Whine & Cheese

Still Going...

The Great Pool Drain of 2006 continues....

I wondered whether we should leave the pump going overnight... but that would have been a really bad idea...

Here is what it looks like this morning at 7:45 a.m. (so over 15 hours later!)

While certain getting close to the end... you would still be surprised how much water there is still left in this deepest portion of the pool.

Think we're in the final throes at 10:20 a.m. ... and, as you can guess, we are definitely looking forward to getting those automatic cleaning heads fixed!

High Noon... and just about there!

I know I should have a big final ta-da picture... but turned off the pump at around 12:30 pm (so about 22 hours total!) and it didn't look all that much different from this one... still some water there since it was too shallow to get sucked in. 

Drain, Drain, Drain

Well, whattya know... the pool folks came over this afternoon to begin the draining of the pool... and with 10s of thousands of gallons to go, I have a suspicion it will take awhile...

One hour in (3:15p local time), it looks like this:

I know kind of hard to see anything... but I would say it is down about 6 inches, which is more progress then I thought it would make.

More updates to follow... at least while I still have light!
(I know this just narrowly beats out "watch paint drying" on the excitement scale)

Ok, 2.5 hours in (4:45p) ... we are below the tiles!  Folks, this part of the pool I think is about 12 feet deep... so still a ways to go... but the first step is already clear on the other end of the pool.

3+ hours (6pm) ...  and back in the "shallow" end... still making progress, but not quite the noticeable difference from last time...

4+ hours (7:10pm) ... probably our last shot with natural light for the evening... decent progress, but I am thinking it likely will not be done before bedtime (not that I thought it would be!)

Pool Re-do

We're getting our swimming pool re-done... we've been meaning to do it for a little while, but the contract was signed this weekend and work will begin ... well, whenever they want to show up and get started (sound familiar JD?)

When we started thinking about getting this done, I honestly I had no idea what it would all entail... when I heard "re-surfacing" I figured some spray-on stuff would be applied or something like that... but nope, the entire pool is going to be chipped out and we'll have a big hole in the ground for a bit of time.  There is going to be one day of jack-hammering... and I am guessing I should probably find something and somewhere else to be that day.

We're keeping our fingers crossed that all goes well.  We are only the second family in this house... and we know the first ones were big "do-it-yourselfers"... and while that is admirable quality... on more than one occasion we've been informed that something was "not done right" when we've had work on the house. So while it is seriously doubtful they installed the pool themselves, we're just hoping there were not any "cut corners" along the way.

I will take pictures for the big "before and after" as well as the progress ... check back later today for the "before" ... waiting until it gets less shady out back.  (UPDATE: Pix added below and 'after the jump')

It will either be done by May 10th or after we get back from Hawaii (my gut tells me it's going to be the latter)... the pool needs to be brushed at least 2x/day for 7-10 days after the final surface is put in (something about stuff oozing up) ... so we need to be here for that... or I need to rent a pool-boy and definitely need to be here to supervise!

Speaking of pictures and Hawaii... purchased a 1.0gb SD memory card for the digital camera yesterday.  That just totally cracked me up... it hasn't seemed all that long ago that I could never dream of using the "best" quality setting since the card could only hold maybe 6 pictures (no kidding, I still have my original 8mb card)... but, now I am wondering if this one along with my 512mb card will be enough?!  Ah, technology!

"Before" Pix
View of pool from the house, the new pool surface will not cause "white out/blindness" conditions (belive me I was seeing spots when I came back inside after snapping these pictures)... we ordered a color called "Caribbean Blue":

Four Years

I couldn't let today go by without mentioning that it is our anniversary of sorts...

Tempus Fugit!  It was 4 years ago today that we moved into our house.

As noted last year, we really don't remember when we had our "first date" or when this all solidified into a "relationship".... that's somewhere in the 11-12 year range... so March 15th is the best we can come up with as a noteworthy day.

Either way, pretty darn good... huh?!

Back in the Swim of Things

Okay... maybe I should have said ... back to floating... as what I did yesterday had minimal physical exertion!

Yesterday was the first day I "snuck" out of the office and got in our pool... a pool that is in my peripheral vision all day long.  I wasn't really playing hooky all that much... since most of my clients are East Coast-based, my work day is pretty time-shifted, especially during the summer when there is a 3-hour time difference.  So I usually start work before 7 am and, for the most part, can pretty much call it a day (without too much guilt) by 2 pm.  So why not head out to the pool!?!

The pool is finally warm enough to get in.  We missed the first major warm-up here in Phoenix while we were on vacation... so this was only the 3rd time I have been in the pool this year.  This week, the heat is on... high temps around 106-108 and lows in the upper 70s-low 80s (vs. the upper 60s of last week).

Despite the summertime temps that make non-Phoenicians think we are absolutely crazy for living here, our experience has been that we do not really have a terribly long pool season (mid-June thru early Sept?).  I would guess Floridians/Southerners have a more extended season.

While we do have the oft-quoted "dry heat" that keeps us in the triple-digits for 4-5 months each year... that dryness also does not let our pool retain a comfy water temperature.  At minimum, the water temp has to be at least 80 degrees for us to get in... so if the overnight temps fall below that... well, we pretty much lose the daytime heating.  It could be that we just have a big pool... we wanted a pool, but it wasn't by choice that we got one this big.  Our pool service company says it is one of the bigger pools on their route.  So that is a lot of water to heat!

But this week, the overnight temps have jumped... so yesterday afternoon the pool was a nice 82 degrees... though that is only about a few inches under the surface, thanks to our floating duckie thermometer... I can tell you the temps a bit... ahem... farther below the surface was cooler!  But it was definitely nice to get out there again.

On the subject of swimming pools... while on vacation, we found it odd that there always more people at the pool than on the beach.  Heck, if I am on a tropical island it is a no-brainer that I am going to be on the beach!  But maybe it is just because I am a land-locked pool owner.  Do folks just not want to deal with the sand and salty water?!  Discuss.  Pool or beach?!