Who's in the pool?

We have fished a lot of creatures out of our pool - a baby bunny, a bird or two, bugs of all kinds (including a scorpion), and gophers. This afternoon we pulled out a frog* for the first time.

We went out to get in the pool and Hayden said there was a frog in the pool. I asked him how big it was and he said it wasn't too big. Well, I guess he hasn't seen many frogs because it was the BIGGEST frog I had ever seen! The body was at least the size of my hand.

He appeared to be enjoying his swim in the pool. When Jerry first moved the net towards him he swam down towards the bottom. We scooped him up in the net and let him go next to the irrigation pipe in the field across the street. We didn't want him hanging around just in case he was one of the poisonous frog/toads we get around here that can make dogs sick.

As much as we enjoyed his visit, I'm happy to say he hasn't been back!


*Although I say frog he/she may have been a toad. 

Like a Ton of Bricks

When the pool was built we had to remove some of our brick paver patio to make room. Knowing we were going to have it fixed after the pool was done we had the demo guy save the bricks. He dumped them in a pile in the back lot. Back in January, the kids (including Roz - she was here visiting) and I spent a warm, sunny winter morning stacking them neatly on a pallet.

We knew we wanted the patio fixed before swimming season really got rolling so we made a few calls to get some estimates. It wasn't a big job. Just fixing a few bricks, straightening the brick line by the pool, and then adding a little bit to one corner to even things out. We didn't think it would cost too much since we had the bricks. We just needed the labor.

The first guy came. Jerry didn't like him. I didn't like him either when I saw his estimate! It was almost $2000! No thanks, we'll pass. The next guy was better. Jerry liked him. I liked his estimate. It was almost a quarter of the first guy's, but he said he was busy and wouldn't be able to get here for about 3 weeks. We said that was fine.

When it had been three weeks and we hadn't heard from him, Jerry called. "Thursday or Friday" is what we were told. No one came. Another call. Another answer. Another no show. Ugh. Then it was Spring Break and he went on vacation. Then another week passed. I was seriously ready to start calling around for more estimates when we were told "someone would be out today". Let's just say I wasn't too optimistic. But, I was also pleasantly surprised, because they came! Finally!

Unfortunately, the three man crew came without instructions. I told them what we wanted and they got to work. They had gotten here late in the day Thursday and didn't work long. I was a little concerned when they left that they didn't understand what I had said. (We had a slight language issue.) When they showed up on Friday morning, I asked them if they understood and they said they did. At that point there was really nothing to do but wait and hope they truly did.

They were done by lunch. And they did just what I said.

So here are a few "before and after" photos.

This first one is on the way to the guest house. We called it the "fiscal cliff" because Annabeth would stop and request assistance to cross it. The pool guys had to dig the bricks up here to run the electrical. Last summer I just laid a few bricks in the gap to make do until we got it fixed.

You can see the line along the pool fence needed to be straightened. Then we wanted to add a few bricks in the far corner to even things out.

Here are the after photos! No more "fiscal cliff"! But I still step funny when I walk here. It will take me awhile to stop that.

We now have a nice straight edge along the pool fence. This line actual runs at a funny angle so each of those bricks had to be cut to fit inside the brick "frame".

 

The corner was filled in as well. It is a little bit lower than the rest of the patio but it looks like it was always that way.

They had to cut a lot of bricks around the little piece of pool decking here as well. Jerry and I might have been able to lay the bricks but we would never have been able to cut them like this! Which is why this was not a DIY project we wanted to take on.

Here is the view from the back patio now. You'd never know it wasn't always like this!

One more thing of our checklist!

First Swim of the Season!

After being tempted by the beautiful blue water for months, we were finally able to swim again. We were mad at ourselves for shutting down the pool as soon as we had a cold snap last November. There were several days after we turned off the heater that it was warm enough to go for a swim. We have been waiting and waiting to get back in so we had plans to get the heater going as soon as we could.

The heater didn't even have to work hard at all thanks to the addition of about 10,000 gallons of 80 plus degree water after the table repair. The unseasonably warm weather last weekend helped too. The temp drops a few degrees each night, but the heater gets it back up to about 80º by mid-afternoon.

The repair work was done Thursday and the pool company sent someone out to balance the water on Friday. He gave us the go ahead to get in when he was done.

Back in January we bought some umbrellas for the umbrella holes in the table and the baja step. Last year they were sold out at every store we checked by the time the pool was finished. I have a feeling Annabeth and I will be spending many hours under those umbrellas this summer!

The boys were making up all kinds of games with the pool toys. But it seems every one's favorite pool activity is jumping off the grotto. No one wanted to go in the grotto because apparently a big nasty spider took up residence there while no one was swimming this winter. I don't know if this is true for sure because I wasn't about to go investigate. We decided Dad should do a little grotto clean out before any of us would go in there.

If you look closely you'll see seven boys swimming. Two of the new neighbor boys heard the pool guy give us the okay and they ran home to ask their mom if they could join us. They seemed to have a great time. I hope we have lots of friends join us this swimming season! If you're local, come by anytime!!

Pool Building Flashbacks

Am I dreaming? Did we go back in time? It was hot today and felt like summer. My pool was half empty and there were guys working on it.

No, we didn't go back in time and, unfortunately, I'm not dreaming. Way back when the pool table was installed, they were in a bit of hurry and had someone - NOT the table crew - install it. When they were done we noticed a "chip around the umbrella hole". We mentioned it to the pool superintendent right away and he told us they would get a little repair kit to fix it. After not hearing anything for months, we finally asked them what the hold up was and it seems there is no repair kit. Guess they were not going to mention that and see if we ever cared. The remedy: a new table top. Okay. The procedure for a new table top: drain the pool to the first step. Ugh.

It's been a struggle. They didn't show up the first time the "drain and fix" was scheduled. Then the gal in the office had "computer problems" that suspiciously affected her phone as well. Uh huh. Jerry finally insisted it be taken care of this week. So yesterday a guy came to drain our beloved, perfectly (chemically) balanced water and pump it out into the back field.

Pumping out the water (FYI: Those are solar rings to help warm the water.)

Then early this morning the three man install crew (the real ones!) arrived and literally broke the old table into pieces and removed it. Old table, we hardly knew ye! After cleaning up the pedestal edges, they got the new top all situated and were on their way.

Removing the old table

Installing the new table

The boys wondered why the pool crew couldn't just put on their swimming trunks and fix it. It does seem like a waste to drain all that water for an hour of work. But the water was cold (about 65º) and power tools and water don't mix. The good news is the water going into the pool is at least 80º so I think between that and the warm weather (high of 90º today and 92º tomorrow) we will be swimming this weekend! We had planned to turn on the heater and I think the addition of warm water will give it quite a jump start!

As you can see my pool-filling helper really enjoyed the warm hose water! We spent a good half hour our there splashing and spraying.

It was kind of funny how word spread. Soon Eli joined us and then Wesley, Hayden, and JD appeared with their suits on. The boys actually stepped into the deep parts where the water was still a bit chilly. Us girls stayed up where it was warm. Everyone is READY to be swimming again. Looks like we will be very soon!

Pool Progress: Filling and Swimming!

After running all night this is what the pool looked like on Friday morning at about 8:30am. Not quite half full. It hadn't reached the steps yet.

 As you can see that didn't keep the boys from tossing in a bunch of toys!

As soon as Annabeth went down for her nap we went for a swim. It was like a zero entry type pool. JD and Hayden enjoyed it, once it's full they won't be able to touch except on the steps. When we got in Wesley could even touch in the deep end.

It was slow going. Here it was at 11:30am. We kept track of how it was filling by watching the light.

By 3:30pm or so we finally had water on the lowest step and the light was under water! We got in again. This time one of the neighbor boys joined us! When Jerry got home from work he got in too.

Annabeth enjoyed sitting on the step under the table. She won't be able to do this once it's full!

I told the boys we would wait for Dad to try the slide. So Jerry had the honors of first slide. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture.

It was quite a drop from the slide to the water, but the boys didn't mind! I should say most of the boys didn't mind. Hayden wasn't ready to try it just yet.

We were right back out there Saturday morning. I didn't take any pictures since the camera was charging but the pool still wasn't full. We swam all Saturday morning. Two of the neighbor kids and their mom joined us too.

We weren't very smart about sunscreen so we all got a little sunburned. Thankfully, the boys have swim shirts so it was mostly just faces that got red. We were more careful the rest of the weekend.

I took the photo above around 12:30pm on Saturday. The pool was almost full, the water was just reaching the tile.

Since the equipment is not running yet we used one of the hoses to keep the slide wet. After awhile we moved it to the waterfall just so we could see what it looked like. The plumbing to the waterfall and slide uses bigger pipes than our hose so it will be a bit more water than this once it's going for real.

It ended up taking a little more than 48 hours with two hoses running to fill it up. Tomorrow someone will be here to start up the equipment. Then later this week we'll have pool orientation. It will be a salt water pool once it's up and running, but for the first month while the finish cures it will just use regular chlorine. I don't know anything at all about maintaining a pool. We couldn't even figure out how to turn on the light so I expect we'll be taking lots of notes!

Pool Progress: Acid Wash and Filling

We kept an eye on the backyard all morning, but didn't see any activity. Around lunch time, Jerry finally called to make sure we were on the list for acid washing. We were. The guy was here not too long after that. I wasn't exactly sure what was going to be done during this step.

It was just one guy. He unloaded his equipment and got to work.

First he scrubbed (or polished?) the pool with this contraption. The boys thought it looked like a weed/grass trimmer.

Then came the acid wash. Wesley and I stepped outside and watched him pour it out in the deep end. It turned the water a greenish blue color as it removed a layer off the pool finish. He used a pump to reuse the chemical as he walked around with the hose.

Then he got out the pressure washer wand and started to spray.

He rinsed down the whole pool and then pumped the dirty water out. He also removed all the pop-up cleaner caps and installed the drains in the deep end.

Then it was the moment we've all been waiting for... he turned on the hose!!

One last shot of the empty pool...

This is what the floor/walls looked like after he finished. You can really see all the little colored pebbles now! You can also see one of the decorative tiles on the step. The acid wash really removed the film that was coating everything.

They couldn't wait to get in!

JD stands in the deep end. Tomorrow it will be over his head in this same spot.

Justus, Wesley, and Hayden got in their swim suits to splash around. Even Sam got in on the action. Silly dog!

Poor JD and Eli had appointments at the eye doctor so they had to stay on dry land. They got in for a bit after dinner, but it was too dark to take pictures.

The first hose was turned on about 2:45 pm. Around 3:30pm I turned on the second hose. At 7pm the water was still only in the deep end. Any guesses on what time it will be completely full??

I'm not wrapping up the Pool Progress posts just yet. I'll have more pictures to share when it's full. And, of course, I'll have to share some slide and waterfall photos. Plus we still have to have the official start up of the equipment and our pool "how-to" orientation sometime next week.