Pool Party!

I promised a look at our new pool finish, so here it is.

But first, a look at how it used to be.

This was taken when we were building a rail for our deck to please the insurance company. The pool is in frame. This is before our pool became very sick. It developed a leak, and went down in level about two feet. It's only 5 and a half feet deep to start with. Here is our sick pool.

This is a picture of... well, actually, it's a picture of an alligator in our pool, but the water was so cloudy and un-chlorinated, the gator was very happy.

Backstory is this: Our dog Lola...

here she is...

...is a barky thing, and will run and bark at anything that moves. Well one day she would not stop barking outside, and I noticed the pitch was a bit anxious even for her. I went outside and found her standing off with a three foot gator. Now despite what you may think, gators are VERY quick--we have had a 12 foot gator in our yard before, and when the animal control guy tried to grab it with his rope pole, I WAS WATCHING IT AND I **DID NOT** SEE THE GATOR MOVE, but one second the pole was intact, and the next nanosecond, it was snapped in half and in the gator's mouth...

Anyway, I got Lola inside, then grabbed a flashlight to shine in his eyes (it's supposed to distract and mesmerize the gator, keeping him still--worked for me...) and called my brother to come *do* something about it. (My husband was at work.) Two hours later... (don't ask) ...he put on welding gloves and grabbed it by the neck (don't try this at home) and held it up for all to see, then he did the obligatory "flip it on its back and rub the tummy and watch the gator go to sleep" (yes, it really works, but don't try this at home!) and at my request, dropped it in our pool, which was already very sickly and cloudy and the perfect place for a dehydrated alligator used to being in lakewater. It was quite dry last summer in Florida and instead of raining every afternoon like it normally does, we had a bit of a drought. Gators will come roaming under two conditions--really wet and really dry. We live next to a State Preserve where gators are plentiful, and like to roam when it floods or it droughts. (Is that a word? It is now...)

So, backstory aside, Here is our new pool!

We went with black RiverRock,

and off-white tile on the steps.

Important for safety... always a mom.  :-]

I think it looks great with our existing border tile treatment.

With the water, it looks like a cool dark green.

As for the gator, my husband caught it the next morning in the fishing net (don't try this at home) and after doing the obligatory "flip it on its back and rub the tummy and watch the gator go to sleep"...

(don't try this at home)

...we let it go (a mile and a half away) in the middle of the Preserve next door. Happy endings all around!