I still have my strong doubs because this is Dave's 'Burning Well' which is absolutely not the same plant as the one at his pic. Also the colour doesn't match, the one at his pic looks more like a Picea omorika 'Pimoko' or simular one to me. The colour is a Picea glauca 'Burning Well' is greygreen while the colour of a Picea omorika 'Pimoko' is a steel blue with green, 2 toned, like the one at his pic. It also could be a tag issue, 'Burning Well' tag in front of a 'Pimoko' specimen... I know that I'm right here, but the question here is "will I get my right"... :0)

From a former Waterfront Director at a boys' camp: When my sons were teenagers, we put in a pool with a diving board (built above and beyond all regulations regarding depth and length), but we wouldn't do it again. Our kids loved the diving board and clearly understood that they needed to use caution when diving into a home pool (as opposed to the Rec Center pool), but their friends did not. The combination of normal teenage exuberance and the fact that most of their friends were over six feet tall resulted in too many close calls for comfort. Even when their friends weren't actually diving, they'd use the board to "catch air" as they'd carelessly lunge out towards the sides to catch a frisbee and would sometimes scrape their knees, ankles, elbows on the sides or bottom. Small stuff, but it began to make me feel uneasy- so much so, that when we were asked to host big events, like church picnics, etc., we'd "close" the diving board for the day and hire a professional lifeguard to keep an eye on kids in the pool. (It's frightening how easy it is to lose track of what's going on in the pool when there are lots of people around.) We've moved and are now in the process of building a new pool, but it's designed more for empty nesters. However, if we still had kids at home, we'd consider a volleyball pool (shallow at both ends, deep in the middle) or pool with a tube slide or a slide built into a hillside or berm (so you can't fall off). Other suggestions to keep kids from getting bored with the pool: try to make it long enough to swim laps and races (they can think up some crazy relays) and try to preserve enough of the yard for grass to play games on so they can work off some of their energy - and then cool off in the pool :-) All the best with your plans!

jblairgolf, Just make sure that the board you choose will fit the pool. Having an installation guide that shows the various diving envelopes is helpful. There are guidelines for minimum depths and widths at various areas of the pool. SR Smith, who makes diving boards, may have the info available on their website. You might also check with whoever you are buyer the board from. They should also be able to provide the appropriate info for a safe installation from dig to water.Good luck.

Terri, consider looking up no-till gardening/farming for the area over your tree roots. Even making a raised bed one or two boards high can give you the space you need to plant, and the plants' roots will take care of themselves. I prefer raised beds, actually, and will be building 3 more this year. I hate the messy edges of directly in-the-ground planting. Got those beds, but I think they look like crap. I think I showed you the raised bed I made last fall, where I used Hugokultur and lasagna gardening methods, didn't I? Hugokultur would be perfect for all the untreated scraps of wood, saw dust, and even brush from cut-down trees. That's why I decided to try it. Can't wait to dig into my new bed to see what turned to dirt over the winter. There's also a preservative called Ecowood ($about $17 on Amazon) that you can spray on any wood. It's nontoxic, environmentally friendly, blah blah. It does weather wood, which I like. It's purpose is that it changes the make-up of the wood so it doesn't rot. It's not a sealant, in that it'll still draw water, but the wood doesn't rot. I used this on my new bed and the giant potting bench I built. I figure what the heck. It got great reviews from long-time users and if it makes my outside stuff last a bit longer, great.