I swear this will be the last post for now about our new pool. I put together a small (kinda big) pictoral movie about the start to finish of the pool building process. Enjoy.

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Father's Day June 19th, 2005 marked the debut of Lake Valdez! After Brunch at Shakespear's Pub, the family rushed home to enjoy the just completed pool. At 16:01:56, Veronica Alicia Valdez was the first person to jump in. Soon the whole family was enjoying the long awaited and documented (part 1 and part 2) backyard oasis. Since then we've hosted a couple of get togethers and plan to host more. It's been quite a learning experience. We also enjoyed our new lawn. On 6/18, the family installed 530 SQ. FT of new Marathon Sod. To date, the zacate and alberca are doing great.

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I remember in Novermber 2004, we came up with this crazy idea of digging up our backyard and filling the hole with cement, tile and water. It seemed so long ago. On Thursday, June 16th 2005 we reached the final construction phase of our new pool. The Plasterers came and did their thing. It was really quite impressive. First, I was impressed at the time these guys were willing to start their day. It was 5:50 A.M. when the truck rolled up. By 6:30 the guys were scraping the pool and waking the neighbors. Soon after that the pump was going full blast, and in no time the guys had the plaster up and finished. It took them about 3 hours and 50 minutes from start to finish. This effort was tarnished by early morning butt crack from one of the plasterers. It was way too early for that, but a great source of laughs in the evening. We finally we able to fill the pool with water. It took a total of 12 hours and thirty minutes to fill it. I can't wait to get that bill. The kids are hating life because they cannot swim until Monday. The filter needs to do its job and get rid of all the debris in the water and make it the safe pool we are paying for! Check out some photos of the process...

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It looks as if the original target completion date for the pool is becoming more of the reality. We were first given a End of June completion date. Well, we were cruising, but ran into delays with the gas passing inspection and the Electrical taking one week longer than expected. The day finally arrived when the cement guys came to prep the yard for the cement decking. I laid out the plan for the guy, and one week later they were pouring the cement decking. Overall, I'm pretty pleased on how this pool thing is turing out. One thing though, I've taken a weeks vacation to take care of my end of the yard design. By weeks end, I should have Sod, Irrigation, Vines, Roses, and Decomposed Granite installed and finished. Of course this is all a plan. What remains on the pool is plaster and a couple of inspections. By then it looks like it will be the end of June. Click here to see pictures of the Cement Decking, Irrigation and Lanscaping in progress.

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The day finally came when the guys came out to do the coping and tile work. I'm finally over the fact how they smushed our roses and messed with our vineyard. Were shooting for a End-Of-May date on this pool thing. The rain has been cooperative, so we just might make it. They showed up a couple of days after I purchased our new Digital Rebel, so I captured some interesting photos of one of the final stages of the construction of our new pool. Next electrical, cement decking and plaster. More Pics.

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Consider this, we've had excavators, plumbers, and gunite teams over the past month turn my backyard from a work in progress to a plot with a cement creator and displaced dirt and trenches. Through this, our "garden" has endred some slight damage. The excavators wanted to breakup my cement rosebed edging. I wasn't having it. The plumbers followed up with their trenches to and fro'. They did some slight damage to a couple of roses. Most notably "Robert's Rose", an "Angel Face" we planted as a family in honor of our slain nephew Roberto Escoto Jr.. That was forgiveable considering the proximity to the digging, the damage was minimal. The gunite guys got cement everywhere, but no damage recorded.

Enter the Troglodyte Gas guys. These Mo Fo's made a colossal mess. In the 3 to 4 hours they took to dig their trenches and lay their gas lines they caused more damage than the previous months combined work. Consider the following:
1) They uprooted my Vineyard Trellis System. Not just a weekend project of mine, we are in year three of developing the vineyard. I have grapes clusters forming for a bumper first year harvest and their hairy knuckels almost fucked up the whole thing in a couple of hours.
2) When we came home three rose bushes were completely covered with dirt, including "Roberts Rose". Another rose bush was 90% thrashed. My "Vista" mini rose is the furthest from all the action, yet these Neanderthals managed to destroy it. How'd they do that, and why?
3) I asked if they could run the trench along the fence avoiding the sodded vineyard rows. Nope, the dorks trenched right through my Marathon. The option was there.

I might be getting a little picky, and I do understand the scale of work going on here. I also must say this is no reflection of the builders we went with, Blue Fountain Pools. These are contracted workers who don't give a shit. All we're really asking is simple courtesy. To top it off, as I was writing this post, the Building Inspector came out and did not pass the work these Gas guys did. Go figure...

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One thing I've learned is, let my wife handle the details. The pool guys first laid out a date for the completion of the pool for some time in late June. Well, at the pace Eva is going, we'll have our first party by mid May. The pool guys said we'd get the Gunite about 3 week after the plumbing. I let Eva know and two days later the trucks rolled up and started sraying. You gotta love her!! Click here to see the progress, and here to see a short movie of the Gunite action.

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Two weeks after the massive hole was created in my backyard, the rebar and plumbing guys were out to do there thing. In phase 2, the rebar was bent into shape and installed in the hole. We could now start to visualize what the pool is gonna look like. It took 2 days for the rebar to be installed. The next day all the trenches for the plumbing, gas, and electrical were dug out. The equipment and PVC was installed too. All this is fine and dandy. What blows is the mess the dudes left behind. Trampled and broken roses everywhere. Have they no shame.

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All I can say is we signed the papers back in November to have a swimming pool installed starting end of January. But, as you know this has been one of the most wet winters in Southern California in decades. So after all the floods, sink holes, road closures and fallen Eucalyptus trees, we finally started the freggin pool today, 3 months and 3 hours late. As per my Bro's advice, I'm finna document, photograph, and film all stages possible of this project. Check out the first installment. As I write this post, I'm sore, tired, and crampy. Hell, all I did was supervise too.

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