When it comes to Summer, there is nothing my family loves more than swimming.  I love it too, but I don't think my family realizes how much work and money is involved in opening, maintaining and closing a pool each year. And this year, opening it is even more of a challenge because of our stupid, pain-in-the a** dog, Izzie.

Last fall, Izzie (I nicknamed her Dumbo) thought it would be a good idea to put a giant hole in our winter cover.  Now there are more leaves and dirt in our pool than there is on our lawn.  Last year and the year prior, I took the cover off to find it crystal clear.  This year, it looks more like a moat.

I decided to ask my co-workers what is the most annoying thing about owning a pool, then I asked them to rate how annoying each item on the list is.  Following that survey here are the results with the percentage of pool owners who found each annoying.

10 - Algae (29%)
That nasty green gunk. Once algae starts taking over your pool, it's a real pain trying to get rid of it.

9 - Vacuuming (35%)
While about half of the people I surveyed said they had an automatic vacuum and didn't consider it annoying, those who have to manually vacuum their pools found this a really tedious task.  Vacuuming is tied, percentage wise, with number 8 on our survey.

8 - Kids/Adults Peeing In The Pool (35%)
I generally tend to stand by the skimmer. And surprisingly, the majority of people I talked to didn't have much of an issue with this. There are so many chemicals and so much water in pools... who cares?  The real issue came with pooping in the pool, or drunk adults peeing in to the pool from outside it.

7 - Keeping It Warm (38%)
(This has nothing to do with number 8) One of the challenges of owning a pool in Michigan is the inconsistent weather and temperature changes.  When I was a kid I didn't care if the pool was 58 degrees, I was all in.  At my age, I like a pool that's at least 70.

6 - Small Animals (42%)
Frogs, toads, worms, water bugs and snakes clogging up the skimmer basket is another annoyance.

5 - Friends, Family & Neighbors (47%)
How about that weird neighbor, and old high school buddy, or that creepy cousin that you haven't seen since the last time your pool was open on a hot day? Yeah, those people.

4 - Removing Carnage (63%)
Have you ever had to swim to the bottom of a pool with dish washing gloves to remove a dead chipmunk, squirrel, mouse, rabbit, or a mouse?  63% of people said they have done it, and really didn't like it.

3 - Chemicals (65%)
Maintaining the proper pH and chlorine levels is a bit of a pain in the proverbial butt, but too much chlorine is a literal pain in the eye.

2 - Closing The Pool (68%)
Coming in at number 2, which surprises me, is closing the pool.  This could be for a few reasons.  First, you close the pool when it's 50 degrees, and two days later it's almost 100.  Second, you're bummed out that summer is over, and are not ready for another Michigan winter.  Or third, you waited until November to close it.  Typically, I would disagree with this one, but not this year...

1 - Opening The Pool (85%)
The most annoying thing about owning a pool, according to our poll, is opening the pool.  Yes, removing the winter cover, filling it up with more water, loading it up with the necessary chemicals and restarting the filtration system is a lot of work, especially if you do it alone.  Even more so if the winter elements took its toll on your backyard.  But in my case, I'm usually really excited about getting it opened.

The last two years when I removed the cover, it was crystal clear and the chemical levels were perfect.  This year because of that damn dog of mine, I have a layer of leaves and other crap about 2 inches thick (probably thicker in the deep end), and a long way to go. I won't have it open by Memorial Day this year, and that's REALLY annoying!

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