And fire in my backyard, too! Bless that young man from the pool company for his perseverance! I spent a LONG time last night enjoying the fire pit and my new solar lights.
I’m in there, basking
It was warm and pleasant outside. I could even get out of the spa, relax in a chair, and get back in.
Nice lighting
The sunset was very pink, which made the clouds before the storms look more benign. It was so relaxing!
It’s not eternal, but it’s a flame!
All that relaxing was great preparation for some busy times coming up. I worked like crazy today and had plenty of energy to keep going. Hooray! The Pool of Dreams is a dream come true.
Ode to my lighting
I even got my son to help me put my old rug from my knitting room in Austin on the porch to make more of an outdoor living room effect. It’s an indoor-outdoor rug so should be ok.
The highlight of the day today was getting more propane delivered. A lot. And since I’m apparently the family propane waster I’m now paying for it. Ka-ching. I’ll try to ration my fire pit use. But not the spa. I love it.
We are sort of battened down for a winter storm right now. Well, most of us are. Lee and the resident nephew went somewhere in east Texas to pick up a beautiful second-hand horse trailer and some mysterious “other stuff” that I can’t wait to see. I hope the weather is kind to them!
One thing is for sure: I can’t complain about the guys who did the stone work on the swimming pool. The two main masons came by today to fix the mess made by digging the ventilation holes in the fire pit.
Can I help?
They dug out a pretty big ugly hole and ended up with lots of missing stone. They were not sure they could fix it, since there was no extra stone laying around.
Making the hole.
They called the office, and the poor assistant had to drive all the way from Waco with some stone tile. It was not the same as ours, but it was the same rock. They said they would try to figure something out.
Lee said they were out there sawing the tile into smaller pieces. When I was done working they were gone. I found this.
Penney liked it.
They made a lovely grate that looks like it was there all along. It’s absolutely perfect. I was blown away. This was true craftsmanship. And it’s so good that no one will realize it was hard to achieve. Just wow!
That’s where the key will go when it’s set up.
Yep. All we need now is the mechanism to turn on the fire pit and instructions on using the vacuum robot. Sooo close. And tonight I’m getting in the hot tub. It’s cold but not so windy.
Yes. Thanks to ME the pool dreams are coming true. The show of poop came to an end today, to much hilarity.
Cutting to the chase: we have fire.
Yes. Other than a minor adjustment, the pool is working. It is a miracle, sort of. First, the pool guys showed up bright and early with a new heater. This one worked and was not too bad to install. However, they’d been unable to find the missing mechanism for the fire pit. Bummer.
Glad to have this out of the way.
Then I worked a lot. Work, work, work, meet, meet, meet. Oh, did I mention we had our first “meal” with the kids at the cabin last night? Yes! Dairy Queen drive through! Official move-in date is this weekend.
We kept our distance. Safety first.
Anyway, mid afternoon the propane guys came back. They got the heater hooked up, and now we’re cooking with gas. Yep.
Thrilled.
We were all sad that we could not get the fire pit going. They got more stuff attached, and we’re looking around at the inside of the pit. It was all dusty and full of plastic stuff that appeared to be trash.
Looks like trash.
Ha. That was not trash. I picked up a bag and there was some copper stuff in it. Hey, is this the thing you we’re looking for?
Yes.
Well. I was the hero of the day. In fact, everything they needed was under the dust from drilling the holes. Sheepishly, the guys set off to hook everything up. And soon, as you saw earlier, fire occurred.
Glorious reflection of fire pit, and Lee’s beloved vacuum hose.
So yes. The pool is a pool! Other than needing something to brace the fire pit mechanism against and covering the new holes, we are set. Just in time for a cold front. I do think we’ll get to try the hot tub, though.
Hot tub is heating!
I know the lady at the pool company got a good laugh out of me finding those parts. She no longer has to try to buy one and get it rushed here. As for me, even though I work 7 am to 8 pm tomorrow, I’m seeing nothing but blue skies. Quarantine with hot tub is way better than without.
Success!
Hot tub inaugurated. Still not hot and the cold front blew in!
We were all excited yesterday, because the propane people were supposed to come hook up the hot tub and fire pit, since our swimming pool is just a large water dish right now.
We love our water dish.
Let’s start with good news. The guy from DIRECTV showed up and stood the satellite dish back up so we can see television. He was unable to do anything about getting things set up so we can put a set in my office, because we have the COVID in the house. But, now he knows what we need, so he’ll be prepared in case we ever get the all-clear to participate in society again. This disease can make some people so sick. It’s horrible. Yes, that was the good news.
Standing tall again.
The rest of the stuff for the day did not go well for anyone involved. First, the pool company sent a young fellow out to “fix” our fire pit, because it apparently needed ventilation holes that they didn’t know about before. They’d started it last week, but not gotten very far.
Early in the drilling process
So, the young fella drilled and drilled, and repeatedly said, “Oh, snap!” which I thought was charming. Pretty soon, he’d burned out the drill, so he had to go all the way back to Waco to get another one. That thrilled him to no end.
Where’s the pool guy? (Even the dogs are looking)
Before he came back, the propane guys arrived. Let’s just say they weren’t thrilled to find out that a) the pool heater was not functional, so they couldn’t hook it up, and b) they were supposed to install a line to the fire pit, which they had not been informed about. There seems to be a lot of miscommunication going on around here.
Fine. We at least brought enough of this yellow stuff.
They went ahead and attached the gas line to the propane tank, which was the thing we were most concerned about, then grumbled a lot as they got pipe to the fire pit.
Hope nothing escapes that sewer line!
Speaking of grumbling, the nice pool kid returned with what had to be the biggest drill I ever saw. I think it’s an impact driver or something. He couldn’t even lift it! He also couldn’t change bits until our resident tool person showed him how in a rather graphic fashion that I will not share here.
The giant drill is on the ground. That’s our medium-sized drill he’s using. The young man has shed many layers.
I finally suggested that maybe we’d have a drill bigger than the first one and smaller than the second one, and sure enough, we did, and he finished after five endless hours of drilling and being complained to by the propane guys about sending them here with none of the stuff ready (like some vitally important key to turn the fire pit on and off, which I swear used to be there). None of these workers had a good day, though they were all perfectly pleasant to us, and we did get in a few laughs.
Waiting for something to hook up to.
I was told that a new heater was coming today and that they would get the hot tub going. It’s afternoon already and I see no workers of any sort. I’m not surprised, since the propane guys have other clients. But, where is the pool heater?
I’ll just sit here and wait, says Vlassic.
I pity the poor young woman who works for the pool company and had the bad timing to email me asking how the propane went. I told her. Many excuses later, and we still do not have a fire pit, a hot tub, or a covered trench. I think the Pool of Dreams will just have to remain a dream a while longer…another cold front is coming and the wind’s picked up again!
I’m sure glad I have all those horses to fill me with joy!
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The Hermits' Rest 