No Joke About Spewing Lions...

Here they are...finally!



Still busy trying to finish the book. I thought I might finish this weekend...but I had to have another pool party. More pics to come. Going to write another scene now! Later...

At Last!

We've been swimming since Thursday and it's WONDERFUL! We're still missing a few minor details (like the spewing lions heads) but now that there's water in it I can't complain.







Have a wonderful 4th of July weekend and stay cool!

Houston, We Have Water!

After a flury of activity last week including equipment installation, deck preparation and inspection, today they plastered the pool. It's bright white until they put the water in which they do right away. The water helps cure the plaster and keep it smooth.



When they put the water in it looks blue...an aqua blue while there's marble dust in the water.



I guess that's what plaster is made out of. It's supposed to take 24 hours to fill the pool. While the plaster is curing we have to be very careful with it. But by Friday we can swim!!! Now that it's finally here I can't believe it.

A Short Post To Say Hey!

I know it's been a while, but I feel I should spend every ounce of my creative energy on my manuscript since I have an agent and an editor waiting on me to finish it. And I'm soooooo close...

The only action we've had on the pool is clean up and irrigation repair--two of the steps to building the pool that don't really show up well in a picture. There's been NO rain. We're still in stage 3 so we're hoping they put the plaster in soon (ie: before stage 4). We have had some nice evenings sitting out on our lovely deck and gazing into the empty hole, but it sure would be nice to actually get in it before summer's over.

I'm taking a flexible Friday this week so that should give me some bonus writing time. Last weekend I celebrated a milestone birthday. (I'm not going to say which one, but when I tell people they can't believe it because I look so young--they wouldn't lie about a thing like that, would they?) And of course this weekend is Father's Day.

But like I always say, It's always somethin'

POOL: Day Thirty-Five

Nothing new to report. We're still waiting for the clean-up crew. We're meeting with the landscaper tomorrow to see what plans he's drawn up for us. I'm really looking forward to it--I feel like I'm on one of those landscaping shows on HGTV! One of the things we wanted him to price for us was a putting green. While I was researching artificial turf online I found this picture and thought it was too cute. (I know I have some golfers who read this so this one's for you.)



In case you can't tell that's about 3 feet of snow they had to shovel off of their artificial turf putting green. Now that's what I call golf nuts.

POOL: Day Thirty-One

The stone people were back today building the deck steps...



The clean-up crew will be out next...not sure when.

Still no rain.

POOL: Day Twenty-Six

They didn't end up pouring the deck until Friday, something about confusion in scheduling. Anyway, it was just in time for Memorial Day Weekend so we can entertain outside again. We can't believe how huge the deck is. We'll have to buy more patio furniture to fill it up!





There is one small problem. We're having a drought here and we're at stage 3 in our community, which means we can only water on trash day. I went online to the city website to see what stage 4 means...you guessed it...you can't fill your pool. Pray for rain!!!!

Writing News!
I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. One more chapter to go. But tying up all those loose ends is hard work.

POOL: Day Twenty-Two

Today was deck layout. Tomorrow the city inspects it and Wednesday they pour it.

Stop And Smell The Fireworks

On the way back from having mexican food with my parents tonight they were shooting fireworks for the minor league baseball game. The stadium is near our home. We pulled over in a deserted parking lot and watched as bombs burst in air directly over our heads. We could actually see where the rockets red glare originated. Pretty cool and as spectacular as any 4th of July show. Wish I'd had my camera. It looked something like this only closer and A LOT louder:



Our little private fireworks show was so unexpected and so spur of the moment I guess you could say it was spontaneous combustion.

: )

POOl: Day Nineteen

Yesterday they installed the long plumbing and today they did the electrical work. There's no pic to post because there's nothing new to see...except they tore up our yard even more. The next thing to look forward to is the layout and pouring of the deck, which is scheduled to begin Monday. I can't wait!

I've taken pictures along the way of my husband sitting in the bobcat, looking like he's doing stone-work, etc. I put together a slide show and it's hilarious because it looks like he built the pool single-handedly. I added music from Gloria Gaynor's "Do It Yourself" and dissolves between the slides are water droplets. If I can figure out how to put it out on the web I'll show it to you. In the meantime...here he is on day one digging the pool. As always, click on the picture for a larger view.



Novel News:
I'm writing ALL weekend. I'm gonna finish it if it's the last thing I do!