Long Overdue!!!

We finished building our home 22 years ago this month. It served us well as we raised our four sons and one daughter. I sure wish we could transport it to Utah when we retire there in a few years, but I know that isn't possible.

With age comes problems. There is always upkeep on a home and this home is no exception. For the past couple of years it became apparent that we needed to re-plaster our pool. As you can see, the steps were especially bad. So last week we "took the plunge" and forked over the money to update the pool.

This is what the pool looked like after they removed the old plaster and prepared it for the new. It would definitely win no beauty contests.

 What an improvement the new plaster made. It took about 20 hours to fill up the pool.

Other than overfilling it a little, it looked great upon completion.

California is in the midst of a 4 year drought and Governor Brown has mandated a 25% reduction in water usage by early next year or fines will be issued.  Our water company (Quartz Hill Water Co.) has already applied strict restrictions on water usage - i.e.  homeowners can water only 3 days/week and has to be done between the hours of 10 pm and 9 am because of evaporation - especially during hot summer months. 

Because of the drought, we felt quite guilty about having to replace the water in our pool because it holds about 26,000 gallons of water. Gulp!!! However, this is the first time we have ever changed out our water so it was LONG overdue! Our automatic pool cover protects the water from evaporation and preserves its quality.

Funny story: about a year ago while Eric's family was visiting I asked Ella (age 9 at the time) if she would like to go outside with me to do something with regard to the pool. She said "you have a pool?" Because of the cover blending in with the concrete she didn't know there was a pool there. Their family doesn't usually visit us during the swim season so she hadn't been in the pool since she was a baby. Ethan, Ella, and Olivia did go swimming last summer, however, so they are very familiar with the pool now. They will be visiting here again next month and I am sure they will use the pool.

Alan calls our pool a money pit (and it is), but I love having a pool. What is a southern California home without a pool? I think it will attract buyers once we do decide to sell. At least that's what I am hoping.