Cement

I came from a real tough neighborhood. I put my hand in some cement and felt another hand.
Rodney Dangerfield

We've had some pretty serious cement work going on at our house. So thankful for family and friends who can DIY!!!

Front of house and extended driveway done…to be continued…

Love, Laugh, and Always know where the nearest bathroom is

A Love/Hate Relationship!!!

I have a love/hate relationship with swimming pools. I have always loved having a swimming pool. It is always great fun with family and friends and even just me laying on a raft floating the day away. Normally pools aren't very hard to take care of. Unless the pool is in my backyard. For some reason we always have strange pool related problems.

There was the time when two dogs (not mine) got into our pool. At the time we had thick hedges around our entire yard with gates at the front and side of the yard. There was an area of hedges that was a bit sparse so we put some mesh fence up to keep our dog in. My dog was barking like crazy (Fortunately he was in the house at the time) so I looked out side and there was a little dog running back and forth on the deck by the pool and a great dane, yes a great dane was in the pool with his front paws on the deck trying to get out. By the time I got out the door the little dog was also in the pool. I got the little dog out but there was no way I could get the great dane out. I noticed a neighbor out cutting grass so I begged for his help. He got in the pool and lifted the dog out. Of course a dog in the pool means holes in the liner. Thankfully the damage was covered by the dog owners home owners insurance. Oh...How did they get in my yard? They knocked down the mesh fence.

Then there was the time a few years later. We were on vacation and my nieces who were house/dog sitting called because the water level was dropping rather quickly. They soon found a very wet area where water was gushing out of the pool.

A few years later, the day before we left for vacation my neighbor came running to my front door yelling about the water!!! By the time I got out back the pool was collapsed on one side and all the water was running down the street. Thankfully no one was in the pool at the time…ugh!

The following summer we got a brand new pool. Our deck was built over the edge of our old pool so when the installers came to put the new pool in they discovered that the new pool was about an inch taller so they proceeded to cut the deck. Let me just say that I could have done a better job blindfolded!!! Now this nice new pool was rust proof…yay right.

Which brings us to this year (the third summer for this rust proof pool). Not one, not two, not three but FOUR rust spots. Two of which you can see the pool liner pushing out and a few hours later…1 hole then 2 holes and a warranty that only covers the pro-rated pool wall. Not the liner. Not the installation of the new pool wall and certainly not the installation of the new liner. Not the gallons upon gallons of water to fill it back up. We've patched the holes and in the spring we will have to order the new pool wall and a new liner, drain, take down the rusted rust proof pool and liner, and put the new wall and liner up. Then fill the pool with gallons and gallons of water. YAY!

The old pool collapsed

Two of the rust spots on the new rust proof pool