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[longlast]

 Wow, there's a lot of "DOG" talk around the pool.

made me take the "DOG" for a walk,..

Correction, I'm walking the DOG at this moment

 Pete has probably heard/used that a few times

Not far wrong there, Howard

[longlast]

We have 8 acres here - all of which is thick woods except the cleared areas of the small front yard, the bit larger backyard, and the pool area. This is just fine with me... I don't want much grass to mow anyway. It's a big triangular lot with the house about in the middle. You can't even see the house from the cul de sac. The entire lot slopes downhill from the street, with several ravines going down to a little dry creek at the back. We got this place in a short sale for a really good price last October. Somebody put a ton of money into it, and lost their shirt in the housing meltdown. I love being deep in the woods... it has always been my dream to have some land, and this is the first time I ever have.

Ken,.. so good to hear of a dream becoming a reality,..good on ya mate

[North Georgia Hawg]

Ken,.. so good to hear of a dream becoming a reality,..good on ya mate

Thanks, Peter. I feel very fortunate in having this place. We could never have built it on our own.

The pool saga continues. The guys came out yesterday to blow out the lines, which they thought were clogged. They were right - one of the skimmers had a partially clogged line. They built a little PVC manifold with a faucet on one end, and screwed it down into the other skimmer, then attached our hose to it and blew a bunch of crap out of the clogged skimmer line - including another collection of bird bones and other debris. It was kind of gross but we got it all cleaned out.

They replaced the pump seal, repaired the failed pump outlet PVC junction that had been spewing water, and replaced the guts of the main Jandy valve on the inlet side of the pump because we could hear it pulling air. I think that was the main problem with the pump not pulling much - it had been sucking air! All of that apparently did the trick. After that, the pump started pulling really hard - hard enough to power the Polaris with ease. I ran it all night, and this morning the bag was completely full of debris. Success! I emptied out the bag and it's still running now. Salt system is running normally too, and says salt level is 3000.

All of the rain apparently did nothing at all to the water, other than fill the pool up to the rim. Even before we got the pump running, I measured the salt yesterday at about 3000 ppm and the chlorine was still around 4-5 ppm - which is spot on. I don't understand why the chlorine held up so well, because the pump and chlorination system hadn't been running since last Thursday, before all the rain. The pH is still a bit low, but I'll leave that to the maintenance guys to adjust when they do the weekly maintenance on Thursday. I dumped another shot of Ultra Blue in the water last night to settle everything out again... that stuff is simply amazing!

Now on to getting the timer replaced and getting the heat pump working... Will this story never end?

Ken

[longlast]

Will this story never end?

It will end the day your floating in your floatable chair in the pool with a brewsky in your hand on a hot summers day and a grin from ear to ear 

THAT'S when the story ends,.. and a new one begins

[North Georgia Hawg]

Will this story never end?

It will end the day your floating in your floatable chair in the pool with a brewsky in your hand on a hot summers day and a grin from ear to ear 

THAT'S when the story ends,.. and a new one begins

THERE YA GO! That should only take a couple of more weeks! 

Ken

[North Georgia Hawg]

Took some night pics of the pool this evening, just to see what it looks like with the lights on.

I did need to add 200 more lbs of salt today to bring the salt level to 3200 ppm after all... It had dropped down to only 2500 PPM in the last several days, below the bottom limit of the chlorine generator. Also needed 25 lbs of cyanuric acid to stabilize chlorine levels, and 12 lbs of sodium bicarbonate to bring the total alkalinity up.

Chems are all in pretty good balance now, and water temp is 70... still just a wee bit too chilly for this wimpy Southern boy originally from Texas. Another week of relatively cool temps, and then the big heat lamp will be turned for the summer... so we'd better enjoy this pleasant weather while we can!

And the trees everywhere continue to drop mass quantities of their pollen and seed pods everywhere... Big mess to clean up every day. Hopefully that will end soon!







Ken

[longlast]

Just seen the night pictures, well, well that's skinny dip mode there once it warms up ::)ha.ha wouldn't want you to be blamed for any short comings
Not to cold for that whopping big Python curled up in the pool, waiting for a late night snack he,he,he.
But serious it looks real inviting . Good job Ken

[North Georgia Hawg]

Just seen the night pictures, well, well that's skinny dip mode there once it warms up ::)ha.ha wouldn't want you to be blamed for any short comings
Not to cold for that whopping big Python curled up in the pool, waiting for a late night snack he,he,he.
But serious it looks real inviting . Good job Ken

LOL, Peter! Only one kind of snake allowed in the pool... and why bother with suits, at least not at night! 

Problem is the bloody thing has actually DROPPED 4 degrees with all of our far-too-cold-for-May rainy weather lately. Wrong direction for this time of year... 

Ken

[longlast]

Here's a thought  pump it through a solar panel, You could make your own,.a 4x8 x3/4" sheet of ply panted black, 2" PCP black pipping. Start at the top run it long ways and run back and forth to the bottom, a 3" trim with 12x12" window pains bingo you got a solar panel. Tap in to the input and outlet, a small pump and shutoff/open v/v to regulate flow from say an (old hot walter tank) back into the pool. Put the pump on a timer to start with the morning sun and off at sun set. That's my 2cents spent

[North Georgia Hawg]

Resurrecting this ancient thread to show everyone the results of my labors over this winter... The Badger Bar is now DONE and is open for business!

It's all built from cherry lumber and plywood, treated with lye to darken it, then two coats of shellac, two coats of rubbing lacquer, and everything hand-rubbed with 0000 steel wool and Minwax paste finishing wax. I used granite tiles for the bar top to save some money over what a solid slab would have cost... and make it a lot lighter. The back bar upper cabinet is all mirrors on the back, with overhead lighting.
And of course... liquor shelves, already partially stocked with a variety of adult beverages! 

Well, yet QUITE done yet... still need to get some glass shelves made for the cabinets, and install the really cool old brass foot rails that Mr. Wizard gave to me from stuff he salvaged from a closing TGI Fridays here in Atlanta 15 or so years ago... some polishing required. I've been waiting until everything else was done to install those little beauties!

Mr. Wizard graciously enlisted a couple of our friends to come over and help me lift the upper cabinet onto the lower cabinet a couple of weekends ago... a dicey maneuver! Due to an amateurish miscalculation on my part, the upper cabinet just BARELY fits under the low suspended ceiling... and I mean barely! It has all of 1/8" clearance, and on the left side the ceiling tile is actually pushed up about 1/8". I got lucky on that... there was SUPPOSED to be 3/4" clearance, but I failed to account for the 3/4" plywood base on the upper cabinet when making my measurements. Blind squirrel found a nut?

This is another Badger Den project that took FAR longer than I ever imagined it would... Hope you like it!

Ken








I used Blum soft-close drawer slides, and soft-close hinges on the cabinet doors. They are pretty cool!




This pic shows the under-bar LED lighting. It has a remote control that enables me to change the color or even put on a little multi-color light show!




We also got this 14' bar shuffleboard table over the winter to keep folks entertained. It fits perfectly along the back wall!




This is my embarrassingly-NOT-finished little basement wood shop, in which my long winter labors all took place to build the bar...




We had a little bonfire and GUN SHOW by my daughter Madzilla on Friday night at the Badger Fire Pit, to celebrate the long-awaited end-of-project!

[ultrarider123]

Now THAT'S a beautiful bar, Ken.  I would say it rivals some of the better, higher end restaurant bars I've been in seen from a distance....
Congrats on the project, brother.

[North Georgia Hawg]

Now THAT'S a beautiful bar, Ken.  I would say it rivals some of the better, higher end restaurant bars I've been in seen from a distance....
Congrats on the project, brother.

Thanks, Howard!

The finish is the key... and finishing the finish by rubbing it out. I love working with nitro lacquer because it rubs out so nicely. It delivers a finish that is far superior to polyurethane, I think. But it has tremendous fumes... I had to wear a respirator and open up the house and use fans to vent them, and they still went all through the house. That stuff will knock you clean OUT!

I made a few mistakes along the way... hopefully none too noticeable. I took my time though, and tried to make sure all joints were tight, everything was thoroughly sanded before finishing, etc. The inside of the bar, and the inside of the bar back bottom cabinet, are all 2x4 construction for strength... with 3/4" plywood skins. They are built like tanks!

Next project is a lighted vanity in the closet for Mary to have a nice place for putting on makeup, and converting one of the doorways in there to a big shoe rack for her. She's been waiting for those for a long time... 

Ken

[Jswerve]

What a Beauty

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk

[WestCoastRuss]

What a Beauty

Yeh....what he said........VERY well done Ken!!!



(invitations in the mail?)

[porthole]

Beautiful Ken  ,  didn't know you were into wood working.