The Swimming Pool

We have a swimming pool which is all fine and nice except that it drives me bananas. I love the idea of swimming. The kids enjoy swimming and it is great entertainment when we have a house full of people. It is beautiful and relaxing to see the water illuminated at night, etc. However, the mechanical aspect of pool ownership alludes me. I have had the pool company come out and walk me through all the maintenance procedures. I still don't get it. The next time I need to clean the pool or whatever I cannot remember what to do! Mind you I have written all of this down and yet it just doesn't stay in my brain. I say yes, yes, yes and then poof! I forget everything the repair person told me.
Lately we have had a few repairs, a shaft seal was broken and a timer, for I don't know what, needed to be replaced. Naturally when I was standing in the kitchen this morning and I saw a cloud of yellow smoke coming from the pool mechanicals I panicked. I ran out and turned the system off. I sniffed around and felt as if there was an "electrical" smell. I called the pool company and was told to call the electrical company that had replaced the timer. I was worried that the entire pump would blow up if I left it running. And I thought maybe several of the pipes were closed and not allowing water to flow through. Could that cause an overheated motor??

The guy came out in about 1/2 hour and knocked on the door. I told him to go ahead and I would follow when I got my shoes on. As I was rounding the corner of the garage he approached me and said he figured out what was wrong. "You won't believe this." he told me. There is a row of large pines on the border of our property just behind the pool. He told me to grab one of the branches and tug. I did. A cloud of yellow smoke wafted in the air. It was the pollen from the pine trees!! What more can I say?? We both were laughting. How ridiculous.... Tamara