UPDATE: I want to thank jannie for her information because my mother got her stimulus money deposited a few days ago - yippie! We did have to go thru the whole 1099 request and mail forwarded from CA to FL and such and such. About three weeks ago, after urgent care & emergency room fiascos, I realized (during hours & hours of waiting rooms and lots of time to think about it) that I really needed to accept the fact that she is losing her cognitive abilities and that I needed to take charge and make it happen. So I dragged her down to Social Security and 4 hours later, she became a Florida resident. Then to DMV for a Florida ID, then online application for Medicaid and other Florida benefits. We're still a little stuck on the Medicaid and Medicare Part D issue, but it's in work. I found a county-paid free elder lawyer who drew up a Durable Power of Attorney, Living Will, and HIPAA documents so I could speak for my mother in such matters. This all came up because I stupidly decided not to accompany her inside the urgent care when she spoke to the doctor and I have no idea what my mom told her, but she left happy and with a prescription for antibiotics. I had to go to the front desk and ask for the diagnosis and copy of the records. The next day, after she discussed everything with her friends back in California, she decided that the Urgent Care doctor was a quack and she needed to go to the ER. (NOTE TO SELF: eat lunch BEFORE going to the ER, because you'll be there for hours.) This time I made sure to be there with her every minute. She came up with a completely different story that she told the ER doctor (at least it was different than the story she told me to get to the Urgent Care the day before, since I'm not exactly sure what she said), and didn't even mention that she was on antibiotics (maybe that would explain the lack of bacteria in the urine sample?) so I really had to run ramshod at the ER to make sure the doc had the right story. And I'm sure I came across as the uptight, annoyed, inconvenienced daughter while my sweet darling mom charms everyone in the hospital. Here's the kicker: She said that she had the same symptoms when she was in Virginia visiting friends early in the year. She went to an ER and then followed-up a few weeks later at a GYN. Then a couple of weeks ago I get the Medicare summary from that incident, and there's a bill for chest x-rays, influenza something....hmmm. How could that possibly be related to lower abdominal pain & frequent urination? A quick phone call to the hospital hinted to me that she came in with a cough and flu symptoms. Hmmm. Now I am contacting all of her past doctors & visits and trying to get copies of all her medical history. Very complicated, many various doctors & specialists. Even though she's in relatively good health and only takes two meds (high BP and thyroid). Anyway, it's the county Elder Helpline that's getting me through all this. They are wonderful and explain all the services and how to use them. The services give no explanation at all nor will they answer any questions - they just administer their programs and that's it. I've checked out all the books and links that were recommended above and did get a little bit of knowledge with each one. I am getting along better now (as in, no fights for a few weeks now) as I keep reminding myself that she is like a toddler and that little conniption she's having over a wet towel left on floor is just like a kiddie tantrum. I'm a bit concerned about how this is affecting my kids, but I plan to ask for a counseling recommendation when I see my doctor for my annual next month. I am still happy to read any more advice that anybody might have. My current dilemma is finding something for my mom to do, maybe once or twice a week. Adult day care (doesn't seem to exist in my county) or Silver Sneakers or SOMETHING where she can interact with others. Only problem is that she doesn't think she's old so she doesn't want to hang out with old people. Ugh. Thanks for all the help, everyone, and hope you are all doing well in your personal situation. Lisa

Hi Kathy, ==1) How do I make the filter run on "high speed"?== Not the filter, but the pump. This really only applies if you have a multi-speed pump. I think your Hayward is single speed, so you can disregard that comment. ==2) I know we've got it pre-programmed to run 8-5...should I overrun that and have it run all the time?== I would run it more just to get the water-borne stuff filtered out. Once the water clears you can back off of that. ==3) We don't have a vacuum yet...should that be an immediate (emergency!!) purchase?== Do you have a pool cleaner of some sort (robotic)? If so, you should run it. The plaster should be well cured after a month, but as Tagprod said you should confirm with your PB if you haven't been running it yet. If you don't have one, then yeah, a vacuum would be a good purchase at this point. ==4) When sweeping, you just push the sediment toward the drain? Is that where it pulls it from to filter it anyway?== Yes, the water returns through the floor drain/ drains and the skimmers. It goes from there through the filter then back into the pump. As Tagprod said the floor drain doesn't pull very strongly, so you have to keep sweeping the sediment into the drain until it's gone. I push everything to within a couple of feet of the drain first, then keep pushing that last pile into the drain until it's all sucked in. Some of the sediment goes in the drain and some of it goes over, so I just keep working it back and forth until it's all gone. ==5) If I take the water to be tested, will I need to get chemicals? The guy that did our start up has been tending to that until we get the salt water thing going next week.== If the PB is maintaining it for you then call them and let them know it's cloudy and let them test it and add chemicals if required. If it's dirt, then it probably won't need anything. But if it's cloudy because the chlorine is battling something, then you (or the PB) may need to shock it. ==6) I'm watching the pressure gauge on the filter. It's been around 15. I understand if it gets 5-10 psi above that, I should clean the filter. Is that correct?== As a general rule. But it needs to be cleaned more often when the pool is new due to plaster dust. It's also a good idea to clean it quarterly even if the pressure isn't up because the filters are easier to clean if you do it more often. I'm assuming you have a cartridge filter rather than DE, if you have DE it's a different procedure (backwashing). ==tresw, you give me hope that all is not lost!!! I'm afraid, though that the dirt washed in.== Don't be concerned just yet, since all your landscaping is still new there's no doubt a lot of loose dirt around. Once it all settles in then hopefully it won't wash in. Lastly, as Tagprod suggested get a GOOD test kit. I bought a TF100 at the suggestion of other pool forum members and it is indeed a great kit (link below). Pool stores do not give consistent results when testing your water, go to 3 different stores and you'll likely get 3 different test reports. If you invest in a good kit you'll get consistent results and won't need to deal with misinformation at the pool store! But until you get a good kit, either the PB needs to check it or you need to take a sample somewhere. Whenever you get a big storm blow through you need to watch your chemicals closely for a few days. Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.tftestkits.com/

I take apart and clean our Hayward DE filter every year now. I add the prescribed amount of DE by adding the DE to a 5 gallon pail of water and slowly adding it to the skimmer. I also capture the returning filtered water and direct it back to the skimmer "closing the loop" so we minimize making the pool milky for a day. After doing this my filter pressure reads about 6 psi. I backwash at 15. With no DE my filter pressure will run at nearly 0 psi, so I use the pressure gauge to judge the refill after backwashing. There is a point where you can significantly reduce the performance of the filter by adding too much DE; You reduce your flow rate which in turn reduces gallons per hour and clorination and skim rate. I would say any filter running at 25psi needs to be dismantled and washed out since you are then at a point where backwashing will do almost nothing. Here is a link that might be useful: American Clean Air and Water . Com

Boy the economy is really helping you. We had Andrews do a pool in 2008, and we spent about 75K by the time it was done with no spa! The pool they built is beautiful, but it was a bit of a stressful time during the build, although, I think Andrews may be the best of the bunch when it comes to the whole process. A neighbor used Environmental and they plumbed the spa wrong and they are stuck with it. We also got a quote from South Shore, and just didn't like the salesman. Ferrari would have built a nice pool for us too, but the seemed handle their subs differently. Andrews said they use no subs, but they really do, they just report to Andrews, and Andrews keeps a close eye on what they do. Turns out their subs were great. The big worry for us was how much extra $ we could spend if they hit ledge. You don't know what is under your lawn. We totally lucked out, we just knew there was going to be ledge, but when they hit it, we just decided to flip the design of the pool - deep end to the shallow end, and they kept digging, No extra $ for dynamite or rock splitting. We got exposed aggregate decking which we love. We also did the Pebble tec, and love it. We have a little waterfall. We have the salt generating system, and a Polaris. Jerrith fencing surrounds the pool. We have an electric heater. Things I would change if I could: 1. Add a pool filling jet from our well, rather than dragging the hose over when the water level drops due to summer evaporation. 2. Deeper and wider deep end with a diving rock. Even though they tell you not to do this because of safety/insurance issues, guests and kids just assume the pool is deep enough for diving, and they dive off the side. 3. LED color changing lights. It would look so great at night. 4. Even though we paid extra for a significantly larger deck surround, I wish it was even bigger. You spend a lot of time there, and it feels smaller than it is. I can't think of more now. I don't know how to post pictures, but I could email you one. Good Luck!