I can’t bear throwing away good stuff even when its useful time is nearing an end.

Such is the case with our pool cover. It’s been showing its age for the last eight years if not longer.

This is no ordinary pool cover. It’s not a tarp anchored by bricks or tubes filled with water that lose their effectiveness after freezing into logs, splitting their containers. I should have followed directions and used anti-freeze. The tarps also presented the problem of capturing everything that fell into the pool so they became a depository of soggy leaves, branches and anything else blown into the pool. Obviously, I was not trained in properly covering a pool for a winter respite from chlorine and vacuuming.

So, I explored alternatives and discovered the Loop-Loc. You know, the one shown in ads featuring an elephant standing in the middle of a covered pool. That’s what we needed. We have plenty of critters in our neighborhood although, so far, no wandering pachyderms. Indeed, the Loop-Loc was overkill. However, from what the dealer told me, it would last, do the job and make for an easier opening in the spring.

I went for the Loop-Loc, figuring it was an investment that would pay back over time. Such sound logic can reach a point where it becomes self defeating such as the car that has one more thing go wrong just after getting the alternator repaired and having new tires put on.

Pool covers aren’t mechanically challenging, although the Loop-Loc has adjustable springs to the straps that tightly hold the cover in place. The springs are anchored to brass bolts embedded in the cement pool walkway that are flush with concrete for the summer. A cleverly simple device, a flexible plastic tube is used to stretch the springs when covering the pool and disengage them to remove the cover – good engineering.

But, time takes its toll. The first sign was the loss of its green coating that left the pool with what appeared to be duck weed when I took it off. A pair of mallards usually visited us in the spring, but thankfully for no more than a couple of days. Then a couple of years later the strap stitching started to fail leaving small tears in the cover. Ollie, our canine companion for more than 10 years, would walk across the cover learning his weight would depress the cover, bringing the water to the surface for a drink. Fortunately, he never fell through one of the holes, nonetheless it was time to think of a new cover.

Anticipating the day Loop-Loc sent me card years ago with the number to my cover. I called to discover I would need to place an order through a pool dealer. My next call was to a dealer.

I was troubled even before getting a quote. The stainless steel springs, the brass anchors and the strapping all looked to have plenty of life. This was good stuff. The stitching was failing and some sections of the mesh panels were torn.

It just didn’t seem right to consign the cover to the landfill when so much of it was salvageable. Besides, I knew I would always think I could use the cover, the springs or some part of it for something and would find a place to keep it. I would have more clutter.

That’s when I met Crystal Meyer at Son of a Stitch by mistake. It was late August. A grommet to a spinnaker had broken free and the sail would tear unless I had it replaced. Doyle Sails on Division Street was where I was headed but I stopped too soon and found myself at Son of a Stitch where I was welcomed by an aging dog wagging its tail and his mistress, Crystal. She couldn’t help with the grommet, however, I wondered if I’d found the place to give the Loop-Loc new life.

Crystal said she had worked on pool covers. I was back the following day and as promised she had the cover ready in October.

I put it on Saturday, a day I could have been swimming rather than closing the pool. I feel good. Something past its prime yet still worthy is back in service. I was ready for a freeze. And even better, elephants can visit and more junk that I can’t bear tossing isn’t accumulating in the garage.