When I received my new external pond filter yesterday, I was excited at the prospect of having a clean waterfall pond. Now I can buy several goldfish for the pond, and my granddaughter will be able to see them swimming on Sunday. I have had pond filters before, but they were all underwater filters. That meant I had to take them out of the pond to clean them. That was such a messy task that I stopped using them. The new external pond filter will be much easier to clean, making it fun to use.
I have had fun with filters of all types. My pool has a cartridge filter that lasts a year and a half. I take it out each month to hose it off. It’s fun to watch the greenish stains turn white as the strong spray from my hose does its work.
My home’s air conditioning and heating system has a filter. It is actually fun to take it out every few months and, before throwing it away, hold it up to the light to see how dirty it has become. I can just imagine breathing cleaner air.
Every 5,000 miles I change the synthetic oil and the oil filter in my car. It’s fun dumping the dirty oil into my large five-gallon water containers. My car likes the clean oil and filter, and shows its happiness by running a bit smoother.
My refrigerator has a built-in water filter. The only time I use it is when my Brita water filter is empty, I am thirsty, and I don’t have the time to wait for the Brita to fill up. The water from the fridge always is cool. I ought to use it more often.
After cleaning the inside of my car with the vacuum cleaner attachment, I enjoy cleaning the vacuum filter by knocking it against the garage wall.
In most cases, I archive emails, rather than delete them. I use the Gmail filter to have many unwanted emails go directly to the archive. That way I can always search for them if I need them, and my inbox will be less cluttered.
Finally, I enjoy using Google’s “Find” filter to see how many times a certain word has appeared in my 350-plus essays. Not counting this essay, I have used the word filter 33 times. This essay used the word 17 times.
What do you enjoy filtering?
Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen@gmail.com
