Last day of school. The summer begins….sunshine, watermelon, shorts, hats, barbeques, and boredom. The kids are on break, but my work has just begun. When the kids get out of school, I suddenly get promoted to the position of activity director. I wouldn’t mind it if it was on a cruise ship instead of my own home. It amazes me that my kids have no idea what they can do without electricity.
Every year when the weather heats up, I start wishing I had a pool. When I bought my house, I could have gotten one with a pool but I was feeling overwhelmed with being a new widow, moving across country, dealing with kids, going back to school….etc. I thought a pool would just be too much hassle. Nobody’s perfect. I really wish I would have gotten a house with a bigger back yard and a pool and one more bedroom. Hind sight…remember that? Anyway, I have no plans to move so I have to make things work here. I have had many different companies out to give me quotes and advice on adding a pool to my yard. Usually, by the time they leave, I am talked out of even trying. It isn’t so much the price (it is) but it is the demolition that will have to take place to my yard to make it happen. I don’t have a lot of room to get the equipment in and the dirt out of my back yard so it will have to be a creative process. I look at my neighbor down the street that just put in a pool a few months ago (planners….bah!) and think how unfair it is that they had a nice big double gate with a gravel drive that led right up to the excavation site. Sheesh….I will have to use a bobcat that can maneuver between trees, walls, electrical, bushes and a broken down basketball hoop on it’s side. The pavers I just put in (last year) will most likely be destroyed and I may have a permanent brown stripe over my patio by the end of the process. It sounds like such a major hassle that I say never mind. Then there’s the fact that even if they started digging ‘tomorrow’ it would be at least 5-6 weeks before the pool was swim ready.Heck, by that time, the summer is almost over!
An above ground pool would be quicker and easier, but I would still have to clear the yard of gravel, grass, curbing, and several mammoth sized bushes. For all that work…I’d want a ‘real’ pool. Lucky for me, my fiance is a do it yourself kind of guy that is not afraid of a big project. Instead of telling me I was a nut case and needed to not spend money, he jumped right on my bandwagon to crazy when I suggested we ask my brother to come dig our hole and have all the guys in the family come move landscaping. My brother is an ‘official big toy operator.’ I think he was actually certified through Tonka. It’s quite impressive to see the gigantic machinery he can drive without killing, maiming, or flat out destroying everything in his path.(he sticks to destroying what is on his little list). I take full credit for inspiring him in his field ….. I got him a stomper truck for his birthday……
The kids are all for the pool and I do think it would be fun. But honestly, when October and November roll around each year, I look in the back yard and sigh with relief that I don’t have to take care of a big water hole when it is too cold to swim in it. That being said….I do remember swimming here in Arizona in December when I was a teenager. Christmas Eve to be exact. And I didn’t freeze. (my date was hot) So the dilemna remains. To pool or not to pool. I think the final decision will be made by an impartial third party I like to call ‘the bank.’ He always get his way….cause I said so.
photo credit:
CuzIsaidSo Weblog 
Heh. Pools make me wish I lived in Arizona (and Arizona would make me wish I had a pool).
Its the great Catch 22….what to do…..
I had a pool. We filled it in. Some of the best times were had out there. A pool does require babysitting…24/7/365. The expense of keeping a pool going isn’t the chemicals or the water…it’s a) the electricity, and b) the constant care. I say get an above ground one, try it for a year or two, then if you love it, use it, don’t mind cleaning it, and can afford the money for the electricity for it, go for it and get a pool. If you need to move out…I could be persuaded to move in to your house, and you could get a bigger one… Cause I’mthemom…
above ground pools make me loom short when I wear a speedo..