Has It Been Nine Days? ~~ May 24, 2010

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I've honestly been so tired I have not felt like blogging.

Also, I don't know how many of those who read my little-blog-of-grand-adventures watch the news, but so much has been going on that it's a little overwhelming. I am a firm follower of Jesus Christ, and I believe what the Bible says about the coming end of days.

For years I have been watching, paying attention to things to see when they line up with what the Bible says. For the last few years events have been happening so rapidly that I always said my head was spinning. Well, I had no idea what I was talking about. The last couple of years of head spinning have been a cake walk compared to the last couple of months, and I don't see things slowing, but instead increasing.

I have unsaved family members, including the man who is still my husband yet refused to take his place as one, and my heart is burdened for them greatly. This could all be drug out for some time, or it could happen very quickly. But what is coming for those reject Yeshua Messiah as Lord in their life is terrifying.

How's that for an opener?

This pool wore me out! As of today's entry, it is up and operating, though not completely finished. I'm seriously getting old, here! I do not remember being this physically tired before. I guess I should not be surprised, what with menopause and lupus, but it is strange to see yourself decline, you know? We are so glad it's up!

I wish I'd had time and energy to document everything we did, like a very detailed pool construction tutorial, but being so tired and planning so poorly got in the way. I will share some of it, and hope that it will be useful to anyone who wants to set a pool up. Including Michael and I at any later date.

This is the third steel-walled pool I've set up. The very first one I did myself. I was very young then. I can't believe I did it alone! LOL But the place was level, easy to prepare, and the weather not quite so much like a sauna.

Here's Michael, trimming the replacement deck boards for the three that were so tweaked.





It's really not the best job. But I am sacrificing looks for the budget. We bought only what we had to for making the deck safe and comfortable, four boards and some screws. We actually had to rip one of the boards to make it narrow enough to fit here. That means we ran the saw all along the length of it, lowering the resting plate on the saw to adjust the depth enough not to cut through the joists below.





Still, somehow, the ends did not line up. We lined up the curved ends and found that shrinkage over the years had affected length as well, something that surprised me, considering these were all screwed down quite tightly. So we used a board to guide the line I scratched with a screw tip.





The ends had nails in them, from the little duck barrier we'd installed years ago. They could not be pulled so trimming the deck had to wait until we could get a diamond tipped saw blade.

It was very hot, so we temporarily used plumber's tape and some screws...





to affix this nifty shade umbrella we found at the dollar store. Wouldn't a dollar been a great price? It was 20 dollars. I almost got 4 for twenty dollars, but then they found the price was labeled wrong. Too bad!





And we laid down the guide rails to get an idea where we needed to level the ground a bit better.





After that I wimped out. Standing there with the heat reflecting up from that dirt did me in. What's with aging, anyway!

~Faith

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