Pool in Progress

I just concluded two enjoyable weeks in Austin with Doris. We made some new friends, unpacked boxes of our belongings, selected new furnishings for the house, etc. One of the more interesting things we did was simply watch the construction of our in-ground swimming pool, which coincidentally began upon my arrival in Texas from Bangkok. The whole process is projected to take three months, but I suspect the first couple of weeks will constitute the most interesting phase, since I finally could begin to visualize in three dimensions what I previously had seen only in a drawing.

I'm inserting below a bunch of pictures of the pool construction taken over the course of my visit. The bags of limestone shown in several of the photos made me wonder whether the contractor was building a bomb shelter, rather than a pool, but I believe the bags are intended to form a solid foundation for the pool, in order to minimize the risk of settling and cracking.

Also, several trees at the back edge of our property needed trimming, and we held our breath while watching one of the workers gingerly pick his way through one tree's dead branches with a chain saw: