The Cancer Chronicles 17

Love Thy Neighbor!

One more day…just one more day. I’ve been away from home over four months being treated for my cancer in Houston and nothing much has gone wrong at home other than a few false security alarms. Today, one day before I'm to arrive home, I get a phone call from my cousin and she tells me somebody has drained my pool!!! They left the backwash valve open and let the water out!!!

I have a pool man who does a pretty fare job. My cousin helps watch the house and stays over sometimes when nobody is home. She blamed the pool man. The pool man thought she did it. Stress was in the air. It seems the two of them had some serious words about the issue.

When I talked to her on the phone she was on edge. All I wanted to know is if there was anything broken or missing. If not, just fix the problem. Simply fill the pool and get it running again. But the fact that somebody was looking to point a finger at someone irresponsible seemed to be more of a priority between the two of them.

I emailed my next door neighbor to see if I could get someone to go over and assess the situation. My neighbors have been great through all this. One neighbor painted my mail box and pulled all my weeds and even trimmed my bushes! I never asked, she just did it out of love. I did ask however, how long I needed to be gone before she'd paint the entire house. She informed me, "I don't do houses."

My next door neighbor, as you might remember, planted my trees in the back and took me to the airport. I have my cousin tending to my indoor plants and watching the house, along with a pool man, a landscaper, a company that fertilizes, and a pest control company. All things I haven’t been able to do on my own for a very long time. What’s the phrase…”It takes a village?” The village has many volunteers. I need to find someone to pay the bills!

I received an email back from my next door neighbor with an apology. He was the mastermind behind the missing pool water mystery. He noticed the pool was too full and was concerned that if it rained one more day it would overflow. What he didn’t know is that the pool has a self leveling valve that lets the water out slowly, so that it doesn’t over flow.

Well, he thought it best to backwash the pool (letting water out while cleaning the filter.) The water that was released comes out of a hose much like a fire hose and that rate of speed. After he was done he turned off the filter at the timer and gently rolled up the hose.

The next morning the valve was still set to backwash, when the timer turned the filter pump on. He forgot to move the valve back to “filter.” So, half the water drained out of the pool. At least the grass received a good watering…all 8,000 gallons of it! Fortunately, the pool man arrived about ½ hour after the pump started and he stopped the rest of the water from draining out. Then the pointing match began between my cousin and the pool man. I thought maybe some kids in the neighborhood had messed with it. But no, a neighbor’s good deed went south. Welcome Home!

Oh and Hank, if you read this…don’t be surprised if you wake up one morning and ½ the water from your pool is missing. Sometime during the night I backwashed your pool and diverted the water into mine to make up my loss. Thank you for your love!

Peace B

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