Joy and I decided to invite our Sunday school class over this weekend for a little swimming and grilling out. When we got back from an early breakfast at Little Rosies, I set out to clean the pool. I decided to pull the solar cover off the reel it was haphazardly rolled onto and clean it off before storing until Fall. I drug it out into the back yard and hosed the grass and dirt off it and then turned my attention to sweeping around the pool.
After about 30 minutes, I felt like the cover had been lying in the sun long enough to dry, so I went to pick up a corner to drain the excess water off and I was hit with this wave of hot air that smelled like soggy grass clippings. I folded up the cover and placed it under the house, but on my way back to the pool, I noticed a few areas of grass that looked kinda withered. I didn’t think much of it until the next day when I went out on the deck and saw what kind of damage was done.
The solar cover had only been on the grass for about 30 minutes, but I did vacuum the pool prior to spreading the cover out. That means there was a lot of water got pumped out the waste house right where I laid the cover. The pool cover is actually like a giant sheet of bubble wrap (think thousands of tiny magnifying glasses), so I guess when I laid it over the soggy grass when the sun was almost directly overhead, I essentially steam-cooked my bermuda.
I’ve been watering it three times a day since Saturday. Hopefully bermuda is as tough as they say and it’ll grow back soon. In the meantime, I guess I’ve got a lot less grass to mow in the back!