So here we are, at the start of our fourth summer at our home in the country — and on our third above-ground pool. I'm not sure what other Steemit folks' experiences are with these pools, but we are getting frustrated! Yes, they are much cheaper than an in-ground pool (which I'd prefer to have but can't afford), but for a few hundred dollars, you'd think they'd last longer than one summer!

The first one we bought a couple years ago was a Summer Waves Pro-Series 14' x 42" frame pool. (Pictured below. Don't those people on the Walmart website always look so happy?)

First off, let me start by saying that they LIE about the setup time, lol. We struggled with that thing for a solid hour and a half to two hours. After another 5-6 hours, it was finally full of water. (Thank goodness for well water — no water bills!) I bought myself a floatie, grabbed a beer, and hopped in! Heaven!

Well, heaven only lasted about 2 months before the pool sprung its first leak. I came outside one morning and it was half empty. You'd think for emptying halfway overnight there would be a very visible hole, but there wasn't. It took forever to finally locate where the leak was. Turns out the seams around the bottoms of those things aren't so strong, because that's where it was. So we went out and bought an underwater patch kit and mended it. But for the rest of the summer, it kept springing small leaks at the seams. We decided not to even bother packing it away for the winter and just threw it out.

Come summer of 2016, we decided to go cheaper (I don't know why) and buy one of those nifty blue Intex EasySet pools you see everywhere — like the one pictured below. That one lasted all of one month! And it did NOT look as perfect as the one on Walmart's website. Now I know why there's so many clips of these pools blowing out on America's Funniest Home Videos.

So here we are, summer of 2017, having just purchased another Summer Waves Pro-Series frame pool. It had pretty decent reviews, so maybe they strengthened the seams of their liners?? We'll give it another shot. After struggling to put it up in high winds a couple nights ago, we finally just got it filled. Let me tell you — trying to find a level spot in our yard is impossible. We thought that maybe being unlevel is what caused the stress on the seams the first time around, so we purchased a ton of sand and did our best to create a smooth, level surface. Look at the photos below. Is that a great leveling job or what?!

https://steemitimages.com/DQmR9SrkXfQW7z6iKkzmDuqGpGaj9nQAJKqC5hgdvwMj8ye/IMG_20170608_192149554_HDR.jpg

Of course, I kid with you. Despite our best leveling efforts, one side is still 3 inches higher than the other. Still better than the first pool though, which was off by about 5 or 6 inches.

So after it was finally filled, we took a couple slow walks around it, inspecting for any leakage. And what do you know? There's already a tiny pin hole leak halfway up the side. Not even on a seam. Sigh . . . So after a quick patch job, she's holding up. (Knock on wood — in fact, knock on lots of wood.) The past couple nights have been cool, so the water hasn't had much of a chance to warm up. I'm hoping to be able to hop in this weekend. And let's just hope that the third time is truly the charm!

https://steemitimages.com/DQmXqyr79ttbgN5YKPmX3Qe4fjE4y1uB77Xk1M5cYSi1qrt/IMG_20170608_192114727_HDR.jpg

Happy Summer! —jenerallee78