Our Big Fancy Hole

Too many of my recent posts have been about writing...I need to take a break from that theme before I render my "This is Not a Writing Blog" tab a big fat lie.

So how about this? Last week we broke ground on our pool! The workers showed up at our house on Wednesday at 7 a.m., and it was utter chaos. Suddenly my yard was crowded with trucks and tractors, with all sorts of buzzing and activity going on. 

The dogs couldn't be in the back yard with the tractor and the open fence, so we had a pack of dogs running around the house. Not to mention the workers had to do some trenching in the petting zoo, so we had to temporarily relocate the chickens and the rabbits. It was so much fun...all the whirlwind and excitement. By the time I got to work that morning, I was still hot from all my running around, and my skirt was coated in dog fur (luckily I keep a lint roller in my classroom). I was on a complete high.

By 3:30 that afternoon, I came home to this:

I'm still stunned that our entire pool was dug out in eight hours! In the book Holes, it takes Stanley and the other boys a full work day just to dig one 6'x6' hole. But these guys dug a 16'x30' hole in that same time. Granted these guys have a tractor, while Stanley and Co only had a shovel, but still.

By day 2, most of the rebar was installed, not to mention the underground plumbing/electric/etc. By day 3, the rebar was finished, including the spa's, and we passed inspection. So either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, we get concrete.

Here is what the pool looks like right now:

As you can see, the spa is attached to the pool, but set a tier above, that way the warm spa water can tumble down to heat the pool.

I walked all the way into the deep end yesterday. I couldn't resist. I had to avoid stepping on all those metal bars, but I still ended up scraping/stabbing myself a few times. Totally worth it. 

Yesterday Elijah asked, "When the pool is done, who gets to jump in first?" We debated the issue for some time, and then Elijah finally said that we would all jump in together. All four of us, at the same time.  LOVE it. But then they all balked at me when I said maybe we could hold hands. I guess I pushed the corniness boundary. 

One more thing. When the workers were trenching the petting zoo, one of them found this:

Baby bunnies. Six of them, actually. They're much smaller than they look in this picture, but they are very lively/healthy. Every single one of them is a spitting image of Pumpkin. Seeing them made my giddy-o-meter spike to ridiculous levels. Baby bunnies and the makings of a pool in one day was more than I could take.

By the looks of it, these little guys were inspired by the elaborate hole in our backyard and are now digging up their own little pool.