Coffee and Middle One managed to get the entire pool house down and, after this picture was taken, they got all the asphalt pried up too.

The dumpster will come later this week and we’ll finish the last bit of clean-up in that spot.

Later this week, we have a guy coming to do work on the covered deck, too.

Then we’ll need to do 800 other things in the yard.

It’s going to be lovely when we finish everything. Y’know, 20 years from now..
(ps. I’m posting this from the deck where I’m wrapped in a towel after a semi-dunk in the pool and, oh man, I am not emotionally equipped to go back to work tomorrow.)

Coffee and I both took today off from work and we had a “Date Day”. We went out for lunch and we played Tetris and we sat out on the deck for a little while, watching the birds fly by us. It’s rare that we get to hang out at home alone, without kids, and I love every bit of it.

It has been a truly lovely day, leading into a long weekend.

We (meaning our family) are in the process of ripping down the pool house in order to make room for the hot tub. Well, the pool house had to come down anyway, or be renovated, so the hot tub is really just giving us the motivation to do it.

As it turns out, slamming and prying and hammering at things with a crowbar is rather cathartic. Coffee and Middle One have been doing most of the work, however (see previous post for more on that). The rotting wood around the sides has been coming off quite easily and the tin roof is being pried off as I type this.

Once it’s all down, we’ll be able to start working on levelling the ground and building the frame for the hot tub.

The robin is, as far as we can tell, still nesting in the rafters of the covered deck – so we can’t start working on that part yet – but that should be happening in the first week of June if all goes according to plan.

We’ve priced out fencing panels (though we’ll need to get them delivered since we don’t have a vehicle that can transport them and my car doesn’t have a trailer hitch) so we can eventually get that part of things done.

I’m hoping to get some gardening done, too, beyond the clean up that I’ve started.

It’s nice that Middle One is old enough, strong enough, and mature enough to be able to help out with stuff. Not just because it allows me to not hurt myself in the process of ‘helping’, but because he’s getting the chance to work with Coffee on stuff and he’s learning some new skills and, well, in general, it’s just nice.

In the photo below, the windows have been removed, some of the ‘decorative’ wood from the outside has been removed, and Coffee is starting to pry off the tin roofing. Not bad.

The pool house shell.

11 days ago, I mowed the lawn and the next day, when I woke up, I was really sore. Actually, I was sore when I was getting into bed the same night that I mowed but I figured it would sort itself out.

Instead, 11 days later, I am still sore. My neck and shoulder muscles are tight when I wake up in the morning. My ribs hurt. I have shooting pains – they feel like I’m being stabbed – in my shoulders, neck and ribs.

Motherfucker.

So I am now back to doing minimal lifting and all the gentle yoga stretches (without the more strenuous yoga stretches) and trying to remember to sleep in ‘good’ positions and keep moving my body around every few minutes.

Also, Middle One mowed the lawn this week. I supervised. It went well and I think we know who’ll be mowing the lawn for the foreseeable future.

*sigh*

Last weekend we went to the hot tub store and found one of last year’s floor models that we really liked – and it was about half-price. We pondered it but, when we called back to say we wanted it, it had already been sold. Crap! I asked if they had any others available and, after calling around, was told they were all sold out at the various stores.

There was, however, one on hold in their warehouse. Someone had put a deposit on it last year and hadn’t arranged for pick up. Hadn’t paid the rest that was owed. They told us that if we could wait a few days, they’d try to get clearance to sell it – since, technically, they only have to hold it for 90 days. This guy was WAY past 90 days.

And, so, phone calls were made and ultimatums delivered and.. blammo! We got a brand new (not-floor-model) hot tub for the price of the floor model.

Yes indeed, we bought a hot tub.

Sorry, it’s a spa. Apparently calling it a hot tub isn’t classy. Whatever, I don’t care, it’s going to be full of hot water and jets and I am going to soak in it until my skin is permanently pruney.

In the meantime, however, we have a tonne of work to do to get the yard ready.

We’ve semi-hired a guy to redo the covered deck area. I say “semi-hired” because we haven’t been able to give him a firm start date, yet, thanks to the robin’s nest in the rafters. Until the babies have fledged, we can’t do anything there. Lady Robin has been giving me stink-eye every time I go out there, so we probably have to wait a bit longer.

This weekend we’ll start ripping down the pool house. The bottom is rotting and we don’t use it for anything other than storage – so we’ll take it down and that’s where the spa will go. The faster we get that done, the sooner I can soak in some hot water.

It is taking a lot of self-control not to go out there with a crowbar RIGHT NOW and smash the crap out of it. The only thing preventing me from doing it is the electrical wiring running through it. Weirdly, I am not a fan of being electrocuted. That, and my smashing arms are weak and ineffectual and I’d likely just hurt myself somehow.

At any rate, it looks like our long weekend is going to be at least somewhat busy with the demolition and the assorted other work to be done around here. The weather, according to the internet, appears to be prepared to cooperate with us. We’re totally going to EARN that first soak..

We’re contemplating buying a hot tub.

New, not used.

Anyone got some advice to throw our way?

(Title references this awful movie.)