to beat the heat is shown below:
Yes, I know. Your saying that's just a pile of sand with a pool in a box sitting next to it!
But you have to have imagination. Another home owner, here in Pahrump, has an old commode sitting in their yard on a pile of dirt as a decoration. Yes people, its that kind of town! It inspired me though. I imagined our old commode sitting atop the pile of sand. While sipping a Corona, and enjoying the fine mist of cool, refreshing water from the lawn sprinkler, I would gaze into the pool picture on the box and dream of floating around drinking an ever full Corona!
Needless to say, Karen did not share my enthusiasm for that idea! So I did what I had to, I put the pool up.
The pile of sand in the above picture is 4 tons. The store recommended 2 tons for our size pool, but after seeing what 4 tons of rock looked like, I did not think that was enough so I told Karen to get 4 tons.
I started about 6:30AM on Saturday. 2 Hours later it looked like this:
Our first dilemma came when we tried to install the blocks that go under the support rails. The manual called for blocks that were 18"X18" and 2" thick. Well, no one in Pahrump, or maybe anywhere else, sells 18"X18" blocks. The closest size available were 12"X12". On the surface, no a big deal. Or so you would think. We thought "Ok. No problem. We will just move the blocks in 3" to keep them centered." Well what we soon realized was that all of the math changed as well. How far to space the blocks from each other and how far to space them from the center point of the pool all changed from what was given in the manual. After a few attempts at trying to decipher the math we gave up and decided to cheat.
We "pre assembled" the to rail and then placed the blocks where they should be.
Also note the aprox 2 tons of extra sand sitting all around the edge of the pool!!
Getting the blocks was fun too. I asked Karen to get 16 of the blocks. She started at home depot and explained to the 2 guys working there that we were putting up a pool and we needed the blocks to go under it. Both the guys there we alarmed right away. They had both put up pools similar to ours and told Karen that they never used any blocks under the pool. She told them thats what the instructions said to do. What Karen didn't realize was that the block just went under the posts, not the pool. Those 2 guys were looking at her like she was crazy!
Thats the nice thing about our Home Depot here in Pahrump. Most of them have been through what you are trying to accomplish and can offer good advice.
Trying to level the sand:
This is the basic method described in the instruction manual to level the sand. We found it rather useless so we came up with a different method.
We simply leveled each block to one another. Then we just eye balled the sand inside the pool area and made it nice and flat.
Once the blocks were laid, the rest went pretty quick.
We then spread the very thin "pad"(think tarp) that goes under the pool to protect it. I did not know that they had come so far in being able to produce thin tarps. You could almost see through it if you squinted the right way.
Here you can see us after having installed the top rail in the liner and just prior to raising the pool.
After getting the wrinkles out, it was time to add the water:
Here you can see me taking a break from getting the remaining wrinkles out.
The pool is nearly full now. I have begun to put the siding on it. I think the siding adds a nice "finished" look to the pool.
live in a rural area like we do you have to be prepared for anything. The police and fire dept are a long ways away. Thats why I keep several bats handy!!
Not sure if I posted this before but here is the sunset at the Caughey compound:
Below are shots of the new irrigation system that cost all of $30 to install:
Everything in the courtyard now has a "drip of life" to get it through the summer months.
Over the last few days Karen has worked her ASS off hauling nearly 6 tons of rock into the courtyard and spreading it out.
Here is Carly. No doubt thinking "Here he goes again!"
My rose bush is budding despite the 110F heat!
Karens new friend. A mister from Home Depot. It works pretty well on those really hot days.
Carly sporting her new haircut!
Location of the new pool! Also to be known as Lake Caughey!...lol
It has been VERY hot here this past week. 110F-114F....and humid. Its going to cool off next week though...down to 108F or so.....
pics from the house.
Originally the top of our brick wall was painted. That was many, many years ago. We decided to paint it again.
one of the many lizzards at our house.
There is much to do, but we have made a big dent in it.
Short term we hope to:
1. Replace all of the bathroom faucets.(Already purchased and on my "honey do" list)
2. Get my DSL hoked up.(just need to run the phone line)
3. Make more improvements to the front yard.
4. Get the weeds out of our lands so the dogs can go out in the big area without fear of stepping on Foxtail.
Long term we hope to:
1. Run electricity to the second garage.
2. Get a flag on the flag pole.
This is where the "Piggy" door was:
We also replaced the front security door:
The old:
The new:
Jack also stopped by to see the new door:
Here are some shots from Tom and Bettys house:
When moving here I wanted to keep our electric bill as low as possible. I envisioned using a clothes line to dry clothes. And we did.....for a while.
Who knew a pair of my underware could take up so much space! When I imagined a clothes line in my head, my underware only took up a few inches at most! Well that just wasn't the case.
Not having a dryer became bothersome. In addition to the taking up of space, the clothes line was in the garage, your clothes felt like sand paper. No need to sand our feet anymore, our socks could do it for us! Got an itch on your back? Put a shirt on! You may end up bleeding, but your itch will be gone!
There was no vent for the dryer, so I made one.
The start of the hole for the dryer vent. You'd be suprised how easy it was to go through about 18" of brick and mortar.
Pasing through the wall.
The completed project.
Its far from perfect, but it does the job.
This is the bathroom we were afraid to use in the begining. Its looking pretty good now.
post is to highlight the work that Nancy did at our house.
Below is a picture of the window sills when we bought the house:
Nancy scraped and brushed the sills to prep them for repairs:
Then, having no experience with cement or mortar, proceeded to repair them!
This is what the repaired sills look like now:
Nancy did an incredible job!! They are not all complete yet, but we have a good start on them now.
It makes a huge impact on the way the house looks.
Thanks Nancy!!!
