New Pool - Part 1

The groundwork begins.....

Deciding on a new pool sure means for a lot more work than I had anticipated! I thought it would be a snap; take a pool down, pop a pool up, sounds simple enough. But of course, we never make things quite so easy on ourselves... The first thing we did once we had fully finished building our house was to install an 18' x 33' above ground pool, we thought about putting an in-ground but we have so many critters living in the nature that surrounds us, it just made more sense and gave me more peace of mind to keep above ground with the swimmin' hole. The pool was fantastic and I loved it but we have very short swim seasons here in Thunder Bay so this year it finally seemed like the right time to try out a new style, an on-ground insulated model to hopefully extend the season a little for us.

We had hoped to have the new pool in and swimmable weeks ago but were waylaid by weather and illness. First Enz got sick and ended up in the hospital; three kidney stone surgeries later he is finally just starting to gain his strength back. Then we had thunderstorms that were so bad they resulted in some pretty heavy flooding throughout the city, we were beyond fortunate to be spared on the flood front! Next up, Enz's poor dad suffered a stroke (thankfully a mild one) and was hospitalized for over a week before he could have the surgery that will hopefully prevent another stroke from happening in the future. Dad was discharged from hospital only to be readmitted a day later with pneumonia following surgery. Not fun! Anyhow, Enz is the only in-town relative and so had to constantly be at the hospital to be with and help his dad talk with the doctors and nurses. And then there is still slow-healing ol' me and it takes me much longer than I would like to be getting everyday tasks done nevermind being able to start the pool project on my own. So, we are plugging away as we can but now that Dad is out of the worst of the danger and staying with us while he recuperates, we are finally back to it.

Here's our fun progress thus far:

Our first step was to take down the old pool.

You were a gooooooooood pool.....
(sung to 'Good Friend' by my beloved Kenny Rogers)

Next, we needed to start digging the new base, it was an easy start with the Bobcat, which I just adore putting to good use. I also just LOVE that being able to operate machines means I can physically help with the workload without slowing everyone down with my wobbliness when standing... it also means I am not always in the way with my annoying walker. I need a little help to climb inside but once I'm set, I'm ready and able to work... I thank the Heavens for hand controls, they sure do come in 'haaaaandy'!!!

Useful is as useful does...

My workaholic boys were on supervisor duty and for the most part, they supervised through heckling... something they have quickly become incredibly adept at.

Nice boys..... real nice!

Because our new pool is an on-ground pool it will be half buried, half above ground which means we needed to dig the ground down 60". Doable with the Bobcat? Yes... however, the dig site is not an easily workable one, filled with old wood and large boulders from the original land-clear to build our house eleven years ago. We were gratefully overjoyed when our friend Toby brought his machines over to help us get done before winter showed up. Whew!

Very rarely do I give up my seat... but Enz really wanted
to get to do some digging, too.

...just workin' togetherrrrrrr.....
(sung to So Happy Together by the Turtles)

I played nicely and let the boys take a turn... but it wasn't long before I gave them the boot and took over once again.....

I like to dig...

...I like to dig, dig.....

.....clay and rocks and tree-eeeeeees!
(all three sung to Apples and Bananas by Raffi)

They may have switched sleeping spots but the PlayDay Duo were still busy 'supervising' (in the shade and breeze, safe from the bugs) from the outdoor screened room... the fresh air was apparently a little tiring.

Supervisor Day

Supervisor Play

Toby also brought his fantastical little excavator along to help with the finicky finishing touches of cleaning up around the edges of the pool area... worked like a charm!

Cleaning up the messy floor debris...

...then cleaning up the side edges from above. Thank you, Toby!!!

The digging was finished just as storm clouds darkened from a bright, sunshiny day into a massive thunderstorm of darkness (which the boys continued to sleep right through as we quickly worked around them to close all the screen room windows.

After a half hour of rain, the sun shone brightly once again!

A little mucky but it will dry and the pool is one BIG step closer to finished!

And juuuuuuuuust in case I didn't share my love for digging quite clearly enough... here's another little snippet of me helping and having fun in the front end loader of awesome! 

To be CONTINUED.......

So, what fun projects are YOU working on? Don't be shy... share in the comments section below!!