IX Avalanche, Nothing says love like a clean pool cage

Another dissatisfied IX Webhosting customer found my blog.  To say she is dissatisfied is an understatement.  She is on the all out war path.  Any idea that the problems I had with IX were an isolated thing have been blown out of the water.  Check this out!

Other than pressure washing the pool cage and lanai, I didn’t have a huge weekend agenda.  In fact I had enough time on Saturday to accompany Ali to the pet groomer.  We were baby sitting the neighbors dog so we all piled into the party van and headed out.  Nicki has her nails trimmed regularly.  We used to do it ourselves but had some bad incidents where we cut too far and hurt Nicki.  They only charge 10 bucks or so to do it so it’s worth it.  Zoe’s nails were very long as well so while we were there we had them do hers as well. 

We have been recording a bunch of classic xmas specials off ABC family.  We have been watching them as we go.  I especially like the old style stop animation style specials like Rudolph and The Little Drummer Boy.  It goes hand in hand with our increase in Christmas spirit this year.  I forgot to mention that Ali scored a scented candle that smells just like a real Christmas tree, addressing the biggest problem with an artificial tree, the lack of a fresh tree smell.  I am liking the combination.

So Sunday I set aside to clean the pool cage and lanai.  Doing so is a two part process, first I go around with the shop vac and try to suck up dirt, spider webs and any other loose matter.  I did this part of the job on Saturday actually.  Oh I forgot, I decided to put BOTH Dirt Dogs into duty to help sweep up the pool deck, the old one that has taken two swims in the pool and a brand new one that has never been used yet.  They were both diligently out there sweeping away for quite awhile.  I went out to check on their progress when I witnessed a very unwelcome sight, the brand new Dirt Dog sitting motionless on the bottom of the pool…  SON OF A BITCH. 

Now since I have had this happen twice before I knew this wasn’t necessarily a death sentence for the robot, however it still annoyed me quite a bit.  As I set the robot out to dry I tried to analyze why the brand new Dirt Dog joined the aquatic robot club.  My theory is the brand new tires were a bit slick.  As a result when the robot did the immediate direction reversal when it sensed the pool edge the tires slipped on the concrete and the momentum sent it over the edge.  So assuming Dirt Dog 2 survives it’s bath, I will keep it regulated to safer jobs like cleaning the garage and shed until it’s tires get worn in a bit.

Ok, back to Sunday.  One of the biggest hassles with cleaning the pool cage is reaching the areas of the frame up high directly over the pool.  Even with me standing on a ladder and using every inch of my considerable reach, I have never been able to proper clean certain sections of the frame.  Well I had a new plan to address the problem.  I again utilized the pole saw.  I tied the pressure washer gun to the end of the pole saw and then used some velcro ties to keep the handle locked in the on position.  I then carefully extended the pole and clumsily attempted to clean the frame.  As you can imagine it was sort of difficult to accurately aim the contraption but it was more or less working except for another problem, the wand end.

  The wand on the washer has been problematic for awhile.  Instead of using a steady angle spray, it utilizes a small fitting inside the head that shoots out water in a concentrated stream as it rotates around.  I never liked it much since it didn’t have any way to adjust the pressure of the stream.  If you got it too close to something it could rip right through it .  Well the head that spins around has been getting stuck and going around slower than it should.  This was making it ineffective in cleaning.  As I strained to hold the pole and gun in place I had no patience for a shitty performing cleaning head so I decided to go get something else.

I shot out to Home Depot and looked to see what they had available in the replacement pressure wash wand department. I was excited by what I found.  I grabbed a new wand that had quick release couplings and a set of quick release heads that allowed you to shoot a stream anywhere from a leisurely 45 degree spray to a “drill a hole through your leg” ZERO degree laser stream.  I also found a three foot extension from the same manufacturer that would give me much more range with my pressure washer!  I grabbed it all and hurried home, hopeful that my pressure washing duties were about to get much easier.

I assembled the new wand and extension and attached it to my pressure washer.  I now had what looked like a pressure washing lance at my command as it extended nearly 7 feet outward.  I squeezed the trigger and was instantly greeted with feelings of pleasure.  It worked perfectly.  I was able to reach every inch of the pool cage without even stepping foot on a ladder.  It wasn’t exactly easy at times.  In certain situations I was standing on the edge of the pool with my arms fully extended, supporting the 7 foot pressure gun precariously as I blasted sections of the cage that were far away.  It was not an ideal situation to help my tendonitis get any better.  I didn’t care and plowed ahead. 

I was so into cleaning the area that I did something I never did before, I pressure washed the outside of the cage as well.  After spending a couple hours just on the cage section I still had to do the tedious duty of blasting the concrete pool deck.  All in all I spent nearly 5 hours on the project.  It looks great, as great as a 6 year old pool and 3 year old pool cage can look. 

Ali was out with my mom at some Christmas music performance.  I was quite beat after power washing all day and just vegged.  I flipped on the TV and found the Merrill Lynch Shootout on NBC.  I thought it was quite cool to have a tournament hosted  in Naples nationally televised.  I found myself looking in the crowd for familiar faces.  The tournament director is a friend of ours which made it more special.  He’s in my fantasy football league as a matter of fact.

After watching a bit of the Steelers/Ravens game I decided to catch Hellboy 2.  Just like the first one, I found this movie very enjoyable.  I never once had the urge to look at the clock, yawn or say to myself silently “this just got stupid”.  It was a good time from beginning to end with bad guys that are really bad and an unconventional super hero that you can’t help but like.  Good flick, A-.

So I found out over the weekend that not only does my mom read my blog, my mother-in-law does as well.  No more writing about my wild orgies and rampant illegal drug use.