Archives 2022

Once the pool concrete pouring was done, the pool was fully usable but there was still more work to do. First, the fence had to be installed. I went with an aluminum fence in pre-fabricated sections, which made it easy to anchor into the concrete and install.

The end result looked really good, and fit with the aluminum railing style from the deck that went in last summer.

Once the fence was done, the pool cover was installed and I assembled some pool furniture. Given how far back ordered most higher end pool and patio furniture is, I went with what I was able to get from a local big box store, and it ended up looking pretty decent.

The current pool cover is a simple hand-cranked cover, but I wanted the option to install a powered cover in the future. To facilitate this, the electricians installed an outlet on the far side of the pool, that can power the cover as well as future lighting or other things that require electricity.

Lastly, I removed as many rocks from the dirt as I could, then hand tilled the dirt and planted some grass seed and threw down some hay over top of it. In the spring, we’ll do it properly and have top soil brought in and re-plant much of the grass, but I needed to get something growing before winter to help prevent erosion. It’s coming in fairly nicely, and will at least do the job until spring.

In the meantime, there are still three more weeks before we shut down the pool for winter, so my wife and I are trying to get as much use out of it as possible for as long as the weather cooperates!

While the pool was usable and very delightful after the initial installation, it obviously needed a concrete deck poured. I brought in Concrete Keith for the job, who had worked with me on the three season room and deck project last summer. He got to work pouring concrete, and the results were incredible. The first step was to pour a small ring of concrete around the pool, before pouring the rest of the deck and the stairs.

After that was done, he and his team poured and stamped the rest of the deck, along with a sloped walkway leading up to the pool from the hot tub area.

Now that the concrete is done, I have to wait a couple of weeks for it to fully cure on the inside before installing the railing and the pool cover, but until then there’s plenty of time to spend enjoying the pool!

Despite the pool excavation being a little more involved than anticipated, the project to install the pool managed to roll on mostly on schedule. The Patio Pleasures team arrived, and started installing the pool walls and setting up the pump, filter, and heater.

Next, the plumbing went in, along with the liner, and we could start filling the pool. For the initial filling, we used a vacuum system to keep the liner tight along the walls and floor before the weight of the water took over. The installers also had to wait to cut the liner for the stairs until enough water had filled at the bottom of the pool.

While the pool started to fill, the electricians got to work wiring the pump and heater, running circuits for the pool lighting, and installing a grounding ring around the pool that grounds all metal and prevents us from getting electrocuting, which is a good thing.

We still had to wait for the pool to fill with enough water before moving on to the next step. I installed a WiFi smart faucet that allowed me to control filling remotely, since the pool could only be filled during daylight (so the liner could properly stretch) and needed around five days to fully fill.

After the water levels got high enough, the installers came back to cut in the liner around the stairs:

With the stairs cut in, the pool could start filling again. While that happened, the gas installers from Consumers Coop came and ran LP lines from our primary propane tank to the pool’s heater.

As the pool finished filling, I took care of some ancillary tasks like installing outdoor security cameras from Arlo and buying furniture for the pool deck.

With the pool full, I added chemicals and for the first time, we were able to use the pool!

After the grading for the pool was done and the land was surveyed, the next step was for the excavators to actually dig the hole for the pool, which turned into a much larger challenge than expected, and also turned into a logistical mess since I was coordinating the various contractors from Vegas (in a pool at the Wynn, which was sort of ironic given that this project also involves a pool).

The excavators started digging, and quickly encountered a huge limestone shelf that their equipment was unable to break through.

They then brought in heavier artillery, which also broke on the limestone:

Ultimately, I had to call in the original excavator who had done the grading, since he had heavier equipment than the excavator the pool installers had hired.

He was able to break through, and then we could start the pool installation!

In a previous post I mentioned plans for a pool in the summer of 2022. Now that the summer of 2022 is here, I’ve been hard at work coordinating the pool project. In addition to working with the pool builders, electricians, gas company, and concrete company, I had to have the land where the pool is going to go graded, so that rainwater will run around the pool and down the hill, and not cause problems. This ended up being a pretty dramatic amount of earth movement. The first step was to carve an entrance through the trees onto the property from Range Trail, which allowed the backhoes and other equipment to get to the pool area.

Once that was done, the workers were able to quickly remove trees and brush, and create a level space for the pool.

After the land was leveled, I needed to have the area surveyed and the property lines marked, obviously to make sure that the concrete around the pool and the railing were all on my side of the property line.

Once that was done, I was able to finalize plans for the pool and get permits in place with Dane County and the Town of Verona.

I worked with my concrete contractor (the same person who did the concrete for the three season room project last summer), and also got railing ordered and delivered to be installed around the pool.

Excavation for the pool itself starts on July 1st, and the majority of the construction will be done by the end of the following week!

Just like in previous years, an important part of my spring is opening up the lake house, getting the boat lift in the water and the boat on the lift, restocking the bar, and getting the lake house yard in gear for summer. The first thing I did was work on clearing the yard of weeds, and clearing bramble from the path down to the water.

I then shoveled sand and dirt that accumulated over the winter down around the dock deck and stairs, and made sure the dock was good to go for summer.

After that, I did some painting touch ups on the outside of the house, most notably the window frame from the window that was broken when the new roof was put on last fall.

After that, I restocked bar and tidied up the interior of the house.

Once the house was all set, I got the boat in the water and onto the boat lift, and with some help from my friend Bret got the lift awning in place.

After that, it was time to hit the tiki bar and party cove, and enjoy the summer on the water!

Once my spring landscaping tasks were done, there was a final bit of work I needed to do outside at the Verona house. Over time, a section of the wall had sagged a little bit, and needed to be fixed. To address this, I dug holes around the concrete footings for the posts, and then was able to tilt the posts forward back to a straight position. After this, I poured additional concrete around the footings to lock them into place.

It was a relatively simple fix, but it worked very well and, along with replacing a few post caps, brought the wall back into tip-top shape.

After finishing my spring cleaning tasks in March and early April, I returned from the Masters ready to start landscaping and getting the lawn back in shape. As usual, the first thing I did was haul several palettes of mulch, and replace all of the old mulch from last year in the various beds around the house.

After the mulch, I tore out the overgrown shrubs and bushes near the gate, since they had reached a point where they were becoming an eyesore. Eventually, I’ll replace them with new bushes, but for now it is nice just to have the gate and wall more visible.

Next, I installed a panel with my address number on one of the posts, which had been needed for years to help delivery and Uber drivers figure out which house was which on the private drive.

As the weather warmed up and felt more like spring, I planted new arbor vidae to replace a couple that had died over the winter, and I planted flowers in the platers on the front porch.

All that was left was the lawn, which proved relatively easy this year since there hadn’t been any major construction projects that tore it apart last year. I fertilized and mowed, and with a little bit of watering and a lot of spring rain, it came to life very nicely!

One of the first tasks I did this spring as the weather started to warm up was to pull all of the cars out of the garage and vacuum and sweep the floors. It’s something I do every spring, and I’m usually able to keep the garage floors clean enough through the fall that I only have to do it once a year.

After the garages were clean, and before it was warm enough to really start doing any landscaping work, I took out the ATV and did some cleanup work across the my land. Given how large my property is, it’s inevitable that trash will accumulate, either along the side of the road or in more remote corners where I suspect the local teenagers sometimes sneak in for a clandestine place to party. Something about finding 29 vape cartridges and a bunch of empty bottles of cheap liquor makes me thing that my suspicious were correct:

I’m also still, after nine years of owning the house, finding golf balls that the previous owner chipped into the woods. Every year I think I’ve found them all, and every year more turn up.

In any case, it felt good to get everything cleaned up and ready for spring before the undergrowth and leaves came in, which make it much more difficult to find and retrieve the trash.

As part of my ongoing quest to build display and storage for my sports card collection, I purchased a vintage card catalog from the library at Iowa Wesleyan University. It turned out to be a fun day trip to drive to Mount Pleasant, with stops in Dubuque, Iowa City, and Cedar Rapids to check out bars, restaurants, and local card shops.

Once I got there, I thankfully had help to load the extremely heavy card catalog into the trailer, but also to load all of the individual drawers separately.

Once I made it back to Wisconsin, I unloaded the card catalog and moved it into the guest house. I had to remove the metal legs to reduce the height, and then I added a new wood veneer on the sides to cover over some scratches and other damage that it had taken over the years. It fits the space really well, and the drawers are the perfect size for sports cards!

Here are a few more photos of my overall card storage and display areas, split between the card catalog plus other shelves in the guest house, and part of the library: