the pool

 

The pool has been our grandest adventure to date... who knew diatomaceous earth could do more than keep slugs away from your hostas?

We've always said we never wanted a pool, never cared about having a pool, and were never interested in maintaining a pool. But now that we've got one, even after our first rocky season with it, we've had a blast, and are looking forward to its renovation as our first exterior project this spring once weather permits.

The pool was installed, as best we can tell, as part of the grand 1970's renovation of the property. Rumor has it the last of the Smith clan used the eastern portion of the property as a garbage dump. When the property was sold, the garbage dump had to be excavated, and the pool was the second incarnation for the resulting huge hole in the ground.

The pool is a 16'x32', basic vinyl-lined rectangle with a diving board. It's surrounded by a concrete deck that's seen better days, and not much else. After several fits and starts and a few disastrous (and expensive!) trips to the local pool store, we discovered two things that no pool owner should be without: automatic pool vacuums, and PoolForum.com, a website and message board run by some guy named Ben who doesn't know us from Adam, but we're planning on nominating Ben for sainthood at our earliest opportunity.

This was our first, rather inauspicious glimpse of the pool:

When we finally finished our Indiana Jones-ish adventure, armed with machetes and all manner of chainsaws, to free the south side of the garage from the clutches of the evil evergreen empire, we discovered a half bath that apparently was meant to service the pool. It looked, however, like it hadn't served anything but the local flora and fauna for quite some time:

The pool is situated perfectly on the east side of the property, and is next to a large brick patio, with easy access to the small triangular orchard on the property:

  

This spring, we've got a vinyl liner replacement on the agenda, during which we'll upgrade the pool plumbing as well. We'll replace the concrete deck with flagstone, and expand its dimensions. Finally, we'll turn the middle portion of the outbuilding, which includes the half bath, into a pool house... after all, one needs someplace to put the pool paraphenalia, and it might be nice to have a bathroom out there fit for more than our resident groundhog.

 

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