Sprung

By March 26, 2021 Food for thought, renovation

Spring is springing. I guess that’s how you’d put it?

With the latest round of rain and bits of hail, I’m feeling like spring has finally made it to North Texas. After February’s snow-mageddon, looking out my office window and seeing green has been a nice change. We still have a bit of damage from the freeze, but the yard is turning green, and the trees are budding. Feels great!

At least until I look out my back windows.

Last year we had three large oleander shrubs give up the ghost due to a bacterial infection. And between this year’s freeze and the same infection, we are going to have to say goodbye to the last and largest. Definitely will be a sad moment after seeing her bloom every spring for the last twenty years.

On the upside, this could be the year to finally update our back yard. During our renovation in 2014, we had a landscape plan created but were only able to implement a small portion. Since then, said plan has been rolled up and in storage. And while I don’t recall everything on the plan, I do know two things: the oleanders weren’t part of the plan; and we didn’t have them draw in a pool.

A pool. Mmmmm….

More than once I’ve looked out our back windows and wondered how a pool might fit in to the back yard. Nothing big, mind you. I don’t need to prep for the Olympics. Just something big enough to splash around in at the height of summer. Something to sit around and enjoy cocktails with friends. Something that would finally justify hiring a pool boy.

Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on who you ask – now is not the time to be thinking of installing a pool. Unless you’re looking to have one for next summer.

As the pandemic progressed last year, I heard over and over that people were having pools built. Stuck at home? Kids driving you crazy? Build a pool. Except I then started to hear how much longer that process was taking. Not just for construction either. People were talking about waiting months before meeting with a builder.

And that situation hasn’t improved over time. Between the pandemic push, a permit backlog (fifteen weeks to get a permit? Really?), and the freeze, getting a pool is taking anywhere from 4 to 8 months. Assuming of course they don’t hit rock while excavating or worse, realize the need for piers just to hold the pool in place. (34 piers for one client. Seriously.)

If you were lucky and beat the crunch, I hope you enjoy your first summer floating around your new oasis. If you’re still waiting, maybe a pool for next summer isn’t an unrealistic goal.

But would anyone think less of me if I hired the pool boy now?

Spotted Dog Architecture