Finally Something Free

This morning Ryan and I loaded up the bobcat and took it over to the car wash. Yes we had to clean it so we wouldn't be hit with a $200 cleaning fee. Forty five minutes later the bobcat was clean. Ryan and I, however, were covered in mud splatter. What a way to start the day. We got the bobcat back to Home Depot by 9am. Just on time. Once we finally got it checked in, we ran by the garden center to see if they had any sod. They said they didn't get their shipment in. They had a half pallet of partially green grass for half off and 3 pallets around back that were all brown that were for free. As we started to leave I thought, hey, free brown grass is better than dirt and mud any day. So Ryan went around back and started loading brown grass. By the time we were all finished we made 2 trips with to Home Depot and got every bit of free brown grass they had. We unloaded it all in the back yard on a big pile. Who knows, a little miracle grow and water we could have a lush lawn before you know it. If not, it is still better than dirt and mud. Cheers!

Chemistry Degree

Laura spent Saturday earning her chemistry degree. Well she should have one now with all of the research and understanding of pool chemicals she has. She worked on vacuuming and brushing the sides of the pool down. With our new lake water pool the interesting thing is there is not much dirt at the bottom of the pool. Think of it like a really well stirred up glass of chocolate milk. You remember as a kid dumping in 3 or 4 spoonfuls of Quick and stirring it up. All of the tiny chocolate particles floating around changing the milk into a delicious chocolate delight. The difference between the glass of Chocolate Milk and our pool is the delight part. There is nothing delightful about our brown water. What Laura did find out is that we are not the first people to have dirt in our pool water. There are chemicals that are made for this very thing. So Laura took a trip to the pool supply store with a couple of water samples from our pool and hot tub. They tested the water from both and $180.00 later she earned her Chemistry Degree. She came home with her certificate of instructions and started the pool cleaning process. It is going to take a few days, but we have been reassured that we will be back to the crystal blue waters we once enjoyed. Once, I mean one time enjoyed. Right, we have only been in the pool ONE time. Cheers!

Tonka Trucks

Ryan got to have some fun driving the Bobcat around. Who doesn't like playing with trucks and tractors? Cheers!

Leveled Out

After a day of dirt moving. I determined one thing for sure. If you have this much dirt to move, rent a bobcat. Not only is it fun to drive, but you can move a lot more dirt than you could with a shovel in a lot less time. Ok, by the end of the day the fun had kind of warn off. I was just ready to be done. The great news is, it's done. Well most of it. We still have a big pile of dirt in the yard. The great news is we won't have dirt rushing into our pool again. Time for a cocktail. Cheers!

Moving Mountains

Early Saturday morning, Ryan and I got up and went to Home Depot to rent a Bobcat. It was time to clear out the dirt so we never experience the flowing dirt river we had the other night. Now this is the way to move some dirt. Make that a mountain of dirt. We put all of the dirt on tarps in the drive way and put an ad on Craig's List for some free black dirt. If anyone needs some dirt, come and get it. Cheers!

It's Electrifying

Friday was a very productive day in the addition. The electricians came out and wired us for electricity. It's only a matter of time and we will have light. Notice all of the shoes by the door. That is the mud shoe drop off. Cheers!

Game Plan

I called Mike Williams at Gary's Pool and Patio to help me figure out what we needed to do to bring back our crystal clear blue oasis. He made some recommendations and said his guys were coming by tomorrow and would bring some chemicals to help start the clearing process. We were going to have to drain some of the water out just to get down below the tile that was just put in. It was also time to rent some dirt moving equipment to make sure this never happens again. Trust me...we are going to make sure this NEVER happens again. Cheers!

River Runs Through

Wednesday night was a night we won't forget. We had rain, hail, high winds, tornado watch / warning, come right through Pflugerville. Unfortunately here at the Fritz Dirt Farm, we had not gotten to the point of moving dirt from the area by the new patio and pool deck. Guess what happens when you have a bunch of rain within a 2 hour period and you have dirt areas higher than you new concrete pool deck, which by the way goes right up to the pool. That's right, basically you have a river of dirt water rushing right over the pool deck right into the pool. It all happens so fast that you can't even believe it is happening. Suddenly the pool was full of water that looks like we filled it with water out of Town Lake. Pretty sick feeling when you realize that now you have to figure out how to get the dirty water out. Not to mention the boys were all going to be here this weekend ready to enjoy the pool. And this was Ryan's first chance to get in the pool. You can already guess what we will be doing this weekend. I imagine we will be out around the pool, but I don't think it will be lounging around having cocktails. Cheers!

Bricks, Lighting, Shade

Today was another busy day. The brick layers were out in full force. They got the entire side of the house bricked. Looks like they will just have to come back tomorrow to do some finishing touches. Art from Gary's Pool and Patio came by to do a couple of things to the hot tub. He put in the lighting like we have in the pool, so now the hot tub has some cool lighting effects at night. We also found this great outdoor umbrella at Sam's. It is 13 feet across with double vents so wind can flow through. Only problem is the pole is wider than the hole in our base. hhhmmm Looks like another trip to Sam's to pick up a new base. This thing should give us plenty of shade while we are hanging out grillin and chillin, or just sitting out having a cocktail or three. Cheers!

It's Gettin Hot in Here

so take off...oh wait...it's not going to be too hot or cold in the addition now. Today the heating and air conditioning folks came out and ran the duct work to both the dining room and Laura's office. The other exciting thing that happened is our brick arrived. They started prepping the area for laying the bricks. They enclosed the last part of the soffit and put the brick molding up at the top. Not much longer and the outside of the addition should be complete and ready for painting. Cheers!

Mother's Day

Now here it the way to spend Mother's Day. Laura spent a relaxing afternoon enjoying the hot tub drinking a few beverages. We did manage to get the gate built for the fence we worked on last weekend. Just have to finish hanging it some time this week. We finished the day off with having my Mom over, grilling some steaks and watching the season finale of Survivor. Cheers!

Clean Up

Laura was a chaperone on Saturday for Kevin's band trip to New Braunfels. He had a concert Saturday morning, where they took first place for beginner band. Then it was off to the Schlitterbahn for the rest of the day. I spent the day in the pool scrubbing, cleaning and vacuuming. With all of the concrete, grout and dirt we have had around the pool, it was time to give it a thorough cleaning. Nothing like spending a hot day in the nice cool water. Now if I could only train Max to bring me a drink. Cheers!

Doors and Tile

The last thing that had to be done to secure the addition was to put in the doors. We have french doors coming out of Laura's office and a single door coming out of the dining room. The doors all look great. While Byron and Adam were finishing up the doors and outside of the addition, the tile layers came and put the tile around our pool. We will also have the same tile around the inside of the hot tub. Looks like I will be cleaning the pool again this weekend. Cheers!

Break Through

Today was very busy day. Byron and Adam were hard at work preparing our addition for the wall to come down. The put up a sheet of plastic to keep as much dust out of the house with everything that was going on. After that it was time to open it up. It is amazing to see how much bigger our kitchen will be. Not only are we going to have a great dining room, but it also gives us a lot of flexibility to do more things to our kitchen. Not any time soon though. Let's get this project behind us first. Cheers!