So there it is. The pool is gone. Now how in the world are we going to fill in this crater!! I swear it looks bigger with the pool out. Daunting job ahead of us...what have we done....

Destruction

The destruction phase had to be done carefully as we are cheap and are trying to restore and reuse all of the wood that we can. That means lots of careful pulling up of boards (of which Keith's parents were a HUGE help) and lots of nail pulling. Do you know what muscles you use to pull nails out of boards? I do, because they were all sore! All right, so I'm a bit out of shape as well....

Filling the Hole

We thought we were going to have to bring in fill dirt to level out the area, but it turned out we had enough on the banks to level it all out. One of Keith's co-workers was generous enough to come drive his tractor around and flatten things out for us. He did a great job! And Keith was quite impressed with the rig....do you call tractors 'rigs'??

Reconstructing

So now we're caught up to today. This weekend we spent cleaning and painting the supports, and starting to frame the underneath of the deck. We made good progress yesterday as we had good weather. Today however, we got nailed with thunderstorms and cold. So we did what we could this AM, adding the cross beams to what you see above. Now the area is a clay-mud-ladden mess, so we headed indoors.

Pretty Dog!!

Each year as summer approaches, Gracie is looking her finest with her long, golden soft hair. However, it does start to get a little "clumpy" at this time as we are not diligent dog groomers. More importantly, however, is the excessive panting that begins to take place as the mercury rises, and Gracie (brilliant dog that she is) plops herself on the hot pavement or the hot deck and bakes away in misery. Last year, she had her own personal 20' x40' pool to cool herself off in periodically. This year, much to her chagrin, she must find relief in the cheap, blue plastic pool that leaks and that she can barely even fit in (she's big boned, OK?), as we have successfully torn out our pool (and deck for that matter). So what do we do to help her out, (and to get out of having to brush her regularly)? Well, see below, and you shall be enlightened.....

Pretty Dog??

Friday the 13th travel to Tacoma

Here's some notes Keith jotted down on his epic journey via Amtrak to visit his in-laws in Tacoma, WA:

5/13/05 - Amtrak - Albany to Tacoma:
"A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving."
-Unknown
I found this in the Albany library while waiting for my late train. Amtrak, apparently, has no intention of arriving on time and as I've said in the lumber business, "A good eagle scout can run the railroad better than the railroad".

Other quotes I've found in a misc travel book:
"Too often...I would hear men boast only of the rides covered that day, rarely of what they had seen."
-Louis L'Amour

After a 3 1/2 hour wait at the train station, I am trying to see the light. I am now in the observation deck watching the backyards of North Salem go by.

"I have wandered all my life, and I have also travelled. The difference between the two being this: that we wander for distraction, but we travel for fullfillment."
-Hullaire Belloe

I'll save that one for later!

Another: "The real voyage of discovery consists onot in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes."
-Marcel Proush

Again, for later.

I finally used my old fraternity flask. A little rum and Coke on the cheap mixed in a Nalgene is tasting pretty good! Cell phones suck!....(the lady next to me on the observation deck is sleep deprived from being on the train for 18 hours up from LA and bored. She needed to get off the phone. "What are you doing....I'm on a train...yada, yada, yada".

Two hours later....I am the face in the window. I am peering out the window trying to see the towns but all I see is the reflection of my own face and a few city lights. The cars waiting at the cropped cross-arms see my blurred face go by.

There is an older Indian couple on the train. It does not appear that they speak or understand much English so everytime the conductor calls a city, they get up, pick up their bags and head downstairs. Vancouver then, and now Centralia. Several of us have tried to tell them that we'll tell them when Olympia comes up. I have new-found empathy for them as that will be Em and I in several months.