Day 5 Pool Project

The two super hard workers were out again to finish the tile work that was not finished the other day due to running out of tiles and they put the grey deck-o-seal in between the concrete and the coping. This finishes everything off nicely. The only problem is there is a section of concrete that has not been laid yet and now that area does not have the deck-o-seal in it. Seems like the company is not doing this all in the correct order but what do I know. I am really hoping all of this will be done for a party I am having on the 4th of July. Actually, not only done but done in time to heat the water up to a good temperature so people can swim if they want. If the Lord wills that not happen, I am good too with having water balloons or other water fun.



I love the way my skimmer looks. Everything is all centered up and even. There is something to the clean lines and symmetry.

These are the plans as I see them, but the Lord might have other plans. Tomorrow is concrete and the new light. Monday is plaster day. Tuesday cure day and maybe deck-o-seal guys come back out. Wednesday is acid wash and brush day. Thursday is fill day. That leaves Friday and Saturday before the party to heat the pool.

Pool Project Day 4

Today the coping, tile and grout was put in. I like the coping and the tile combo. The fellows finished the coping, then they grouted the coping, then they laid the tile and finished up grouting the tile.

I love the colors. They blend in so well with the house and my yard.

Good thing I took this photo because I see a small area that did not get grout in it. I will have to show this to them when they come out next. Looks like a day when I will be in Fresno so I will call the company and ask them to tell the guys to fill it in.

Ohh oh! Somehow the correct amount of tiles were not ordered so the guys today were just short. About 12 short. The company had to reorder another box and they think it will be in later on this week. Tomorrow no work will be done, which is a good thing because I can go to the farmer's market and get my needed fruits and veggies. If all goes well, Wednesday will be concrete, Thursday tile work and I don't know what happens after that. I'll keep you posted.

Slip and Slide

I spent most of the weekend over at my mom and dad's because it was Father's Day and because Jen, Joe and the kids were up. We had a great time celebrating the two wonderful dad's that were amongst us. Mom cooked up some of the best food that I have had in a long time. One of my highlights of the weekend was doing a Slip and Slide with my niece. The plastic strip was not very long but I tell you, I sure was brought back to my childhood by running and diving onto the wet plastic and sliding down the grass. My niece and I laughed and laughed. Seriously, I have not done a slip and slide for almost 20 years. Wish I had a picture to show all of you the fun we had.

Day 3 Pool Project

A new crew of workmen were over to do their labor intensive part of the job for day 3 of the project. So far there have been 5 different crews of workmen over to do their speciality: the salesman, the pool drainer (who later will be the acid washer), the crew for the demo, the coping and tile guys and the fellow who I had to pay. Here you can see that they laid the coping out all around the pool and put up some bender board as guide to edge the coping bricks. The coping I chose is called light iron spot with safety grip.

This is the first section that the guys finished, well not completely, the coping bricks still need to get the grey grout placed in between the bricks. My pool is slightly starting to look like a pool again.

I am really starting to like what the edge of the pool is going to look like when it is all finished. This is quiet the contrast of the old white rough coping that was in there before. The color of this coping will pull off of the color of the roof from the house and will pull some from the tile. You will see the tile in a few days.

The above and below photos show how exactly each brick needs to be cut to fit the curves of my pool. One of the workmen spent his time cutting the bricks with a wet saw and the other placing the bricks with mortar. These fellows are true craftsmen because they have to have an exacting eye for detail.

In the tile work I have done, I love using the wet saw to cut tiles. All the cuts look so neat and clean.

The reality of the enormity of the project set in when I needed to write the first half of the cost of the project with the completion of the prep work (the final payment will be at the end). I have to keep telling myself that it will be all worth it and my home will benefit greatly from improving the pool.

My mind was reminded that the local water district started water restrictions and usage cutbacks a few months ago. What must be drained must be then re-filled. I called the water company, and thank the Lord that I did, and explained my situation. The fellow that I talked with was very helpful and if all goes as planned, I will just have to pay the normal cost to refill the pool with no penalty. If not, this fellow will come to bat for me and give a report to the city council, fighting on my behalf. I praise the Lord that He moves our hearts on what we need to do.

One of the most favorable aspects of all of this work being done, is that most of the fellows who have come out speak Spanish and English. I don't have many opportunities to speak much in Spanish so I like to take opportunities when they arise. Each day I have lunch for the fellows and speak with them a little in their native tongues. Right from the first words that come out of my mouth I tell them that I don't speak Spanish that well, because I really don't, but I try really hard and I am open to correction. Mainly, I like to give them lunch because I know my job will be done to the very best of their ability and if I have an issue they will be quick to fix it for me. A little food goes a long way. Yesterday though, the Lord opened up a huge ministry opportunity to share of His grace and saving power. As we talked in Spanish, they wanted to know I learned Spanish and this gave me the opportunity to explain my time in Mexico studying and the many other times of visiting Mexico with churches that I have been involved with. One fellow asked what the difference was between the Catholic faith and the Christian faith. God was gracious for the opportunity and for the words in Spanish to explain the differences. They will be back on Monday and I pray that I might have more of an open door to share with them.

Pool Project Day 2

The men drilled holes every 6" to reveal if there were other craters. They broke through those bubbled areas and cleaned them out. The coping and tile came off too. There was a huge hole punched into the bottom of the pool to prevent the pool from "popping". "Popping" occurs when a pool is drained and is not as heavy and the water table is higher than the lowest point of the pool. The water table pressure pops a pool right out of the ground.


The two pads of concrete are being removed here. There were 2 or 3 jack hammers working at a time. My house was shaking like a low grade earthquake. My girl kitty was not into the work at all. She was a nervous wreck under the bed the whole time.



This fellow is sand blasting away the paint and the top layer of plaster. Note to pool owners: Do not ever paint your plaster on your pool, it is the worst thing you can do to your pool. The weekend I first saw the house, the homeowner was down in the drained pool painting it. I have been fighting that paint ever sense.



The truck bed was filled with all the debris that was taken out of my back yard. There also is the paper wrapping for at least 5 bags of 100 lbs of sand, used for the sand blasting.


When they were finished sand blasting they put on some base coast of plaster primer or something that looked like dry wall mud.


The step below gave one of the fellows a huge work out. In fact they could not chip the concrete down any lower than this. He was using the small jack hammer. My sister thought he was using the small jack hammer because the big one would have shattered the slider glass.

This morning the company called and said the next part of the project will start on Friday. The tiles I ordered will be in on Thursday so my project is on hold for a few days, or I should say that I have a few days of rest before it all starts up again. I don't know why but I am exhausted today.

Pool Project Day 1

Day 1 was pretty uneventful. The pool got drained and you can see the crater with no water. I walked around the bottom of my empty pool and I felt about 7 more areas that would turn into the same type of crater as this one. One felt much bigger than this one (this one was about 16" long and 12" wide). I was able to work outside all day long pulling weeds and cleaning up my garden.

Pre-Project

Here is the crater that I talked about, the reason why I needed to do this whole project.

This is the pool before the project started.

These two concrete pads need to be replaced. They have sunk down by about 1-2" and the new coping would not level off. It only made sense to me to re-due these concrete pads too. For those of you considering putting in new concrete, concrete work is very expensive.


Here is my skimmer and my tile work. As you can see the left side of the tile is distressed and the tile is out of date.

When I bought the house the slider opened the wrong direction and in replacing all the doors I bought this slider to open in the correct direction. Because the slider opened opposite of what it does now, the step down was on the other side. These bricks have been my step for as long as the house has been mine. So, I figured since there would be concrete work done, I might as well get the step done at the same time.

Pool Resurfacing Project

I often wonder if the home projects/improvements will ever come to an end and I have come to the conclusion that they will not. As long as I own my home, there will be something that will have to be done, even if it is not on the project list. 2 years ago, I did not have the project of resurfacing my pool but it is a project that has to be done at this point. The plaster in my pool was pulling away from the gunite creating a huge jagged crater in the shallow end and many more that just had not erupted and broken open yet.

After many estimates and research on the internet, I found the company that I want to go with and signed the contract a few weeks back. The pool is going to have a completely different look and look really good. There is great excitement to a new look and I have come to grips with the price of the project.

I will try to blog the work that is being done by each day of work to show you all the progress of the project. When it is all done, come on over for a swim or a lounge by the pool sucking on an ice tea.

Another Year Down

There are now 15 years of teaching completed, 5 years in Los Angeles and 10 years at my current school. As each year winds down to an end, I am more eager to go on break than the year prior. This year was a good one for me but I was just so ready to be finished with it all for awhile. I know this year, I was really busy the last 3 weeks of school, in my school and personal life. All of the details may have tired me some.

Here are a few of my plans for the summer, please ask me how any are going, and not sure what all I will get done: resurface my pool (posts soon to come), clean up my yard, kill the Bermuda grass in the front yard, go to root on the Giants at the ball park, swim, exercise, walk with Suzi, win the weight challenge between a few family members, spend time with my sisters and my niece and nephew, deep clean the whole house including my closet, have friends and family over to enjoy the pool and a meal, play some board/card games, go to the farmer's market on Tuesday mornings and Thursday evenings, can more jam, learn how to can tomatoes, corn, beans, homemade BBQ sauce, and maybe pickles, catch up with my Bible reading, see a few movies, quick trip to LA, celebrate my nephew's, sister's and dad's birthdays, lead the game time at VBS week, teach a few kids or big kids how to swim, go to Lassen and climb to the summit and . . . not sure what else at the moment. My time will go to fast and I have to be back at work on August 20th, already a sour thought in my mind.

Back in Cyberland

My internet has been down for the last week and half because I was switching my cable, internet and phone to one service provider. The first few days were nice but the last few days I was feeling a little out of touch with communication via email. The internet has become a handy source of information for me in the last few years. I can check the score of a Giant's game, see what time a movie is showing, look up a word that I don't know, see a menu for a restaurant, check the news, and just waste time much quicker on the internet.

There are 5 ideas of blogs that I have wanted to post but have not been able due to having no internet access. So, this post will start out the blogging spree.

Image taken from Google Images

Thanks To Grandpa

Thanks to my grandfather George, I know how to tie a tie (using the method displayed above). Last week was promotion for the 8th graders at the school that I teach at. The theme was "black and white" dress attire and all of the students looked so nice. As I walked into my office across the black top, I saw several young men with ties draped across their necks but not tied. The thought went through my head that maybe they did not know how to tie a neck tie. I told each of them how nice and handsome they looked and then asked if they were being relaxed with their tie (because the ceremony was an hour away) or if they did not know how to tie a tie. I mentioned casually to them that if they did not know how to tie one that I could assist them. Each young man was eager to have me tie their tie. As I started to tie the first tie, several other young men lined up to have their ties tied. It was cute and I think there should be an in-service next year for the young men on how to tie a tie. After each tie I tied, I told them, "Thanks to my Grandpa, I know how to tie a tie!"

Images taken from Google Images

Garage Sale

The first Saturday in June for the last several years has been a garage sale involving several of my parents neighbors. The association sponsors the event. The sale always has bad timing for me being the end of the school year but I am always glad to participate when it is all over.

Faithfully, every year we make over $200 of no longer wanted items or as the cartoon to the left alludes to "garbage". I think every year that we have done the garage sale all the earnings would go towards a specific cause. Last year we got a savings bond for my nephew who was to be born the next week. This year the money earned is going towards a "baby fund" for a baby that does not exist yet.

Garage sales are such a good idea. You get to talk with people (for me, I get to practice some Spanish with those who I think might speak Spanish), have some back bone ("No. I am sorry I will not go for $2. The price is $10") good for the economy (people can afford the goods that you offer and you may help them with a need), good for the environment (junk not filling up your trash can) and you can earn a few bucks.

I have discovered a few keys to having a garage sale over the years. You need to be organized and have your junk set up according to categories, like kitchen things, pictures, household items, furniture set up in rooms. Today all of the furniture was set up like a living room including the reclining chair, the book cases (books on the shelves) and an end table (a lamp and phone on the end table). I think all the items sold. When pricing your items, you should price them to sell and not for what they are worth. One has to remember that you are getting rid of things you no longer want and if they are not priced to go then you will not be getting rid of them. After about 1:00 you need to consider what offer someone is making and meet them half way if you don't agree with their offer. You will get rid of more stuff this way. My sister and I try to greet each and every person with a simple hello and ask how they are doing. Often people will buy even just one little thing because you were kind. Be prepared ahead of time with change, bills and coins, and have bags for people to put their stuff in. One of the most important things my family always does after a sale, because we know we are not going to pack up the stuff and have another sale at someone else's house (which does work by the way, one time in college we collected all this junk, had a sale 3 separate days at 3 separate houses and we sold a bucket load of junk), is to haul everything left over to the near by Goodwill store and get your tax right off for the year. I love doing this, everything is cleaned up and the junk is gone and you will feel much better just getting your life a little uncluttered.

Oh, one last thing, why not, I have blabbed on already, but I have a tubby in the garage for smaller things that I know I want to get rid of for next year's sale. During the year I put things in the tubby and it is all ready to go to get ready to go to a new home.

Quick Trip South

Yesterday, I drove down to see Jen, Joe and the kids for a super quick day trip. Joe's family was having a party for his sister in which our clan was invited to later in the day.

Trin Trin was so excited to see me. She hugged and kissed me when I got out of the car. Joe Joe (as I call him, goes along with Trin Trin) was a little more reserved but he warmed up quite nicely to me as the day progressed. I finally got to see him crawl in person and boy does he get around. It was so good to see them and to allow them some play time with their auntie. I love these little ones so much. They are a blessing from God to me.

This picture was taken about 3 weeks ago.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day means so much to me and there are so many wonderful memories of past Memorial Days/weekends. Like many other Memorial Day weekends, I headed up to the "cabin" near Mt. Lassen. This is what Memorial Day means to me:

• the hills of Northern California are golden
• the fields along I-5 are full of crops: corn, tomatoes, sugar beets, sunflowers, rice, wheat, alfalfa, hay, peppers, almond and walnut trees, and squash
• being with my dear family
• enjoying the fresh mountain air
• getting away from the heat of the Bay Area, the congestion, the noise
• the end of the school year is just a few weeks away
• feeding the deer, chip monks, grey squirrels, and various types of birds
• cherries at the fruit stands
• playing cards
• watching movies
• and a grateful heart for the men and women who have fought for our liberty

Here are a few photos from my time away.

And the Greatest of These is Love

For my last birthday, my mom got me this oil painting of a country church (called Amazing Grace). I love it. The picture is hanging on a small entry wall into the kitchen from the entry way and hallway. My photo looks a little crooked because there was a wall right behind me and I had no space to take the picture, it really is straight and level. Some friends picked up a catalog at a home and garden show for a company that does wall expressions, or other expressions for things around your home. I so loved the concept of putting an expression on my wall to go with the beautiful picture. Every time I walk out my front door or my garage door, I will be reminded to put on a heart of love, Christ's love.

Who is More Ready?

The end of the school year is quickly approaching and summer vacation will soon be here. As my teaching years (15 now) pass on by, my longing for summer vacation grows stronger with each passing year. This has been a good year for me, I have had a good group of students and not many "problems". Despite the lack of a stressful year, the itching to be "out of there" is huge. Not sure if that's because the end of the year is extremely busy and mind consuming or if I am just tired and need a good break. So, I have been thinking, who is more ready for a summer vacation? The students who check out sometime after spring break and state testing or teachers who attempt to keep the checked out still checked in?

People often ask me, "how many days left?" Honestly, I don't count the days left. That is scary for me because I know of all the things that need to get done before that last day. I know it is less than 3 weeks and closer to 2 weeks.

Anyways, now you know the reason for lack of posts recently. YEAH HEY, for summer vacation.

When the Ball Game Is Boring

On Sunday, my dad and I were able to go to our first Giants baseball game of the '09 season. This particular game was all pitching, neither team scored a run until til the bottom of the 10th inning when my boys won the game. Yeah for Richie!

One thing I love about AT&T Park is that when the game is dull and lacks excitement you can find something in the ball park to entertain you. Here are a few things that entertained me this time. The above photo is for those fans who speak "Spanglish" (half Spanish and half English). I will translate the sign into complete English and out of the Spanglish. It translates, "Watch the Giants 'play of the week' each Sunday". I found it quite comical, the bright flashing light was in half English and half Spanish, kinda like how I talk in Spanish and don't know all the words in Spanish so I put in English words in the place of the Spanish words. This is what I call Spanglish.

In the below photos are of 3 separate older female season ticket holders who sit in section 102 or 103 near the seats I get from Steve (thanks again Steve, my dad and I both agree these are our favorite seats). The first of the two pictures, these ladies sit directly in front of the seats we sit in. Both look to be at least retired age. I have seen them at the games many times. They both are die hard Giants fans. Everything about them is Giants baseball. They wear ear rings that have baseball bats and baseballs. They are all decked out in their orange and black. They listen to the game on a MP3 player. At this particular game the first 20,000 fans received the ball cap they are wearing. Both of the ladies had just put their "rally caps" on and turned around and told us so. They said, "time to get our rally caps on, our boys need all the help they can get". They even were ragging on the Giants for not being able to bring a runner home that was on 3rd base with no outs. So cute.

What a hoot this woman is. She is much older than the first two and looks like she has been a Giants fan her whole life. She is a glitzy fan. Her ball cap was all sequins, she was all decked out in her orange and black, black fuzzy scarf, orange ear rings, and her socks were orange with orange sequins on the top of them. She knew exactly what was happening during the game. She even booooo-ed a call the umpire made. Simply adorable.

There is a song from the Come Weary Saints CD by Sovereign Grace Music that flows through my mind often. This song is titled As Long As You Are Glorified by Mark Altrogge. Tonight I was reminded of this song as we discussed gratitude in the singles Bible study I attend where we are studying Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper. Human nature is predisposed of complaining and grumbling of our circumstances and not rejoicing and thanking God for every good and bad thing that comes into our life. All things are used for His glory in our lives.

Here are the lyrics of the song and you can listen here (thank you to who has their play list on line, thanks brother).

Shall I take from Your hand Your blessings
Yet not welcome any pain
Shall I thank You for days of sunshine
Yet grumble in days of rain
Shall I love You in times of plenty
Then leave You in days of drought
Shall I trust when I reap a harvest
But when winter winds blow, then doubt

Oh let Your will be done in me
In Your love I will abide
Oh I long for nothing else as long
As You are glorified

Are You good only when I prosper
And true only when I’m filled
Are You King only when I’m carefree
And God only when I’m well
You are good when I’m poor and needy
You are true when I’m parched and dry
You still reign in the deepest valley
You’re still God in the darkest night

© 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)

Swine Flu

On my home phone message was the superintendent of my school district with a voice message saying that a "probable case of Swine Flu" has been identified in one of the elementary schools within the district that I teach. That school will be closed this whole next week and possibly the whole next week.

I know why the CDC and the world is being careful with the Swine Flu. In 1918 two waves of the Swine Flu killed an estimated 30-50 MILLION people but from all indicators this is not the same strain as that one which was a pandemic. I did not even know what a pandemic was until 7 days ago. There has been one confirmed death in the U.S. More people will die of the common cold in one day than this wave of the Swine Flu.

Closing whole schools down is huge and I personally don't want to be involved in a school that has to close down for 1-2 weeks. One of my students last week thought that closing the school down for 2 weeks would be great. Being the teacher, I seized the moment to talk to the class why that really would not be a good idea. Here are my reasons:

1) If we have to miss 2 weeks of school because of the Swine Flu we will have to make that school up somehow and asked where do you think that will made up? They had no clue. So, I broke the news to them that we would have to go 2 weeks later in June when we should be done and on summer vacation. The whole class gave a collected
groan.
2) Next week we are administering the state wide STAR assessment tests. The teaching moment continued, I asked, "If we don't take the tests next week when are we going to take them?" They responded, "let's just not take them this year". I then needed to tell them that the tests have to be given at a certain time frame and the test would have to be given after a the mandatory 2 week break. Do you want to be away from school and not engaged in learning and preparing for very important tests (honestly, it is not so important for them personally but for us as a school as a whole and not being taken over by the state for not improving our scores for the 3rd year in a row- another post at another time, NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND) and then to come back and test the week after you are first back? They don't completely get this one.
3) Will you have any set plans for your required break? Will your parents have plans for you? No, most likely not. You will be sitting at home with no plans, not able to
go out with friends, no trips to Disneyland or Circus Circus. I reminded them that most of them told me almost 2 weeks ago that most of them were bored to death over spring break because they had nothing to do. Again, another collected groan.

The same student said, "I think you are right. It would be better for our school not to close down."

Comic taken from Google images.

Like A Spring Rain

"So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth." Hosea 6:3

Whenever it rains in the springtime I am reminded of a song that we sang at the Grace on Campus Bible Study called Hosea 6:3. Today a good spring rain is watering the earth around the Bay Area. I love this little song because it is such a nugget of truth. He is more faithful than a spring rain that waters the earth. This verse starts with a prompting for us to know, to press on to know the LORD. . . and here comes the promise, He will

come to us like a rain, a spring rain

that waters the earth.

My roses have opened up and I am seeing their incredible beauty for the first time. These rose bushes were planted late last summer (they waited patiently for 6 months to be put in the ground) and now they are showing off who they are. The first rose I think is a Nancy Reagan and the second rose is a Tahitian Sunset.

The last photo is of a plant called Ruby Slippers. Before I re-landscaped my front yard I probably had a dozen Ruby Slippers. They were incredible bloomers for about 2 months and then the plant died out and looked horrible. I took them out despite my mom being totally against it As you can see, despite being

removed, one plant was a fighter and grew

back quite well.

The rain today was a complete blessing for me. There was some tension that rose up at work over the past week in my department between a few people and we had a serious sewer issue arise (literally) in the locker rooms. With those two issues and the possibility of rain, as the department chair I made the decision that all the PE classes would go to the theater and watch a couple of movies that we had not finished and give teachers an opportunity to work extra on the grades we are submitting this week and to allow a little respite from the bad behavior of the students. I think today was a breath of fresh air for all of my department. "Like a spring rain, watering the earth".