We had pretty good year for color here. The Maples were better than last year (which was also good), some of the late rubrums are just now coloring up nicely, but most of the Sugars are bare or nearly so. Oaks are coming in nicely. The Scarlet oaks look good, pins are above-average. N. Red not as good as last year,White Oaks a bit more russetty vs the pinkish tones of last year, but overall looking good. Most oaks still have quite a bit of green but are turning quickly now. The leguminous trees in general colored quite well - Redbuds, Yellowwood, Honeylocust, even Black Locusts that didn't get defoliated by the locust leafminer did well. I saw a few Gymnocladus that colored nicely too - all good yellows. Hickories were great as usual, still hanging on but now more brown-yellow than bright yellow. The Liriodendrons are mostly all but bare but some yellow still hanging on. Baldcypress now coloring nicely, but my Dawn Redwoods as well as others around are still entirely green, but I expect them to color up quickly here in the next week or two. We haven't had a freeze here yet, believe it or not. Sunday night was supposed to - we had clear skies and dewpoints in the teens, but a stiff west wind kept the air mixed and we only got to 35. This weekend might freeze though - Saturday looks clear with highs in the mid 40s.

Looks like he/she is a good size too. We have some in our yard that are huge. Unfortunely neighbors on both sides kill any snakes they see. Before these "killers" moved in it wasnt unusual for the snakes to sun on our stone porch while we were sitting on chairs.

With all due respect, ncrealestateguy, considering the definition of a troll, that is somewhat redundant. ;-) I will grant you that it was less than kind for me to tweak him like that, and it is true that his lack of manners does not justify ours. At the same time, if he is not made aware of how he comes across, how can he (hopefully) correct his behavior? Perhaps he was born in a different culture - that would be easier to let slide. Yet even then, he still would need to learn how to assimilate & he doesn't come across as the type of person who will accept a singular gentle correction - more like a plurality of bluntness - maybe. :-D At any rate, moving on to a more constructive line of thought, I not only do *not* disagree with your opinion about internet business for PB's, I would assert that it is already happening currently since I have been able to communicate successfully with at least one online about our interest. But note that this part is about the potential customer seeking out the PB who has put his internet shingle out rather than vice versa. The one point where we seem to differ is on the suggestion that good PB's are going to be cruising help wanted boards looking for pool jobs. If you want to grow your business, you are going to target the areas that will make the most of your advertising time & dollars rather than trying to hit up every possible avenue - because not many have that kind of time & money to spend with so little potential return on investment. Even if internet usage on that point changes in the future, it still seems on par with putting an ad in the paper - I can't see most people being willing to hire someone for a job like this based on who responded to their ad. There will always be those who prefer to go as cheaply as possible and cross their fingers, but I believe most of us would rather seek out the best and the brightest to increase our prospects for a quality job with greater longevity.

Day 4 Build (Day 6 calendar) - Gunite I'm a little behind with the progress updates. Going into gunite, we were worried if a few things were going to turn out right. And then inspecting the pool afterwards threw us into a wave of second guessing some of our decisions and designs. Gunite in process Gunite Completed So, here are the things that we fretted over. Tanning Ledge Step location - we moved the steps from far driveway end to the middle. I think it looks much better plus it didn't make sense to have steps going into the deep end. Tanning ledge edge - after moving the steps, we didn't think to extend the tanning ledge. Doh! Bubbler location - managed to get it in. Originally had it in the far flat area but then moved it to bottom of the beach entry. And what's with the return sticking up from the middle of the beach entry? We originally wanted a return that came back across the beach entry to keep it clean. I looked at this and thought they are giving me a bubbler return. But then they said they put an angled jet on the return so it sweeps across. Do you pool builders ever get annoyed with our questions? Beach entry angle - it seem too steep. I'm not sure what my options are. Maybe we can flatten the slope and angle it back into the deck? Would this comprise the pool beam integrity? Weeping wall and moss rock below water line - we wanted the rocks in the water and not above the tile line. I thought they were going to build a ledge into the beam to support the rocks. Instead they angled the beam down. I was told that this is preferred since it can accommodate bigger rocks. Reverse beam - In this area, they also transitioned from the angle too late. We should have more beam and less rock. I was told that they can address this with the rock guys. Deep end step out - We had a seat in the deep end. We thought it would be good to add some steps to make it a deep end step out. I think this turned out well. Spa Oh, where do I begin with the spa? Size - dang this thing looks huge. It seems more like a small wading pool! And it looks really high. I remember making sure it was 18" (vs 12") so that it would be a good seat height from the deck. It just looks like a castle turret now. Multi level spa seating - managed to get a section 21" deep as I wanted to be fully seated and submersed. Never did measure the length of my upper body... Seating - they did a horseshoe seating arrangement. Seems like the wall along the spillway is just wasted space. This was to prevent playing footsies with the person seated across from you. Spillway - we didn't spring for the fancy spillway. Nor did we cut it open as we were hoping the notches would give us a scupper effect. Now I wonder if that was a wise choice. Again, castle turret... Piping - What's the deal with the piping outside the gunite? I know it'll be covered up with the mortar and veneer. Should I be worried about this kind of stuff? In pool table We thought this was a cool idea. Being able to have a drink or a meal while sitting in the pool. Well... Pedestal placement - I posted before that the pedestal had to be a mere 9" from the pool wall to prevent the cleaner from getting in there. I thought that was too close. In actuality, there's no problems. The pedestal itself is very small and the corner seating is wide so it's not like having to shuffle into booth seating at a restaurant. We are planning on using one large oval piece of rock as a table top. Table height - now this is where we didn't think it through (or the PB didn't educate us). The table is going to be at water level. They did standard in-pool bench seating. So it appears that when I sit on the bench, the table is going to be up to my neck! At this point, they can't raise the seat with gunite. The only thing I can think of is adding a layer of flagstone to the bench seating to raise it up a few inches. Any other ideas? Of course we also changed our tile selection for the 3rd time and made some last minute changes to the light locations. All of which I hope were the right decisions. Anyways, enough of my rants. It's good to document this stuff as I'm sure my wife is tired of hearing me talk about these things. Sounds like I'm just a worry wart. We're still very excited and can't wait for the pool to be all done and the backyard mess all cleared up. Cheers! Here is a link that might be useful: Day 4 - Gunite