Swimming pools blog

Hi all,
We purchased a home with an in-ground pool. We moved in a month ago.
The pool was alread winterized - the people who lived here before us
were very good about pool/yard/house maintenance.
I phoned a local pool company to come give a bid on how much it
would cost them to do the maintenance and I had sticker shock at
$190 per month. I logged onto the Internet and ordered “The Ultimate
Pool Maintenance Manual” but it hasn’t arrived yet. Is this a good
book? Does anyone recommend any other books? Is this hard to learn?
is it worth it to hire them for a year to watch what they do then
take it over - or could I learn this? I’m happy to try new things,
I’m just clueless about pools/spas. We also have a separate hot tub,
but it is not in working order. The water is drained… I think it
might be best to just invest in a new one rather than troubleshoot
this old one… thoughts on that???

I look forward to reading the posts here and learning more about
this. And thanks for all advice you can give me!!!
Pam