Looking Forward to a Dip

A couple of weeks ago we were hot... REALLY hot.... and we decided we would enjoy a little refreshing dip in the pool.  Only one small problem.... we had no pool.  We thought one of those simple little "easy-set" pools would do the trick and, at a mere $100 on-line at Target, we placed our order.  Now, I hear your snickers as you try to imagine a couple of full-grown adults even considering a pool which the specs indicate should be filled to a depth of 29 inches!  Still, it looked refreshing and in the photo, no lie, there was a FAMILY in the pool, all, apparently refreshed and having a blast!

Whole family in this MONSTER pool!

The pool was not going to be shipped for a while, due, I suppose, to the overwhelming demand from couples in their 50's who were hot and wanted to cool down.  So, we sweltered through the triple-digit, super humidity-soaked days, dreaming of our cool, refreshing pool. One HOT morning (seriously, the sunflowers were laying low, SCREAMING, "Uncle") I walked down the driveway, unlocked and opened the gate....the UPS delivery tracking showed that THIS was the day the pool was being delivered.

Sure enough, sometime late in the afternoon, we discovered the box had been delivered, the UPS driver having placed it inside the front, screened porch of the old farmhouse...we hadn't heard or seen him, and Killian, that fabulous watchdog of mine who HATES anything UPS...apparently slept through the whole delivery.  Still, there it was, on the porch and awaiting the "5-minute set-up."

We hadn't noticed that the pool did not come with a ladder and while a three foot pool (that you only fill to a depth of 29 inches -- go figure) is not the TALLEST thing in the world, my days of hurdling over pool walls is long gone...I need to climb sedately into the pool, you know, like a "grown up."  Joe, my "we can make ANYTHING from some piece of junk," guy was all about describing all sorts "possibilities" for ladders.  None of them sounded too inviting to me, and I assured him I would look on Craig's list to see if I could find one cheap. 

I had to drive over to the pond house that evening to pick up mail and run a few errands.  It was Wednesday night and Thursday is trash pickup in that neighborhood.  So, in my trunk I carried my trash from the old farmhouse to put in my garbage can at the pond house.  As I drove down the road in the subdivision just in front of my little subdivision, I saw everyone pulling their garbage cans to the road in anticipation of the early morning pickup.  At the end of one driveway, I spied what looked like a pool ladder... REALLY....

I had already passed the driveway, but I backed up, got out of my car and asked the couple that were dragging their garbage can to the road...
"Is that ladder going into the trash?"  I asked.

They assured me it WAS destined for the trash, that it had nothing wrong with it, that they were HOPING someone would see it and pick it up, and YES, I could have it.  Now, to be honest, the ladder looked a little bigger than I needed, but it was a ladder... Tall or not, it was MINE.  I opened the trunk of my Hyundai Elantra, put down the back seat, moved MY trash from the trunk toward the front, and the guy wedged the first two feet into the trunk... the last three feet stuck out the back... but I didn't have far to go.  I dropped the ladder off at the pond house, dropped my trash in the garbage can, picked up my mail and left to complete my errands.

Naturally, with the arrival of the pool came the much cooler, almost unseasonably cool, weather...and rain.  And so, nearly a week went by before we undertook the great pool erection.  Yes, we watched the DVD (how lame) and we chose our level spot (OK....sort of level spot).  We spread a plastic ground cloth out, spread out the pool, filled the top ring with air, and filled with water.

Spread out on level ground (just like it said in the DVD instructions)

Roll up overalls...

Push the liner out to get rid of all the little "folds and wrinkles"

Obviously, a pool BELONGS in the garden, yes?

And, about four hours later we were rewarded with a filled pool with only a minor "lean" to it.

Little bit of a lean?

View from inside of the carport...ummm, still leaning "a little"

The next day (yesterday) I stopped in at the local Walmart and picked up pool water treatment chemicals.  And tonight, we finally picked up the ladder from the pond house and brought it to the pool.... Yes, it is a little tall,  but it is in excellent condition and too tall is better than too short.

(NO Diving.... PLEASE!)

Now.... we just need to try out our new pool.....today, it was in the mid 90's but we had no ladder...and I see on the TV weather report, the rains are expected here over the next few days...oh, yeah, I forgot...we are having a deck built off of this garage apartment we now call "home."  The wood is being delivered tomorrow or Wednesday... OF COURSE, it will start to rain!  Oh, well, I'm going to try out the pool tomorrow - I am determined...and I will keep my fingers crossed that whatever rain we have over the next few days we will still be able to proceed with the deck construction.

Yes, yes....from this angle that pool is LEVEL!!!!

On a completely different note, a couple more sunflowers rewarded our patience with flowers today...

5' 4" Judy meets Sunflower

Let it shine!  Brilliant!

And apparently, we are not the only admirers of these lovely yellow monsters!

Bee was NOT happy with our photo op!