Embrace the Hustle.. Chase the Dream

Like all things, maintaining the water in your pool can be daunting and a little overwhelming (especially at first)  but eventually it settles into the rhythm of life's activities and becomes routine. It's a chore, just like mowing the grass and weeding the garden and on and on and on. We have a lot of chores. It's part of the choice of being a homeowner. Sometimes though, the idea of an apartment in a high rise in Boston sounds divine. It's costly but it's freedom from the labor/expense of a yard...and the allergies.. and the rashes... 

If I start to look super frowny and I develop huge bags under my eyes over the next 3 to 4 months, it is just the season having its sordid way with me. "Hang on for the ride." The pollen laden breeze whispers,  "It's going to be a wild one."   

Anyway, back to the pool... Its been giving me fits. We opened up this year to the most pristine looking water that we have ever seen on opening. I sighed some relief and thought "This will be easy." I was sorely mistaken. The pump was not working. It turned on all right but it just would not draw anymore than a small trickle of water.  So I went about troubleshooting it. And the most logical conclusion was that my impeller had gotten clogged and dirty. I had seen that the internal skimmer basket was cracked. I didn't replace it. Shit got in there. Fine. I picked up a new pump (with the intention of cleaning it up, and re gasketing the old one for the next emergency) and Greg got it installed.  I started it up and the same damn thing happened.  WTF?!?! I called my pool guy and based on our conversation and all the cracking and shifting that has happened with the pool deck, our best guess was that the piping underneath had become crushed/bent. The solution to that was to dig them up and replace them.  Before taking those steps, however, my pool guy came over to give the system a good once over. Turns out there was an air leak in the system just prior to the pumps. Those were sealed up tight and now we have suction.  A good clean, a few adjustments and its off to the deep end for me.  I look forward to being submerged and wet. 

In other news, Willow and Max have gracefully transitioned out of the home and into their own place.  The move was smooth and easy as these things go. It was a happy affair for us all.   It was 90+ degrees that day and we had to carry boxes up to the third floor of the old Victorian they are living in, which made things ever so much more uncomfortable, but we were done in an hour.  Thier experiences so far have been interesting. The second night the tub started leaking and we got a call at 11 wondering how to turn off the water. They were unable to locate the valve and let it run down the drain until they could get ahold of the landlady. Turns out she (land lady) had nailed, and glue gunned the access closet shut. In the end, they are getting a completely new shower installed. It has not been all emergency excitement to contend with. Willow hung her pride flags out the window and so ensued a whole - across the street, window to window - communication  and a neighborly friendship looks to be developing.   

Willow wasn't the only one I helped move last month. I also helped S. That was an interesting experience. I know that she can be a bit of a slow poke, so I set an earlier time to be there and then pushed it back as the time approached. I arrived at her new place about an hour and a half later, to find her in the middle of a shower and needing to stick around even longer to wait for her laundry before finally getting to her old place to pack and move her. It was also a hot day. After the packing was done, Greg joined for the heavy lifting. S. had surgery on her leg and is currently wheel bound so it was a rough move for her, but she is a trouper, and it has not affected her ability to speak at all.

 Work in and around the house, as usual, has continued amidst (and as a result of) all the moving. The guest room sits ready for company as long as they don't need the closet. Its functional but not pretty.

A few hours and I will get that turned around. The very last of Immersions spillover has been attended to and no longer clutters up the house (although there is still some in the garage to contend with). For the first time since we moved in, I finally feel like I am settled into the home.  There are still some projects that are underway and there will be more to come but "Ahhhhhhh!"  I don't know that I have experienced our home ever being so peaceful. It has always been a sanctuary, of course, but just one in constant flux with a slight sense of not quite being grounded.  

Our two biggest projects at the moment are the installation of some lighting in the kitchen and the rebuild of one of the decks which was beginning to warp from the wood rot of the supports.   

The garden is growing well. We had a late frost after I had gotten things in the ground but other than a few of the tiniest seedlings wilting away, we didn't suffer too much of a loss. 

I recently finished another Angel Art piece. 

What else? Work is going well. This month I was officially taken off the temp to hire list and asked to become a bonified DR employee. One of the employees congratulated me and asked if I was excited and suprised about it. I casually responded with a chuckle and said "Heck, I knew I was staying here from the start!"   I have also been asked to step back into training for the next level up. That will start next week. I look forward to the change of scenery that will come with the lessons.

Speaking of a change of scenery... The next place we visit will be Jamaica.