As Joe Cutter said to me yesterday, "You know what a pool is don't you? It's a big hole you throw your money into." That's what I'm hearing as I'm looking at products to keep critters out of your pool. If you missed Monday's show you missed us talking about how I found a bunch of dead frogs in ours. Now, never having owned a pool before, I'm a total rookie at this.

First, here's the pool. Looks nice enough, right? Ah but there are hidden horrors.

Deminski's pool
Jeff Deminski photo
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And I knew to expect skimming out certain things, such as this bug.

Giant bug
Jeff Deminski photo
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I also wasn't surprised to find a bumble bee dead on the surface of the water.

Dead bee
Jeff Deminski photo
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But I have to admit, for some rookie reason I was shocked to find this dead frog floating there.

Dead frog
Jeff Deminski photo
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And then here's another.

Dead frog 2
Jeff Deminski photo
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So far I have pulled 12 dead frogs out of our pool. What's even nastier, one night my wife and I were swimming and didn't know of something else that was floating in the pool. It was dark out, with only the pool lights on. The next day we found what looked to be some dead embryonic bird floating and rotting in the same water we had been in 12 hours earlier. There was also one day about two weeks ago when a beaver had walked in through the fence and was about 3 feet away from taking a dip before I ran out like a crazy person to scare it off.

The more I read about this after the frogs started showing up I realize this is completely common. Rats, mice, birds, squirrels, chipmunks, frogs, snakes, and all kinds of other animals often find someone's pool and take it as any other body of water until they find they can't get back out. Now people are sending me links for products you attach to the sides of your pool that hang in the water and serve as escape ramps for these critters. First world problem? Absolutely. But I have to laugh at myself that I'm such a rookie to this that I had no idea it was coming.

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