It's Time for the Big Pool - It's a Swimming and Gardening Summer

I hope all of my friends in the USA had a good Memorial Day weekend, and those who aren't living with our schedule of holidays had a lovely Sunday/Monday. Today I'm heading off to the outdoor pool - a different experience completely from my small indoor water. The outdoor pool is wider - more lanes - and longer - Olympic length instead of MUCH shorter. It's a totally different experience and I'm looking forward to it with my usual love/hate conflict. 

I have a total love/hate relationship with the outdoor 
pool. I love SO many things about it, but the sheer 
length is intimidating, even though I'm usually 
swimming a mile+ on a daily basis on my swimming 
days. 

Why love/hate for the outdoor pool? Love because I can wear my longer flippers and get some real speed going up and down the laps. Hate because it's much more crowded, even at 5:00 am. I know I'll see a lot of swimmers whom I only see when the outdoor pool is open, and it's a guarantee that I'll have to share a lane with at least one other person. Even with my longer flippers, I'm still a slower swimmer. I'm no racehorse, I'm more like the tortoise - I'll win the race with my own pace. 

I'm much more of a tortoise-style swimmer - 
not the fastest, but constant. I get the job 
done. I'm not winning the race, but I have 
the endurance needed for the length and pace. 

DH and I had a lovely long holiday weekend, although it was raining throughout, so we didn't get a chance to do much in the outdoors. Then again, we don't have a fence (LOL) so sitting on the patio under the umbrella with drinks wouldn't be as cozy as it usually is. I'd feel more like an animal in the zoo. 

Without our fence up, just sitting on the patio for drinks 
makes us feel like animals on exhibit at a zoo. I can hardly 
wait until the panels are installed and we're finished 
with the fence replacement project. 

So, we spent a quiet day playing LOTRO on our computers. I made a quick run to the store for some lettuce, and he did go out to the garden once between rain storms to check on the plants. He pulled the pole beans seeds out - what he could find of them. Apparently they migrated or were eaten, because they hadn't sprouted at all. So, he's now planted some bush beans, and a new batch of pole beans, as well as some zucchini for me. If everything grows well, I should have a lot of fresh veggies this fall. 

I think we caught the fact that our original bean seeds weren't 
sprouting properly quickly enough that we'll still get a 
decent harvest from the 2nd planting. At least I hope so. 
Last year's beans were tasty, but they were the string 
variety - ICK! This year we've planted stringless, and 
I'll be much happier with the harvest. 

So, I'm off to the pool for the first swim in the Olympic length pool this year. I'll be swimming in that pool three days a week until Labor Day, with cancellations and a shift to the smaller indoor pool in cases of poor weather. Today is not one of those days, so I'll be outdoors. It'll be a cold run in and out, but the water will be glorious. Have an excellent Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini.