Don and I have always dreamed of having a pool. Don loves the water and has surfed, scuba dived, broke state swimming records in high school and enjoys swimming laps. I like to float on my back. We never really gave getting a pool a
whole lot of thought because of the expense and having kids at home. But last June a friend told me about his neighbor selling his above ground pool for $200.00! The price was right, so without much thought and being Don and Nancy, we jumped on it. Don had to go over and help the guy take the pool down. It was
hot that day
really hot. Don got a terrible sunburn. It took hours to bust the pool down, little did we know at that time it would takes months to put it back up. Did you know that the sides of a 24ft pool weighs approx 400lbs when rolled up?
We had a lot to learn.
The first thing that had to be done was have the cable re-routed. And then had to have all the utilities marked, because when you put a pool up and your yard slops like a small hill you have to have it dug up to get it level. (who knew) Before you can dig you have to have the utilities marked they do this by putting different color little flags all over the yard and spray paint. Interesting.
And you also need electricity to run the pump and filter to the pool. It's a good idea to have an outside outlet. We live in a house that is so old that when it was built nobody ever plugged anything in outside. And I don't think they had above ground pools then either. We had to install an outside outlet. .by the pool. . and hire an electrician. .but we did save some money because Don and Derek dug the 75ft trench from the house to where the pool would one day be.
It was really hot that week-end.
We had electricity finally by where the pool would someday be.
Ok, with that being done, the next step was to dig up the yard. It was obvious to big of a job for Don to do. Derek had already left for the Navy and they wouldn't let him come home to help. Not that we asked. . . but I did say out loud a couple of times that I wished they'd give him back just long enough to get it dug up :-/ Then Toby a guy (notice I didn't write friend) Don works with spoke up and said hey, I've worked part-time for a guy that installed above ground pools for a living, I've put up probably 25 pools, dug up a lot of yards too. I'll help ya. . . .AWESOME!!!!! Don was like great when can you help. . . . . . . . .ohhhhhhh, can't be this week-end I have to go to the store with my wife. . . humm, next week-end. . . . ahhhhhhh no, family reunion. . . . . .Ok, Toby what about the following week-end. . . . .nooooppppppeeee kids got a ball tournament. . . . Toby kept us on the string for about 3 weeks and finally ask Don "don't you know someone that can drive a bobcat, I'm gonna be tied up for awhile?!?" So we called our local rental equipment place and they gave us a lot of guidance. . .basically they confirmed we had no idea what we were doing.
Something else we didn't know, it's just about impossible to find someone in the middle of summer to come and dig an area for a pool. It's their busiest time of the year and they're in great demand and booked for months. Thanks to our friend Dusty she was able to call the guy that dug the area for her pool 8 years ago. He had since gone commercial, but because Dusty had recommended him he would do it as a favor and $350.00. The thing was he didn't know when he could do it. He'd squeeze us in while he was at other jobs here in Owasso. He said he'd call a couple of hours before he showed up. The problem with that was in order for the guy to get his bobcat in the back yard, Don had to take the fence down on the side of the house. And with the dogs that really presented a problem. So after waiting on the guy for about a week, Don called him and explained all of this and the guy graciously called the night before he came. Don was able to take the fence down the morning of the dig. But it took a couple of weeks before the guy could do it. . .So we waited.
Don never lost his positive attitude. He was excited. He was getting a pool someday.
It took the guy less then 45min to dig the area. I was at work when he came.
Before and After
Zoe was stressed
We tore her yard up and she couldn't figure out why.
Then she thought she had it figured out
The circle was there for her to have a place to poop. So from then on that's where she did her "business"
Now that the yard was dug up it was time to "level" the area. The guy that did the dig tried to get it as level as he could. But in order to do it right you have to rent a leveler (again, who knew?) But before that happened the rains came. .it was like a sign or something. . . it was August. . . in Oklahoma for Pete's sake. It NEVER rains in August. But this year it did. It rained for days and days. Leaving us with a huge mud puddle and a dog that thought she was suppose to to poop in the muddy circle. What a mess.
So we waited for the rain to stop and the yard to dry out.
Once the rains left Don took a day of vacation , rented the leveler and spent the whole day leveling the pool area and getting the pavers in the ground. Oh, you didn't know you have to have pavers to put up a pool . . well, yes you do and here's the deal they have to be level too (who knew)
Here he is standing on leveled ground.
Ok, at this point what we needed was 7 tons of sand and 4 men. . . or one big wonderful son-in-law with his own dump truck.
Fortunately I had the son-in-law.
Timmy came to help. We couldn't have done it with out him.
And he brought his truck filled with 7 tons of sand he's wonderful. . . did I mention that ?
And so it began. . .. .
On that hot August day with Don in the lead, Tim, Casey, Connor and I started putting up the pool. It would take two days. Don and Dusty Hays helped later that day and the next and were absolutely invaluable.
Against the odds, the snickers behind our backs, the doubting Thomas’s, the horror stories of busted sewer lines (didn't happen), doubling house insurance (didn’t faze it), City ordnance requiring 6 ft fences (not needed) the abundance of dirt we were supposedly going to have after the dig (excess from the dig came in handy) we threw caution to the wind, laughed in the face of all who doubted us and went full speed ahead.
And with the help of family and friends we put up a pool.
And here are the pictures to prove it.
This was the first Christmas after 9-11. The tree was decorated with flags. It really lifted my spirit.
This is probably one of the last of all of them together for a long time. 
His first Christmas home from the Navy 
