Although I stick my toes in the pool each day this Spring to check the temp, it’s only now getting comfortable for swimming. So Lauren and the kids came over yesterday, and I ran out and carted Mom over for the afternoon, and we all enjoyed a really fun poolside day. MANY loads of beach towels to wash today, but it was a great day!
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Gotta love funny birthday cards! Years ago at the old house, we had dozens of rose bushes of all sizes and colors. So after 4 years at the ‘new’ house, we decided to build at least one flower bed for roses. So we made a quick run to Home Depot for landscape timbers and such, and a visit to our favorite Enchanted Gardens nursery for Ground Up Rose Mix, and then spent a couple of hours this morning putting it all together. I have to say, I like the result! For roses, we wrote off to our favorite Antique Rose Emporium for a couple of red Maggies and a pair of pink Marchesa Boccella‘s, and threw in a David Austin white Winchester Cathedral for a lark. Now to sit back and watch ‘em grow!
About 18 months ago we had wood floors installed in our Master Bedroom by the kind folks at Katy Tile. We really liked the look and finally decided to move ahead with Phase 2 of the project, which was to replace the carpet in the Dining Room. The crew showed up this morning to “get ‘er done”…
This year we got to work the show, but not necessarily SEE the following performers: Feb 28 – Alabama Feb 29 – Kid Rock Mar 1 – Lady Antebellum Mar 3 – Luke Bryan Mar 6 – Enrique Iglesias Mar 9 – Reba McIntire Mar 12 – Zac Brown Band Mar 15 – Jason Aldean (set a new attendance record of almost 75,000) Mar 18 – Alan Jackson My daughter Lauren brought her kiddos over for a great BBQ lunch today, and they got introduced to our new pool. It’s still way too cool to go swimming, but we heated up the spa to 90 degrees so they could enjoy themselves for a while! They LOVED it!
So now I wait three weeks for an appointment at the Orthopedist to see what’s what. Had planned to run Sugarland in 2 weeks but that ain’t gonna happen. Man, it’s always sumthin! Update: Doc said my knees were mechanically fine, just needed to stretch more, use the foam roller on the sore areas, buy new shoes more often, take some anti-inflammatories, and ice my knees after runs. Gettin’ old SUX!
Ever since I’ve known her, Stephanie has wanted a pool. Since we’ve been married, the answer has always been ‘maybe someday’… well baby, someday is here!! We decided a few months back to embark on this project once Fall arrived, and Stephanie did all the due-diligence necessary (as usual). We contacted a half-dozen pool companies and five were interested enough to come out and bid on the project. Each had their good points and bad points, and to be honest – as we learned more about the process and what was available, our requirements changed a bit. In the end, we chose Shawn Carter at Pulliam Pools to fulfill our outdoor entertainment needs. So our Autumn project is a 38 foot pool with a 4 foot firepit and a 15×15 arched shade arbor to house a future outdoor kitchen. We are SO excited!!! I’ll be updating this thread with photos and more information once construction begins. October 5 – HOA approved our construction plan. Pulliam immediately put us on their dig schedule for next week, and told us to expect a visit within 48 hours to mark utility lines in the yard. October 7 – Pulliam’s construction supervisor came out and spray-painted the pool outline on the lawn for next week’s dig October 12 – Bad weather on Sunday threw a wrench in this week’s schedule, slipping us to Wednesday for the dig. Then, we were the 2nd dig for the day, so the excavators didn’t show up till almost 2pm. They finally finished around 9pm, much to the dismay of our neighbors. But we gots a big ol’ hole in the backyard now!! October 13 – Rebar and plumbers showed up to do their thing October 14 – We were the second shoot of the day for the gunite crew, so they showed up around 1pm and finished up around 7:45pm October 17 – The plumbers worked from dawn till dusk to get all the pipes laid and equipment setup. They’ll be back tomorrow to work on the gas lines for the outdoor kitchen and firepit. After work the pool builder took us to see a few of his pools, and we finalized our selections for plaster and peagravel. Our plaster is called ‘Negril’ and is a combination of pebble and Beadcrete. October 18 – Plumbers finished their work. Tile & Coping crew showed up and set all our tile, and began on the flagstone coping. It’s gonna look great. October 19 – Flagstone guys finished almost all their work today, and will finish completely in another week or so when they return to install runners in the decking. Carpenters showed up and set the posts for our Arbor and stained all the wood for tomorrow’s build. October 20 – Arbor work continues… more painting, more sanding, some assembly October 21 – Even more Arbor work October 24 – Electricians do their thing and the arbor guys finish up October 25 – Decking guys set forms, remove grass, install drainage, bring in crushed gravel base, and set rebar for tomorrow’s pour October 26 – The decking crew showed up early and got everything prepped just in time for the 8:15am arrival of the cement truck. One group spread the concrete while others followed along behind them with peagravel to cast on top and work into the surface. Then when the time was right, they came back through with a gentle water wash to expose the aggregate just right. We’re thrilled with the result. October 29 – Stone guys showed up to lay the flagstone runners in the decking, finish the spa-spillway, and build the firepit. They got most of the work done, and then said they’d be back on Sunday… but, alas, they were a no-show the next day. October 31 – Cleanup crew was here to cart away trash and make everything more presentable. Then the stone guys showed up to finish the firepit and spa spillway. November 1 – Sprinkler system guy showed up and installed all new heads around the pool area and fixed the other zones that got trashed during the build. It’s nice to water the lawn again now that winter’s coming. November 11 – In preparation for plastering next week, a crew showed up to clean the pool out nicely November 12 – Guys showed up to acid-wash the peagravel decking so that it looks all pretty November 14 – Plaster!!!!!! November 15 – Acid wash the new plaster November 16 – Fill that bad boy up with water!! November 17 – We return home from vacation to a full pool with filters running November 18 – New sod installed to make the yard pretty again… POOL SCHOOL!!! November 22 – Defective spa light replaced and new gas meter installed November 25 – Black Friday!! I took my first plunge into the 68 degree pool… OOO RAH!!! December 1 – Polaris 480 delivered and hooked up
Plus!! it’s Hatch Chile days here in Katy, with the local HEB smokin’ em up and sellin’ bags of ‘em at the entrance… and since I’d grabbed a bag of the spicier variety, I diced up a couple of those bad boys and threw them in the mixture. YUM-OH!!!
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Well, another year passes and another Rodeo season is gone. Stephanie and I volunteer each year at the Houston Rodeo where a few dozen paid employees and 23,000 volunteers work for three weeks to raise almost ten million dollars for student scholarships. It’s long hours and sleepy mornings at work sometimes, but we do enjoy it. Yesterday ended the 20 days of 2012 Rodeo, and we’re both glad and sad.
It was a lazy Saturday and nobody wanted to do much about supper, so I grabbed a recipe from the ladies over at
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