Pool Work Finale
While we wait to see if our breeding efforts are successful, life goes on here. Last week we had the final work done on our pool. While this task may not seem like a proper story for a dog blog, our dogs’ summer revolves a lot around swimming and fetching in our backyard. If you are a fan of the Discovery and History channels on cable, it is fascinating to see just how projects are completed in all walks of life. So here goes…
We have been waiting for a break in all this wet weather to finally get this huge concrete hole in our backyard turned back into a soothing water feature.
At the end of last week the weather gods gave us a chance, and the plastering crew arrived from Massachusetts.
“Shooting the pool” as it’s called, is a highly skilled craft that must be done right the first time. There are very few crews of quality available, and so we were waiting on this highly regarded team.
Then begins the careful task of smoothing and shaping the plaster before it dries into a seamless surface. Notice the shoe covers on the worker below.
Of course the girls were distressed that they couldn’t be part of the action. Every so often they managed to get into the backyard and give some golden licks to the crew.
The rain decided to pay us a visit at the end of the day, and so special efforts were made to allow the plaster to dry fully.
Now the pool needed water, and quickly so that the plaster would set properly. So no garden hoses, but instead very expensive water tankers arrived and the filling began.
5 tanker loads it took to fill this 40,000 gallon structure. Chris Padua, our pool foreman and friend now after 15 years of servicing our pool, gave his thumbs up at the close of this day’s work.
The real overseers however, were our goldens who came out to inspect everyone’s work.
We still haven’t been in the pool however. The plaster has to set properly for a week and the ph of the water has to be adjusted to allow this to happen. So everyone continues to wait. And like all children, the dogs push the boundary of “no swimming allowed yet”, and manage to get the feel of the water with their paws while not technically swimming.
