I am glad y'all survived. Part of Kansas has or has had a PDS (Particularly Dangerous Situation) Tornado Warning or Warnings already today and one comment on Dr. M's blog at wunderground mentioned that NE OK better be watching because their area is right for storm development like what is occurring in Kansas. I have no idea if the person making that comment knows what he or she is talking about though. I bet you got oodles of rain. My rainfall total practically never is the same as my mesonet station's, but often is close to our NWS Co-op Oberserver's totals because he's just a couple of miles NW of us. The heat is one reason I didn't cover up very much yet. With sunlight, which is rare so far today but still likely to make its way through the clouds now and then, I was afraid anything under buckets or sheet plastic would heat up. Around 3 o'clock I might start covering up stuff. I need to go outside and gather up lawn furniture and squeeze it into the garage or potting shed. Y'all don't need any sunlight there. It will just heat up the atmosphere and increase instability. Make that sunshine go away! You know how it works. If I cover up stuff, no hail will fall. If I don't cover up stuff, we'll be slammed by hail. So, apparently covering up plants prevents hail and I'd better do it. I hate covering up and uncovering stuff and have mostly avoided it this year. I guess there's days you just have to do it. I always tell Tim if he'd just build me a Bio-Dome type covering over my garden, I could ignore the weather and not have to cover up plants. I guess I'll never talk him into it. I didn't sleep much last night either. No storms were near me, but I was worried about where the storms were, and also about today. I expect less sleep tonight. If I could sleep in the tornado shelter, I'd do it, but I know from experience that I cannot close my eyes and sleep in there because I am sure that a snake or a black widow or a mouse will find me, even though I have thoroughly searched the shelter and none of those are even present in it. I guess I have too many creepy memories of our next-door-neighbor's old storm shelter left over from when I was a kid. It was dark and I think he must have left the door open all the time because it always had creepy crawly things in it.

Ok I am hoping that moving my post to here will help to load the images. Just in case you didn't get the back ground. We started demolition of a failed brick wall at the end of February. The landscape contractor has been working on the new anchor wall, which is now half built. And the pool builder started last week on excavation. This week the plan is to do the steel, plumbing and shotcrete. Here is the first image showing our progress. Image link:

The spa has been done for about 1 year now. We are very happy with the outcome. Here are the final pictures. Most things worked out great, a few things we would have done differently. 1. The polished granite plaster finish is great however it had to be installed twice. The first time the hose clogged and by the time the installers gave up on the hose and carried it in some had set up so it had a lot of cracks. 2. We had to have the plaster polished a few times as the first few installers did not have much experience. Be sure to check on the plaster installers experience with the finish and visit a reference if possible. 3. The salt / ozone / nature 2 system works great. We keep the clorine level at 1 and have not had any problems. 4. The Jandy remote is great but has some quirks. See my post on the Jandy variable speed pump. If you have a range issue, pick a different channel. It controls the pump, waterfall, yard lights, blower, chlorine and ozone. 5. A bit concerned as to the life of the Jandy heater. We had a sensor on the heater fail at the 12 month mark. The 400,000 BTU unit was the way to go. About 30 minutes to temperature in the summer and 2 hours in the winter. 6. The installer, Carlonia Pool King, has been very good about post intallation service and fixing any defects. 7. The variable speed pump is super. Most of the time we run it at 750rpm and you can't even tell it is on. It only runs at 2750 rpm for two hours in the morning so the chlorine generator works. It has to have a minimum amount of flow to produce chlorine. At full speed the 2HP motor can run the waterfall and 8 jets with no problem. 8. The gunite guys knocked the jet pipes around a little and the angle and heights are not quite as designed. Double check the heights after the rebar goes in and be sure to have a clear drawing handy so the seats go in correctly. 9. The LED lights are the only way to go. Love the color choices. 10. I like the different waterway jets we selected but a couple of them pop out fairly easily if you twist them to control the volume. Not sure why. 11. The waterfall is really nice. The dog like to lie down in the hot water. 12. Very happy we put in yard lights at the same time and connected to the remote. 13. Shocked at how expensive it is to repair sprinklers. We basically had to re-install the entire back yard.

Renovxpt - Thank you for your response and attention to my concerns. There have been many aspects of this process that I have had to wonder about and have tried to figure if they were just a day in the life of pool construction or if I have somehow gotten the short end of the pool building stick. Given that I am still bound by my contract as there is no out for sheer sloppiness, I would prefer not to reveal the pool company until my pool is completed. The people I have spoken with who used this company were all very happy, hence my decision to go with them; however, every job is different. I am by no means trying to protect the pool company, but myself. Pool builders are human, and as I mentioned before I don't want to tick off my pool builder and have even more unnecessary delays and mistakes. I just want to know what should be done and what's right or wrong about the process. I don't want remedies or a breach of contract claim or a fight with my pool builder, I just want a beautiful pool that my family can enjoy for years to come. Which is why I have come to the experts on this forum to guide me through the process, so I can somewhat supervise what my pool builder isn't. For all wannabe pool owners, I am sure my experience is not the norm (or at least I hope), but do your homework, not just on the pool builder but on pool basics. Know what you want and where you want it and be sure to discuss it with your pool builder. Some details may seem minor, but if they are important to you, make sure your builder knows this (and has communicated this to the crew actually doing the work) in advance. Advance communication goes a long way in making sure you get the final product you're looking for. I look forward to posting more pictures of the progress, but other than the blocks under the re-bar that was added on Thursday, there is nothing new to show. I am waiting for the plumber to come to pre-plumb the pool and the inspector to inspect the electrical bonding. Is there anything else I should confirm is done prior to gunite?