It's Pool Time....Soon

Boy, Oh, Boy! I completely underestimated the simplicity of installing a pool! Dennis and I took the plunge and purchased a 24 foot above ground pool. We all enjoy spending our summers swimming and always have. Emily has recently become more proficient in swimming. She swam really well in Florida and is trying to learn how to keep herself afloat while swimming. Lauren loves to swim and have her friends over to swim. Sooo we thought what a great investment a pool would be.....

There are many things we did not even think about when we decided to do this. First and foremost, we purchased the pool from Beattie Pool and got a good deal. The next big decision, installation! Dennis refused to even think about installing it himself, so we contacted pool installers recommended by Beattie.

The first thing we had to do was coordinate the day the pool was going to be installed. Dennis scheduled the sand to be delivered between 8-12, the pool installers were scheduled for 12 noon, and the water delivery would be around 2 p.m.

We figured the pool would be completed around supper time, so Dennis and I planned a nice "date night". My sister had taken the kids for the weekend, which allowed us to have some alone time. We definitely had our alone time, all day.

The sand arrived on time and took about 5 minutes to dump in the driveway.
Next, we waited and waited and waited for the pool installers. They ended up showing up at our house at 7 p.m. Being they only had several more hours of daylight left, they went at the task with gusto! They faced many obstacles, the first being getting to our backyard. They ended up going through our neighbors, which I now have to find a way to fix the dried mud and deadened grass. The next obstacle was the impending darkness. Two of the installers assembled the filter, which now leaks, in the darkness. As if the darkness wasn't enough stress for these guys, it began to rain, lightening, and thunder. Wow! One of the workers commented about how he loved to work at 110% at the end of the day. They ended up finishing the job at 10:30ish during the downpour.

After the pool wall and liner were installed, the water boy began to pump his 7,000 gallons of water in the pool, which only filled half of the pool. We were still left to finish filling the pool the rest of the way, being we only wanted to pay the water boy $200.00 up front for the water. Below is a picture of the water boy, AKA "Padington Bear" as we called him.

The story doesn't end there. The pool installers dug out, from our backyard, and deposited in our driveway 10 yards of dirt and grass in order to have level ground for the pool.
10 yards of dirt is ALOT of dirt. We didn't know what to do with it, I called nurserys, landscapers and noone wanted our dirt!:) Finally, Angela and I went driving around looking for signs of fill dirt wanted; we finally found one on Midland Road. Dennis and Angela's brother, Ken spent the ENTIRE day, Saturday, shoveling dirt into the truck and then out of the truck in some guys yard off of Midland Road.

Sunday, Dennis had to go to Kentucky for work and left us with strict instructions that we wouldn't be able to swim until he got back on Friday. So, we had an installed pool, no chemicals, no ladder installed, and a leaky filter.

Monday, I called the electrician to give us an estimate on installing a pool circuit. I also called the pool installers to fix the leaky filter. Both said they would be out sometime Monday. Lauren and I waited around at home all day. Finally, around 8 p.m. we decided to go get dinner and rent some movies. Wouldn't you know, during this time, the electrician stopped by and we weren't home. So, Tuesday morning I called both people again. The electrician finally stopped by and gave us an estimate, and I am still waiting for the pool guys to fix the leaky filter. Until the filter is fixed, we can't fill the pool up past the skimmer, because if leaks out! So, tomorrow I'll call again, and this time I'm alittle more miffed!

Dennis will finally be home Thursday night and we will then go get chemicals and he will get them in the pool, as well as the ladder. Hopefully the leak will be fixed by then and we will be able to swim in the pool by Tuesday, (the electriaian isn't installing the circuit until Monday).

It has been an experience, with so many unexpected expenditures! Everything cost so much money and we still need to buy stones for around the perimeter and install some type of walk way to keep the grass and dirt out of the pool, Dennis' insistance because we all know how he is Mr. Clean:) It makes sense, but it is soo him!