“Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” was extremely interesting. Their outlook on life can be compared to what I feel Americans outlook on life is. The practice of footbinding is a significant point in a young girl’s life. This process helps a young girl mature, changing from being simply a child to becoming a young adult, gaining more knowledge and experience. This process causes girls to learn obedience and discipline as they continue to walk on their feet until their bones break thus giving them the honored golden lily feet. While Americans have no such practice, young girls do go through a sort of process of maturing which brings them from being a child to being a young adult. The mark of a child turning into a young woman is generally achieved when a girl gets her first period. During this time, girls learn discipline because they must now deal with this change in their life. Having a monthly cycle is a significant part of life maturity, just as footbinding is a significant part of their life maturity.
The chapter “Love” was interesting because of the many different ways that women are expected to love. She states that they are told to love their children, love your daughters but love your sons more, love your husbands, love the in-laws, and to love your parents. This all seems simple enough, but when you continue reading there are always stipulations that cause it hard for this sort of love to be given. Many times, the love they are expected to give automatically leads them into large amounts of sadness, unhappiness, and beatings. In a way, Americans are taught to love in much the same ways, excluding loving your son more. While women in America are taught to love their children unconditionally, their love for their sons allows these boys to do different duties as well as developing into strong people. This unconditional love also allows daughters to develop and mature so that they too will be able to become a loving parent..
The significance of a laotong, or old same was overwhelming to me. For me this would be the duty of a family. Lily’s laotong relationship with Snow Flower went far beyond what a typical friend does or is. They fell in love with each other to help them escape themselves from the hardships they came across with husbands or people in general. The part where a laotong will wind up knowing more about you than your husband will know about you is amazing. The significance of a husband was not to know you or love you, but to impregnate you. Lily finds that doing bed business is ill favored and no fun at all but knows that she must in order to get pregnant to have a baby boy. There is no talk that goes on, which makes me think that the only way to get close to anyone is through sworn sisters or a laotong. I have trouble understanding this fact because the person who knows the most about me as well as being the closest to me is my fiancé.
Snow Flower has many miscarriages, causing her husband to beat her. When Lily hears about this, her advice to Snow Flower is to try again and have a baby boy. Snow Flower diligently follows the instructions that Lily dictates to her. The problem with this is that as Snow Flower is doing what Lily tells her to do, Lily is forgetting to see how Snow Flower needs her laotong’s shoulder to cry on. It makes me wonder why Snow Flower continued to love Lily as she did when she was being treated this way. Was it simply because she knew that Lily was trying her best, or is it just because of a binding contract that they wrote when they were young? The fact that Lily misreads Snow Flower’s statement on the fan gives me the idea that Lily did not have the true love for Snow Flower that a laotong should have for her mate.
As an outsider looking into a culture steeped in traditions, this story presents many concepts difficult to understand or accept. Understanding this story comes from the knowledge of commitment and love and the sense of honor they have for their traditions.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Ozymandias
The punctuation in Ozymandias is very interesting and fun. Shelley uses colons throughout the poem. This helps to make the poem stand still longer so that the meaning does not loose effect on who is reading it. The second line she uses a colon to expresses the importance of what a specific person has said. During what this person has said Shelley uses an ellipse to show us that the statement continues, but the words she is writing are all that matters to the reader.
She uses commas for this sole reason as well. The third line has a comma when she states, “Near them, on the sand,” and if there were no commas during this phrase, I think that it would loose a lot of the meaning that it has. Shelley uses a comma on roughly every line. This helps us to see what aspects are important to look at or see.
There are three other punctuation types that Shelley uses. She uses the exclamation point at the end of line 11 to show even more emphasis for what the words are meaning. She also uses quotations marks to refer back to the fact that a specific person is going to be speaking on lines 10 and 11. The last punctuation that Shelley uses is a period at the end of the entire poem to allow us to obviously see that the poem is coming to an end.
Ozymandias is about the rise and fall of Ozymandias. This poem is basically about the fact that all good things have to come to an end. In other words, this poem is about the fact that all governments or power structures will come to an end and become history. It helps to show that the fact that no matter how great something seems, it will come to an end eventually. Shelley helps us to see that Ozymandias has extremely short sighted views and aspirations. I find this to actually be really funny, but Shelley does not want us to laugh about his shortcomings. As your read the poem, we clearly see that while Ozymandias was short sighted in many ways, it is exactly how the world is today. Therefore, this poem can relate back to the things that are happening in the world today. There are always people that have short sights in things that need improved or changed today. So overall, I could say that this poem is the rise and fall of anyone.
She uses commas for this sole reason as well. The third line has a comma when she states, “Near them, on the sand,” and if there were no commas during this phrase, I think that it would loose a lot of the meaning that it has. Shelley uses a comma on roughly every line. This helps us to see what aspects are important to look at or see.
There are three other punctuation types that Shelley uses. She uses the exclamation point at the end of line 11 to show even more emphasis for what the words are meaning. She also uses quotations marks to refer back to the fact that a specific person is going to be speaking on lines 10 and 11. The last punctuation that Shelley uses is a period at the end of the entire poem to allow us to obviously see that the poem is coming to an end.
Ozymandias is about the rise and fall of Ozymandias. This poem is basically about the fact that all good things have to come to an end. In other words, this poem is about the fact that all governments or power structures will come to an end and become history. It helps to show that the fact that no matter how great something seems, it will come to an end eventually. Shelley helps us to see that Ozymandias has extremely short sighted views and aspirations. I find this to actually be really funny, but Shelley does not want us to laugh about his shortcomings. As your read the poem, we clearly see that while Ozymandias was short sighted in many ways, it is exactly how the world is today. Therefore, this poem can relate back to the things that are happening in the world today. There are always people that have short sights in things that need improved or changed today. So overall, I could say that this poem is the rise and fall of anyone.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Plant Banana Trees
Banana Trees are a great way to challenge you when it comes to plants. A banana tree is known for needing a very rich soil. This is because when they grow, they need a lot of feeding. The best soil to plant your banana tree in is a soil that will work with a 20-20-20 soluble fertilizer. This fertilizer should be put in every month to ensure the banana tree’s growth.
You need to find a place for your banana tree where it is hot. Add in some humidity, even better for the growth of your banana tree. You will want to wet down your leaves by using a misting bottle a lot. When they get dusty, you should immediately clean them off with a soft wet towel or sponge.
You can get a banana tree that is already planted in the soil that is needed. If you get one of these pre-planted banana trees that you bury and wait for pot to biodegrade into the earth, then you will only need to worry about the watering and the food that it needs.
Another thing to remember when planting banana trees is that you need to know how much space is available for your banana tree. There are different types of banana trees; you will want to know what type of banana tree will fit into your house or area where you are planting it. Also decide if you want to have edible fruit on your tree or it to be simply for looks.
The last way to plant a banana tree is starting from scratch. Once there will no longer be any frost, you need to find the location you are going to plant the banana tree. The place that you choose should be away from the wind, cold, have no more than 20 percent shade and a great draining system.
You need to dig a hole where you want the tree. This hole needs to be a three feet by four feet hole. If there is a pot that you are going to take the tree out of, measure the pot and make sure you dig the hole a little bit larger than what you measure. Fill the hold with an organic matter or mixed soil.
Take the banana tree out of the pot. Take your free hand and loosen the roots so that they are no longer compact together. Now you can place the banana tree into the hole. Now put in the soil cover the banana tree to where the dirt was within the pot. Gently pack the organic matter and soil around the banana tree.
You have finished planting your banana tree. Now you need to water it a lot. This will allow the roots to settle down and take hold in the ground. It will also get rid of any of the air pockets that were formed in the soil you were working with. To finish this process, put on some fertilizer to help give the banana tree some nutrients.
You need to find a place for your banana tree where it is hot. Add in some humidity, even better for the growth of your banana tree. You will want to wet down your leaves by using a misting bottle a lot. When they get dusty, you should immediately clean them off with a soft wet towel or sponge.
You can get a banana tree that is already planted in the soil that is needed. If you get one of these pre-planted banana trees that you bury and wait for pot to biodegrade into the earth, then you will only need to worry about the watering and the food that it needs.
Another thing to remember when planting banana trees is that you need to know how much space is available for your banana tree. There are different types of banana trees; you will want to know what type of banana tree will fit into your house or area where you are planting it. Also decide if you want to have edible fruit on your tree or it to be simply for looks.
The last way to plant a banana tree is starting from scratch. Once there will no longer be any frost, you need to find the location you are going to plant the banana tree. The place that you choose should be away from the wind, cold, have no more than 20 percent shade and a great draining system.
You need to dig a hole where you want the tree. This hole needs to be a three feet by four feet hole. If there is a pot that you are going to take the tree out of, measure the pot and make sure you dig the hole a little bit larger than what you measure. Fill the hold with an organic matter or mixed soil.
Take the banana tree out of the pot. Take your free hand and loosen the roots so that they are no longer compact together. Now you can place the banana tree into the hole. Now put in the soil cover the banana tree to where the dirt was within the pot. Gently pack the organic matter and soil around the banana tree.
You have finished planting your banana tree. Now you need to water it a lot. This will allow the roots to settle down and take hold in the ground. It will also get rid of any of the air pockets that were formed in the soil you were working with. To finish this process, put on some fertilizer to help give the banana tree some nutrients.
Plant Redwood Trees
Redwoods are a marvelous tree. They are beautiful in every way you look at it. The problem with redwoods is that they grow very large, so you will want to make sure that you have plenty of space for your redwood tree to grow before choosing to plant one.
The first thing you will want to do is get 20 to 25 redwood seeds. Place them in a cardboard. Plant them shallowly in the ground. The redwood tree seeds utilize the light so that they can germinate. The problem with redwood seeds is that the germination rate is roughly 5 percent.
Now, place the cardboard in a plastic back and seal it. If you can use a zip lock that is great, but if you can’t find a rubber band to tie the bag shut. Put this in an area where there is no sun. It must be a cool area where the moisture within the bag can grow. The seeds you have placed in the cardboard can not become dry while they are trying to germinate. Be careful not to over water the seeds in fear they will grow dry.
Wait until the seed has sprouted into a tree. It must be at least 5 inches tall before you can replant it into a container that has soil. Again, do not over water your redwood tree but try to keep its leaves misted. The thing to remember is that redwoods thrive in the rain forest, so try to imitate that aspect.
A different way of planting a redwood tree is by placing the seeds of a redwood between damp napkins. Place the damp napkins into a zip lock bag and put in aside for a few weeks. When you see a root sprout in the zip lock bag, it is time to transplant the redwood tree seed and root. Get a pot with fertile soil and transplant the root into the soil. Cover it up and let is sit. This process of planting a redwood tree is not the easiest and does not always work in resulting a redwood tree.
The last way to plant a redwood tree is take a bud from a real redwood tree. If there is no bud, a burl works great. The burl is the clump that develops from the bud but has not gone into a shoot or branch towards the base of the tree. Be sure that you get some root from the original tree to transplant into a pot of your own. This method works one out of every ten tries. It is the hardest way to plant a redwood tree because it takes a specific amount of root to ensure it will continue to grow.
The first thing you will want to do is get 20 to 25 redwood seeds. Place them in a cardboard. Plant them shallowly in the ground. The redwood tree seeds utilize the light so that they can germinate. The problem with redwood seeds is that the germination rate is roughly 5 percent.
Now, place the cardboard in a plastic back and seal it. If you can use a zip lock that is great, but if you can’t find a rubber band to tie the bag shut. Put this in an area where there is no sun. It must be a cool area where the moisture within the bag can grow. The seeds you have placed in the cardboard can not become dry while they are trying to germinate. Be careful not to over water the seeds in fear they will grow dry.
Wait until the seed has sprouted into a tree. It must be at least 5 inches tall before you can replant it into a container that has soil. Again, do not over water your redwood tree but try to keep its leaves misted. The thing to remember is that redwoods thrive in the rain forest, so try to imitate that aspect.
A different way of planting a redwood tree is by placing the seeds of a redwood between damp napkins. Place the damp napkins into a zip lock bag and put in aside for a few weeks. When you see a root sprout in the zip lock bag, it is time to transplant the redwood tree seed and root. Get a pot with fertile soil and transplant the root into the soil. Cover it up and let is sit. This process of planting a redwood tree is not the easiest and does not always work in resulting a redwood tree.
The last way to plant a redwood tree is take a bud from a real redwood tree. If there is no bud, a burl works great. The burl is the clump that develops from the bud but has not gone into a shoot or branch towards the base of the tree. Be sure that you get some root from the original tree to transplant into a pot of your own. This method works one out of every ten tries. It is the hardest way to plant a redwood tree because it takes a specific amount of root to ensure it will continue to grow.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Geisha
On of the hardest things about looking at the Japanese and Memoirs of a Geisha is that we think in a Western way. Arthur Golden is a Western man who is trying to share the story and life of a Geisha. Whether he means to or not, he puts a Western twist on the entire story. The position of Japanese women is one that is very respected. The Japanese women are “more firmly in control of the family budget, less threatened by marital violence or dissolution than American women, and enjoying unprecedented increases in life expectancy and leisure time, Japanese women may also be the beneficiaries of a culture that is, as Kazuko Tsurumi expresses it, more “woman-oriented” than Western culture” (Boocock, 552). For the American society, this is not at all true. The men in our culture are the dominant, even though women are able to live independently.
The Chairman is unlike most Japanese men. In Memoirs of a Geisha Chiyo is crying in the street and the Chairman stops to give her a handkerchief. She shares, “Ordinarily a man on the streets of Gion wouldn't notices a girl like me . . . he certainly wouldn't speak to me . . . Yet . . . this man had spoken kindly . . . For a flicker of a moment, I imagined the world completely different from the one I'd always known, a world in which I was treated with fairness, even kindness” (Golden, 110). This helps us to see the authoritarian, hierarchical, and patriarchal aspect of Japan. This fact that the Chairman does not wear kimono and instead he wears western-style business suit, we can see that he has been Westernized. This could be why he is unlike most Japanese men. He is also a self-made man, the epitome of the American Dream.
It is interesting to see how women figure change their lives. The journey with the Chairman to the United States also shows Sayuri's personal journey to her own independence. In Memoirs of a Geisha, Sayuri's life in the United States is “even richer in some ways than in Japan” (Golden, 426). The Japanese and Geisha believe strongly in horoscopes and astrology. I wonder if Sayuri looked at her horoscope before she took her journey to with the Chairman to the United States.
The Japanese use symbiotic relationship between individual lives and nature. We see this in Memoirs of a Geisha by the statement of, “We lead our lives like water flowing down a hill, going more or less in one direction until we splash into something that forces us to find a new course” (Golden 105-6). This also helps to show the astrological belief system Geisha develop. The journey with the Chairman shows that Sayuri chose her new course of travel.
Women in America believe that they get where they get by what they do. American women do not wait on nature or horoscopes to choose what they will do. Usually, women in America do what they want and sometimes pay the consequences after they have done what they do.
Americans do not have anything that constrains them to one specific area. “The geisha is, on the one hand, constrained by feudalistic rules of propriety, by blinding obligations to senior members of the “sisterhood,” by the discipline required to master highly exacting music and dance forms, by the very kimono and wig which are the uniform of the trade” (Boocock, 554). The ironic thing is that most geisha that are chosen have an independent style to them. They are “independent-minded enough to resist powerful social pressures to marry and have children, and to choose an occupation that is beyond the pale socially” (Boocock, 554). This goes against what we learn that geisha have to do. Masuda in her own biography shares that “she was expected, even forced, to have sex with her Donna and other clients, as were other geisha” (Palmer). In America, if a woman is forced to have sex, that is considered rape. There is no “acceptance” to the right for a man to make a woman have sex. American women are taught to speak out while Japanese women are taught to bite their tongues and obey.
If the geisha have such a hard time and are forced to do anything, why is a geisha something that is good for women in Japan? Dalby says that even though the Geisha are restricted, “geisha are among the very few Japanese women who can claim economic independence, freedom from conventional family ties, and solid professional accomplishments” (Boocock, 554). This is ironic because even though geisha can claim economic independence and freedom, they are still bound to certain regulations. They must continue to sleep with men and they usually have to have a donna in order to gain their independence. Sayuri had to repay her debts to the house in order to gain this independence.
Geisha represent aspects such as romantic or sexual appeal, conversationalists, and artistic for malls. To the Japanese men, these are items that are no necessarily owned by their wives. This is completely different than the American view. The wife for Americans are companions, lovers, and mothers all in one. For the Japanese, these traits a man could desire from any number of women, not just one. Americans look for a “whole” woman while the Japanese look for a “single” woman.
“For most Westerners, the work geisha conjures up a vague fantasy of a sex worker crossed with an artist, perhaps similar to the European courtesans of the last century” (Palmer). Westerners do not separate the difference between geisha and prostitutes the way the Japanese do. We see that geisha sell themselves for money, thus they are prostitutes. The problem is that geisha are entertainers and artists as well. The Geisha had to go through a lot to distinguish themselves from prostitutes. Since the Geisha and prostitutes sometimes worked in the same areas, the developed regulations “prohibiting geisha from sleeping with prostitutes customers. . . or from wearing the same tupe of kimono or hair ornaments, suggesting the difficulties of maintaining professional boundaries” (Boocock, 554). We also see this in Memoirs of a Geisha with the difference between the sections of the city that Chiyo and her sister are taken to. It is also noticeable when you look at the attire of the geisha versus the prostitute. The geisha's bow is tied in the back while the prostitutes bow is tied in the front for quicker access for clients.
The geisha's life changed dirastically when World War II came around. “The economic devastation caused by the war and ensuing United States occupation put an end to the tradition” (Palmer). The impact of Americans was devastating to the traditional Japan. There were trinkets being sold to Americans for money, so that people would be able to live. The Americans were found to actually be kind, and the rumors of Americans raping Japanese were false, bringing the cultures crashing together. The Americans also felt that they had to be kind to the Japanese due to the atomic bombs we put out. “American GIS also helped change the image of Japanese, especially as many married Japanese women” (Pye). This brought the cultures together, but even then, Western views diminished the Japanese traditions.
Memoirs of a Geisha share the differences between Americans and Japanese. Golden combines “a focus on one of the pillars of Western exotic imagination, quasi-academic discourse of the world of geisha and an implicit valorization of West over East” (Topping, 319). Westerners begin to try to change cultures they don't understand.
Works Cited
Boocock, Sarane Spence. "Japanese Women: Shadow or Sun?." Contemporary Sociology 13.5 (1984): 551-556.
Golden, Arthur. “Memoirs of a Geisha.”
Palmer, Kimberly Shearer. "Geisha reality." Women's Review of Books 20.12 (2003): 14-14.
Pye, Lucian W. "America's Geisha Ally: Reimagining the Japanese Enemy." Foreign Affairs 86.2: 181-182.
Topping, Margaret. "Writing the Self, Writing the Other in Pierre Loti's Madame Chrysanthème and Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha." Comparative Critical Studies 1.3 (2004): 309-322.
The Chairman is unlike most Japanese men. In Memoirs of a Geisha Chiyo is crying in the street and the Chairman stops to give her a handkerchief. She shares, “Ordinarily a man on the streets of Gion wouldn't notices a girl like me . . . he certainly wouldn't speak to me . . . Yet . . . this man had spoken kindly . . . For a flicker of a moment, I imagined the world completely different from the one I'd always known, a world in which I was treated with fairness, even kindness” (Golden, 110). This helps us to see the authoritarian, hierarchical, and patriarchal aspect of Japan. This fact that the Chairman does not wear kimono and instead he wears western-style business suit, we can see that he has been Westernized. This could be why he is unlike most Japanese men. He is also a self-made man, the epitome of the American Dream.
It is interesting to see how women figure change their lives. The journey with the Chairman to the United States also shows Sayuri's personal journey to her own independence. In Memoirs of a Geisha, Sayuri's life in the United States is “even richer in some ways than in Japan” (Golden, 426). The Japanese and Geisha believe strongly in horoscopes and astrology. I wonder if Sayuri looked at her horoscope before she took her journey to with the Chairman to the United States.
The Japanese use symbiotic relationship between individual lives and nature. We see this in Memoirs of a Geisha by the statement of, “We lead our lives like water flowing down a hill, going more or less in one direction until we splash into something that forces us to find a new course” (Golden 105-6). This also helps to show the astrological belief system Geisha develop. The journey with the Chairman shows that Sayuri chose her new course of travel.
Women in America believe that they get where they get by what they do. American women do not wait on nature or horoscopes to choose what they will do. Usually, women in America do what they want and sometimes pay the consequences after they have done what they do.
Americans do not have anything that constrains them to one specific area. “The geisha is, on the one hand, constrained by feudalistic rules of propriety, by blinding obligations to senior members of the “sisterhood,” by the discipline required to master highly exacting music and dance forms, by the very kimono and wig which are the uniform of the trade” (Boocock, 554). The ironic thing is that most geisha that are chosen have an independent style to them. They are “independent-minded enough to resist powerful social pressures to marry and have children, and to choose an occupation that is beyond the pale socially” (Boocock, 554). This goes against what we learn that geisha have to do. Masuda in her own biography shares that “she was expected, even forced, to have sex with her Donna and other clients, as were other geisha” (Palmer). In America, if a woman is forced to have sex, that is considered rape. There is no “acceptance” to the right for a man to make a woman have sex. American women are taught to speak out while Japanese women are taught to bite their tongues and obey.
If the geisha have such a hard time and are forced to do anything, why is a geisha something that is good for women in Japan? Dalby says that even though the Geisha are restricted, “geisha are among the very few Japanese women who can claim economic independence, freedom from conventional family ties, and solid professional accomplishments” (Boocock, 554). This is ironic because even though geisha can claim economic independence and freedom, they are still bound to certain regulations. They must continue to sleep with men and they usually have to have a donna in order to gain their independence. Sayuri had to repay her debts to the house in order to gain this independence.
Geisha represent aspects such as romantic or sexual appeal, conversationalists, and artistic for malls. To the Japanese men, these are items that are no necessarily owned by their wives. This is completely different than the American view. The wife for Americans are companions, lovers, and mothers all in one. For the Japanese, these traits a man could desire from any number of women, not just one. Americans look for a “whole” woman while the Japanese look for a “single” woman.
“For most Westerners, the work geisha conjures up a vague fantasy of a sex worker crossed with an artist, perhaps similar to the European courtesans of the last century” (Palmer). Westerners do not separate the difference between geisha and prostitutes the way the Japanese do. We see that geisha sell themselves for money, thus they are prostitutes. The problem is that geisha are entertainers and artists as well. The Geisha had to go through a lot to distinguish themselves from prostitutes. Since the Geisha and prostitutes sometimes worked in the same areas, the developed regulations “prohibiting geisha from sleeping with prostitutes customers. . . or from wearing the same tupe of kimono or hair ornaments, suggesting the difficulties of maintaining professional boundaries” (Boocock, 554). We also see this in Memoirs of a Geisha with the difference between the sections of the city that Chiyo and her sister are taken to. It is also noticeable when you look at the attire of the geisha versus the prostitute. The geisha's bow is tied in the back while the prostitutes bow is tied in the front for quicker access for clients.
The geisha's life changed dirastically when World War II came around. “The economic devastation caused by the war and ensuing United States occupation put an end to the tradition” (Palmer). The impact of Americans was devastating to the traditional Japan. There were trinkets being sold to Americans for money, so that people would be able to live. The Americans were found to actually be kind, and the rumors of Americans raping Japanese were false, bringing the cultures crashing together. The Americans also felt that they had to be kind to the Japanese due to the atomic bombs we put out. “American GIS also helped change the image of Japanese, especially as many married Japanese women” (Pye). This brought the cultures together, but even then, Western views diminished the Japanese traditions.
Memoirs of a Geisha share the differences between Americans and Japanese. Golden combines “a focus on one of the pillars of Western exotic imagination, quasi-academic discourse of the world of geisha and an implicit valorization of West over East” (Topping, 319). Westerners begin to try to change cultures they don't understand.
Works Cited
Boocock, Sarane Spence. "Japanese Women: Shadow or Sun?." Contemporary Sociology 13.5 (1984): 551-556.
Golden, Arthur. “Memoirs of a Geisha.”
Palmer, Kimberly Shearer. "Geisha reality." Women's Review of Books 20.12 (2003): 14-14.
Pye, Lucian W. "America's Geisha Ally: Reimagining the Japanese Enemy." Foreign Affairs 86.2: 181-182.
Topping, Margaret. "Writing the Self, Writing the Other in Pierre Loti's Madame Chrysanthème and Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha." Comparative Critical Studies 1.3 (2004): 309-322.
Pool Vacuum
When your pool gets dirty, you have to do what you do in your own house, vacuum. Everybody wants to be able to have a sparkly clean pool waiting for them to swim in, however, you can't achieve this without a vacuum. Every pool vacuum is usually a package of items. There is the head, handle, hose, and plate.
Vacuum parts
The vacuum head is either a brush or a very flexible roller. The handle connects the head to the rest of the vacuum and is usually telescopic. The vacuum hose is a soft flexible hose that has cuffs on both ends that connect the head of the vacuum on one end and the skimmer box to the other end. The hose has to be long enough so that it will go from the skimmer box to the farthest point on your pool floor. The hose is usually 38 mm for inground pools and 32 mm for above ground pools. Be sure that these measurements will work with your pool. The vacuum plate is in the skimmer box.
Preparing
Before you begin to vacuum your pool, be sure that you do two items before you start. The first thing you must do is make sure that the filter is clean before vacuuming. This makes sure that it will not backwash anything into the pool after you have vacuumed the entire pool. The second thing that you must do is make sure that your floor isn't extremely dirty. If it is extremely dirty, you will probably be wasting your time and therefore you will be vacuuming up waste.
Vacuum set up
The vacuum head has to be connected to the handle, along with the hose before you begin vacuuming. You then will place the head on the very bottom of your pool. The hose will then fill up with water. Once the hose if filled with water, you can then connect the hose to the skimmer box. Next you will place the open end of your hose over the return in order to fit the pool. You will then use the returning water to force the air from your hose. After this has been completed, you will then connect the hose into the skimmer box vacuum plate. After you have completed all of these things, you can begin vacuuming your pool. Move the vacuum head along the pool floor removing all the debris and items in your pool.
What to remember
Do not vacuum up any large leaves or twigs that are in your pool. You can remove these items by your pool net. If you vacuum them up, you run the chance of ruining your vacuum or clogging your vacuum. You may have to switch off the pump while you are vacuuming so that you can remove the hose or plate. Be sure that you never lift the vacuum head from the pool floor. You must disconnect the vacuum hose from the skimmer box before you ever lift the vacuum off the floor.
Vacuum parts
The vacuum head is either a brush or a very flexible roller. The handle connects the head to the rest of the vacuum and is usually telescopic. The vacuum hose is a soft flexible hose that has cuffs on both ends that connect the head of the vacuum on one end and the skimmer box to the other end. The hose has to be long enough so that it will go from the skimmer box to the farthest point on your pool floor. The hose is usually 38 mm for inground pools and 32 mm for above ground pools. Be sure that these measurements will work with your pool. The vacuum plate is in the skimmer box.
Preparing
Before you begin to vacuum your pool, be sure that you do two items before you start. The first thing you must do is make sure that the filter is clean before vacuuming. This makes sure that it will not backwash anything into the pool after you have vacuumed the entire pool. The second thing that you must do is make sure that your floor isn't extremely dirty. If it is extremely dirty, you will probably be wasting your time and therefore you will be vacuuming up waste.
Vacuum set up
The vacuum head has to be connected to the handle, along with the hose before you begin vacuuming. You then will place the head on the very bottom of your pool. The hose will then fill up with water. Once the hose if filled with water, you can then connect the hose to the skimmer box. Next you will place the open end of your hose over the return in order to fit the pool. You will then use the returning water to force the air from your hose. After this has been completed, you will then connect the hose into the skimmer box vacuum plate. After you have completed all of these things, you can begin vacuuming your pool. Move the vacuum head along the pool floor removing all the debris and items in your pool.
What to remember
Do not vacuum up any large leaves or twigs that are in your pool. You can remove these items by your pool net. If you vacuum them up, you run the chance of ruining your vacuum or clogging your vacuum. You may have to switch off the pump while you are vacuuming so that you can remove the hose or plate. Be sure that you never lift the vacuum head from the pool floor. You must disconnect the vacuum hose from the skimmer box before you ever lift the vacuum off the floor.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Salt Water Pool Maintenance
Do you have a salt water pool? Are you wanting to know the difference between salt water pools and regular pools? Are you wondering how to keep it nice and clean so that you can make sure that other's think your pool is the cleanest? Well, there are many ways that you can maintain your salt water pool. You need to be able to keep a routine maintenance schedule so that you are able to ensure that your pool is properly cared for.
One of the items that you use to help maintain your salt water pool the easiest is a salt chlorination system. This item makes salt water pools a lot easier to use. This also will help to reduce the maintenance that you have to do, compared to that without a salt chlorination system. A regular pool requires you to shock the pool with large doses of chlorine, but with a salt water pool chlorination system does not require you to ever have to shock your pool.
In regular pools, the chlorine combines with the waste material of the pool. This is usually nitrogen or ammonia type items. The regular pools maintenance schedule uses the chlorine combined with a mono, di, or tri chloramines. Trichloramines are compounds that are associated with community pools or extremely dirty private pools. They have strong chlorine smells. The chlorine in the pool also burns the eyes and skin which makes you smell like chlorine after you are done swimming. The only way that you are able to get rid of the smells is to shock the pool on a routine maintenance schedule every week.
Maintenance
The pool maintenance for a salt water pool is obviously a little different than that of a regular pool. The first thing that you have to do is look at your swimming pool. If it is clean and sparkly, you have a very good filteration system, and the chlorine for the week is good, as well as the water balance is probably great. Next you will have to look at your salt water unit. If indicator on the production scale is glowing, the unit is producing chlorine. This is a normal thing for your unit to do. The unit produces chlorine every hour for roughly 5 to 10 minutes. If the unit does not glow at any time during the hour, you will need to make sure that your unit is properly working or if it is clogged or needs replaced. You must check the salt level of your salt water pool roughly every 6 months. If you live in an area where the weather is bad and you have a lot of rainfall, you may want to check the salt level of your pool more often. You will have to clean the cell to make sure that the calcium deposits do not result in any loose of chlorine production form your unit. This needs to be checked every week with your routine.
One of the items that you use to help maintain your salt water pool the easiest is a salt chlorination system. This item makes salt water pools a lot easier to use. This also will help to reduce the maintenance that you have to do, compared to that without a salt chlorination system. A regular pool requires you to shock the pool with large doses of chlorine, but with a salt water pool chlorination system does not require you to ever have to shock your pool.
In regular pools, the chlorine combines with the waste material of the pool. This is usually nitrogen or ammonia type items. The regular pools maintenance schedule uses the chlorine combined with a mono, di, or tri chloramines. Trichloramines are compounds that are associated with community pools or extremely dirty private pools. They have strong chlorine smells. The chlorine in the pool also burns the eyes and skin which makes you smell like chlorine after you are done swimming. The only way that you are able to get rid of the smells is to shock the pool on a routine maintenance schedule every week.
Maintenance
The pool maintenance for a salt water pool is obviously a little different than that of a regular pool. The first thing that you have to do is look at your swimming pool. If it is clean and sparkly, you have a very good filteration system, and the chlorine for the week is good, as well as the water balance is probably great. Next you will have to look at your salt water unit. If indicator on the production scale is glowing, the unit is producing chlorine. This is a normal thing for your unit to do. The unit produces chlorine every hour for roughly 5 to 10 minutes. If the unit does not glow at any time during the hour, you will need to make sure that your unit is properly working or if it is clogged or needs replaced. You must check the salt level of your salt water pool roughly every 6 months. If you live in an area where the weather is bad and you have a lot of rainfall, you may want to check the salt level of your pool more often. You will have to clean the cell to make sure that the calcium deposits do not result in any loose of chlorine production form your unit. This needs to be checked every week with your routine.
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