you say that, as I would have thought so too, but a pool is often thought of as a deterrent in the Atlanta market, not an asset. i have never had one, so no issue. In Florida; however, you had better have one and with one of those screens around it to keep out all the bugs, etc.

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:

Martin VW wrote:

Julie wrote: I read that having a pool can make your house harder to sell.

That varies widely based on climate and location. In the north, that staement is probably true. In the south, especially in residential communities, not having a pool can be an issue.

Funny you say that, as I would have thought so too, but a pool is often thought of as a deterrent in the Atlanta market, not an asset. i have never had one, so no issue. In Florida; however, you had better have one and with one of those screens around it to keep out all the bugs, etc.

I am looking for a house in north Dallas where the community is old, like older than Jerry. The lots are much larger, so pool is popular.

Where I live now is much younger and typically has community pools, and only the rich have pools in backyard.

The latest is Lucy has declared she wants a pool. So we are open to both options now.

Thanks for playing!