The pool cover was another story. A couple of hundred pounds of wet, decaying leaves, with lots of water and water bugs. We got the cover folded over and dragged to one side of the pool, but couldn't lift it out (waaaaay too heavy). One thing I didn't mention that this is a big pool. The previous owners of our house put in a 28 foot pool. That's a bit short of 21000 gallons. It's big. The pool cover was big. It collected a big mess.
After siphoning out a lot of the water, we noticed the water was pretty clear (not the nasty soupy stuff you'd expect. The cover had gotten pourous enough over the years to allow the regular pool water get into the leaf mess, and so we were draining the pool we were trying to fill. argh! So we pulled the folded over cover as far out of the pool as we could, and got a 1-gallon juice pitcher and started bailing out leaves. Boy was that gross. But after half an hour or so of being elbow-deep in decaying vegetable and animal matter, it wasn't so bad. I can kinda see how janitors, vets who stick their arms up cows butts, or MFC programmers can do their jobs on a daily basis. (Well, ok, maybe not the MFC programmers).
Finally after about an hour of labor, three wheelbarrow loads full of wet leaves and swamp water, we got the cover off and could start the cleaning process in earnest. Luckly chemical engineering being to the state of what it is, it looks like we'll just have to do some vacuuming and a little wall scrubbing. I'm really looking forward to having the pool working. This summer is shaping up to be a hot one, and we don't have air conditioning. (I know, poor poor pitiful folks). I'd rather not subcomb to the A/C monster, so having a big tub of water to dunk into (and maybe get some exercise in) will be quite welcome.