Not so fond memories

Ever had one of those "accidents" where you know you'd laugh if only you could have seen yourself in slow motion?  Well, I had one today, folks!  It had to do with the swimming pool in our back yard, but first let me give you a little background on said pool.
When we bought our house, we were NOT looking for a home with a pool in the yard.  We just happened to like everything else about the home and thought the pool would be an added bonus. Well, years later we have come to see the pool as a bonus all right: Biggest Old Nuisance Under the Sun!  Sorry if it sounds like I'm whining to all of you who have pools and love them or those of you who wish you had a pool but don't. We actually love the pool but hate the expense and maintenance mainly because money has always been tight. Hopefully, we'll enjoy it a lot more now that we can better afford the tools and things we need to keep it running smoothly.
Anyway, let me get back to today...We had Ray, the one and only "pool guy" that has served us well over the years, out to replace a pipe that was cracked in the big snow storm last February (as in 2010 - we didn't even bother cleaning or running the pool all last summer if that gives you an idea of how much grunge was on the bottom of the pool).  Ray brought his pumps and helped us drain the water from the pool.  There was no way we could think of turning on the pump and attempting to suck water through the filter at this point.  I had on an old pair of shorts and a t-shirt and flip flops.  Well, I walked down the steps into the now empty shallow end of the pool with a five gallon bucket and a plastic dust pan in hand to scrape the algae/decomposed leaves/marine life mixture off the bottom of the pool. When my flip flop hit the sludge, it refused to stay in one place. I cannot even recount with any degree of accuracy what actually happened.  All I know was my flip flop slid and so did I and the next thing I know I'm flat on my back in the gunk and Mike is asking if I'm okay.  I'll recount my injuries and have you figure out the rest: I scraped the skin off of the top of my right foot (almost like a burn), bumped my right knee, scratched my right forearm, hit my left elbow and the back of my head hit the bottom step on the way down.  Ouch! Now, I do remember that part.  Luckily, nothing was broken or in need of stitches.  I marched inside, showered the gunk off, applied some antibiotic ointment and a couple of band-aids to the scrapes, took an Advil and strapped an ice pack to the goose egg on the back of my head before heading back outdoors to resume helping with the "Project Let's Get this Pool Up and Running."  I took the less hazardous job of spraying down the gunk from the safety of the deck around the pool, thank you very much.
This is yet another story I can add to my "not so fond memories" of our swimming pool.  Another story involved me vigorously brushing the deep end when all of a sudden the pole I was using decided to telescope into a shorter version of itself throwing me off balance.  I didn't let go in time and ended up doing a cartwheel over the pole into the deep end.  I somehow scraped something on the edge of the pool that time, too, but I wasn't seriously harmed.  I remember thinking, "Good thing the neighbors didn't see that!" as I emerged sputtering from the water and dragged myself out of the pool.
Shouldn't I have fond memories of kids with paddle boards and goggles playing Marco-Polo and me floating lazily on an inflatable raft sipping a root beer over Sonic ice?  Maybe this summer...maybe!
Until next time, my friends