At Carol’s pleading, and I must admit I was in no rush to call it quits on summer, I put off closing the pool until last weekend. And then came along 80-degree weather and I thought, can’t we stretch out a bit longer?

That would have been easy, but the combination of age and several back operations – despite the saying ‘you’re as old as you think you are’ – were at play. Last summer, knowing I was in no shape to take care of the pool, my son, Jack, contacted Royalty Pool to open it and show up weekly for service. What a godsend, although I liked poking my nose in, telling Tony what I did when the water turned green.

Inez at Royalty suggested she schedule us for a mid-September closing. We suggested another couple of weeks and she reluctantly agreed. To be cooperative, I volunteered to drop the pool water several inches below the skimmer to expose the intake and return lines that would need to be blown free of water and capped for the winter.

It’s a procedure I’ve done for years using the pool vacuum line to suction the water from the pool and reversing the hose on the shop vac to blow out the lines. I could do that much. It’s not a heavy lift, or so I thought, but it does take a couple of hours to lower the pool water.

On Saturday I went for my final dip. The algae was well invested, and there were leaves – which the crickets and spotted lantern flies were using for life support. I left the flies and rescued a couple of crickets.

The water was cold, which hardened my decision to close the pool. Carol was away for the weekend, but she would have agreed.

It seemed simple enough: pump as much water out of the pool as possible using the waste feature; set up the suction, let it go and wait.

This is where duct tape comes in, the quick fix-in for nearly everything.

The hose I once used to vacuum the pool was torn. It would have to be airtight if used as a suction. Did I rush out to get a new one? No. Out came the tape. Then the hose had to be anchored near the bottom of the pool. I attached the weighted vacuum brush to a pole. This was going to work, but it fell off. You got it, duct tape worked again.

Life would be terrible without duct tape. I’ve used it to temporarily repair radiator hoses, hold screens and storm windows in place when those screw-in knobs mysteriously disappear, affix insulation beneath drafty doors, patch torn tarps and sails, hold a string of Christmas lights in place and foil our crafty belated coon hound, Ollie, from lifting the latch to his pen.

Ponder it. Where would we be without duct tape?

And come to think of it, that’s what they should have used on the Washington Bridge.