What’s Bloomin’

Swimming, anyone?

Pool-Opening Day!

But first, I had to get them here. I called Chaikin and spoke to Evelyn. I asked at what time I could expect the pool guys to get here. She said we were the second ticket today, so probably some time between 10 and 12. I asked if she could have them call me when they were here or on their way.

"Well, like I said, it'll be before noon, definitely."
"Okay, that's fine. Can you have them call me?"
"Well, they've already left for their route."
"So... you have no way to reach them at all? It's just that our doorbell is broken."
"Well I can tell them to knock."
"So you can reach them? My house is pretty big, and I won't hear them knocking. Don't they have cell phones? I'd really like them to call me when they're on their way."
"SIGH. Hold on."
"Okay, I told them to call, and they actually won't be there until 2 or 3."

Well, B & B, as it says on the work ticket, rolled up at about 4:30 (no phone call). I went out to keep checking on them, and asked them to take pictures of the stones that are coming up. When they were about to leave, B comes up to me to hand me a copy of the work order. He asks if I know where the skimmer baskets are.

"I don't even know what a skimmer basket is, but it'd have to be wherever you guys left it when you closed the pool last year. Did you check in the basement and the shed?"
"Yeah, we couldn't find the skimmer baskets, the eyeballs, or the pump gasket, so we couldn't turn on the pool yet." Blank stare.
"So.... what does that mean? What do we do?"
"Well, we're gonna order the parts and bring it next time, but meanwhile the filter's not up and running yet."
"Is whoever closed the pool last year still working there? Because no one has even touched one pool part since you closed it, so wherever they put it is where it should be. Can you ask them? Because I don't want to pay for a part that you guys lost."

So he wrote something down on his clipboard and said they'd be in touch.

Delay #1 (Day 1): Missing skimmer baskets, eyeballs, and pump o-ring mean the pool system can't be turned on yet.

R.I.P Holly

I pointed out this holly tree, to the right of the front door, to Paul.  For some reason it’s twice as big as the holly tree on the opposite side.  A few years ago, someone else seriously botched a pruning job: instead of shortening some of the lower branches so that they didn’t whack one in the face, they just sawed the lower branches off completely, resulting in a lollipop look.

Paul agreed that it was time for the tree to go.  We discussed replacing it with another holly to match the remaining one, and he said he’d get me some quotes.  Then they sawed it down.  It caused quite a kerfuffle amongst the birds, but I’m not too worried.  I’m sure they’ll find another comfy place to hang out, like on the pool furniture I just cleaned.

But now that I look at it, I think I like it better without a tree there.  It reveals all the interesting architecture in that corner of the house.  Maybe some kind of low shrub?  I just hope that Paul doesn’t show up with a replacement without calling or asking, as is his style.

Ivy Chop

After telling Paul (twice) that I really actually did want to cut the ivy back that far, they went to it.  This way, we shouldn’t need to get it trimmed again for at least four hours.