Chapter 7: Work to Do and Friends in the Making

May 23-25, 1985

There I was, sweetly dreaming with my red haired, rough riding, sweetheart. I had one hand on her sweet, perfect breast, spooning her soft body and inhaling the sweet fragrance of her red hair. Then all of a sudden ... Sweet Mother of God! ... all hell broke loose!

Greg was hollering in what sounded like a drill sergeants bark. “‘Up and at ‘Em’, ‘The Day’s a Wasting’, ‘We’re Burning Daylight!’”

Behind him I heard Mary singing, “We got the coffee brewin’, and breakfast cookin’ and you two fuckers are just sittin’ there lookin’!”

That got them pelted with pillows, as Jamie and I struggled to get out of bed. Jamie was giggling, “Well, that was a rude awakening!”

“No shit! Are you still as sore as you were last night Freckles?”

Jamie grinned at me, “Oh yes, and you? ... Stud!?”

“Chaffed like crazy. But I wouldn’t change a thing!” I said as we hugged and headed naked to breakfast.

Jamie and I endured some good-natured ribbing while the four of us ate breakfast. Greg suggested that he and I work together to get the two by four ‘stringers’ attached to the posts, then we would divide forces. We got into a good rhythm as the 4-inch lag bolts were going in like a hot knife through butter, thanks to dipping them in dishwashing soap. (Another one of Greg’s brilliant strategies!)

The girls were bringing us the boards, which sped up the process considerably. In less than an hour we had all the stringers assembled and split up to attach the vertical six-inch boards. Mary was working with me, bringing me boards four at a time and holding the cup of soap for me to dip my 2½-inch screws into.

We decided to leave one section of fence unbuilt, since we knew the pool guys were going to need access bigger than our gate. Greg and I met at the corner and put up the last of the fence boards. We were amazed that it wasn’t even 11 o’clock yet. We gave our girls big hugs and kisses.

We decided to go in and take a shower before lunch.

We just sat down on the patio to begin eating our lunch when we heard the air brakes of a semi pulling up out front.

Greg and I walked around to the front of the house to meet them.

Two guys got out of the truck and introduced themselves. Mike was a short stocky guy, about 30 years old who was the Bobcat operator. His assistant’s name was Neil. They unloaded the Bobcat and I noticed it had three different attachments. A regular width bucket, a backhoe attachment on the back, and a half width bucket.

Neil took a set of legs, a level and Lenker Rod around back and set it up on the concrete patio. He then went and retrieved a whole bundle of lath, a tool belt loaded with markers, flagging and a ruler.

We introduced the guys to Mary and Jamie and asked them if they minded ‘having an audience’. They said they didn’t mind at all. We told them we wouldn’t interrupt them with silly questions as we resumed eating our lunch.

The two of them began setting lath every 6 feet around the perimeter and at other various spots. Then, they got out the level and began putting marks on all of the lath. I couldn’t help but overhear their comments about my plan drawing. Things like, “I hope whoever drew this does more work for us, this guy sure made our job easier.”

I started chuckling and just said, “Thanks, I appreciate that!”

Mike blushed a little and replied, “Oh that’s right, YOU designed this and drew it up! Paul said something about that. By any chance are you doing Sam’s pool too?”

“Yes I am. My friend and I are going over on Monday to do the topo, then we’ll go back Tuesday morning and set stakes for you.”

Mike said, “I’m really glad to hear that, I don’t know if Paul told you, but we’re going to try and also grade his yard to try and keep his patio and house from getting flooded every time it rains hard. I’d really appreciate it if you’d put elevations on Sam’s plan the same way you did yours.”

I smiled, “I’ll be glad to. I haven’t seen his backyard yet, so I’m just wondering how bad it really is.”

Mike said, “It’s really sloped, more than yours is, but, backwards! I think they put his foundation in like a foot TOO LOW. I’ll be very curious to see your topo. Sam is a good friend of Paul’s and I just hope we can do something to help him out.”

I told him I would make sure to take some extra shots and see if I couldn’t design his deck and pool in such a way, to at least help the drainage. He thanked me and he jumped on his Bobcat and commenced to show us what Dan had meant by, ‘A good Bobcat operator would make short work of this.’

I swear the man was like a surgeon as we watched him dig and grade things flat and then dig again. Neil was using a 4-foot level and ruler to spray paint numbers on the ground so that Mike would know how much further to dig. These two worked well together and by 3 o’clock in the afternoon they were using an auger to dig post holes.

He explained to us that they were going to pre-dig and set concrete in these holes so that the premade deck could simply be dropped into place. They were using ‘sonotubes’ to prevent the holes from collapsing and the level to pour the exact amount of concrete into each hole. Then they put these metal brackets in every hole so that each post would impale itself onto the sharp edges. When they were finished, Mike asked me if I was satisfied where he put all the excess dirt. I told him he did great and it came out just the way I had envisioned.

He told me it was very rare that they didn’t have to haul dirt away or in some cases bring some in.

He said, “You really did a great job on this whole layout. I can’t begin to tell you how many times Neil and I had to spend an extra two or three hours just trying to figure out the layout, not to mention what to do with the dirt. I sure wish you could design all of our layouts.”

I told him, “I had fun doing this, but I had to tell Paul that I already have a full-time job that I’m due to start a week from Monday.”

“Well, at least I’ll get to do one more of yours. I’m going to keep this drawing to show our regular surveyor and architect how it’s done!” Mike was chuckling as he and Neil began putting their tools away.

Once they had everything put away, Mike came back and explained the rest of the installation.

“Tomorrow, Saturday, we’re letting the concrete set up. Sunday, late morning, we’re going to have an ‘all hands on deck’ day. We’re going to crane the pool in and backfill it with sand. Then we’re going to crane in your new deck, set it into place and make sure everything is firmly tamped down. Then we’re going to flash fill your pool with pre-treated water from a tanker truck. We need to let the pool settle for 36 to 48 hours. We’ll have the deck crew build the 3-foot deck around the pool and install the additional pool supports on Tuesday. You should be able to go swimming on Tuesday night!”

I asked him where he was going to be on Tuesday. He said, “Hopefully, digging Sam’s pool and doing his landscaping!”

I told him that was very optimistic, but, I would see if I could get it done for him. He chuckled and said, “I was just kidding, I really wasn’t expecting to start digging until Wednesday.”

I told him to definitely count on THAT. He just smiled as he and Neil got in the truck and drove away.

We decided to have dinner at the ‘Lone Star Steakhouse’ that had recently opened on Randall Road up in Elgin. The dinner was good, even though I felt my steak was slightly overcooked. I like my steak medium rare on the rare side. I found out everyone else did too, and three out of four of our steaks were closer to medium. I commented that next week, I would grill the steaks, using my secret seasonings.

Mary said, “I’ll be looking forward to that!”

When we got home, Bill and Ed met us at the car. Bill told us, “Sally said you had some real excitement over here today. She said there was a semi and it sounded like machines were running all day!”

Greg and I chuckled and said, “I guess you could say that, first thing this morning the four of us built the fence then the pool guys came and did all the excavation for our new pool.”

Bill asked, “Mind if we see? We’re just being nosy you understand.”

I said, “No problem, we’ll be glad to show you.”

As we went around the corner of the house, Bill saw the fence and said, “Wow, you did all that this morning?”

I chuckled and told them what we had done. When he saw the area for the pool he was flabbergasted. “Holy cow, that’s going to be one big pool, just how deep is it going to be in the middle?”

“It’ll be 8 feet deep in the middle, 48 feet across and 24 feet wide. We went with one of those pools you told us about from ‘Paul’s Pool Emporium’. He made us a deal, ‘We Couldn’t Refuse’!”

We told him about the survey work we did and were about to do. He and Ed just shook their heads and Ed said, “I can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s finished. Maybe we’ll have to start having parties over here!”

Greg and I grinned, “I hope so! We’re even going to have a diving board! There’s a seat that goes half way around the pool, that even has places for 6 little tables to hold drinks.”

Ed was shaking his head, “I gotta be REALLY nosey now, just how much did this set you back?”

Greg chuckled, “If you count the fact that Charlie and I did the layout and the topo for our pool, and we’re going to do another one on Monday, $7000. If we hadn’t done a thing, it would’ve been almost $11,000!”

Jamie chimed in, “We’re lucky that our guys are so smart and industrious.”

Mary added, “Not to mention the fact, that if they hadn’t done all that work we wouldn’t have it installed for probably three or four weeks! It should all be done by Tuesday!”

Ed grinned and said, “Right place, right time, right skills. Three strikes and you’re in!”

Bill asked if we were still on for tomorrow night. I told we wouldn’t miss it for the world. I also told him to feel free and come by anytime they wanted to check on the progress. I gave them the tentative schedule and they said that they wanted to check it out just before the party.

***

After the neighbors left, Mary and I talked about trading in our ‘old beater’ cars for new ones.

Greg suggested, that since it was the end of the month, the dealers all had quotas to hit, that now would be the right time. Especially since we were paying cash. Mary wanted the new 1986 Dodge minivan since this was the second year of production. I decided to splurge and wanted the 1986 Ford Mustang GT.

Paying cash for a car has many advantages. The salesman can’t play games with finance numbers. Whatever they say your car is worth, comes directly off the price. (Oh, and you DON’T tell them you’re paying cash until AFTER they give you the value of your trade-in!) The main thing is to make sure they understand you’re willing to walk out if they’re not willing to deal with you.

We got up on Saturday and started at the Dodge Dealer. We enjoyed watching the salesman squirm when Mary and I simultaneously played ‘good cop-bad cop’ with them while getting the absolute best price that we could.

Greg and Jamie had come along with us and several times had to pinch each other to keep from laughing out loud. They watched as the poor salesman constantly ran back and forth to his manager. It was definitely good fun to turn the tables on them. I’m sure that, at the end of the day, neither the Chrysler dealer nor the Ford dealer hoped to see us again for quite a while.

Mary ended up with a maroon Caravan while I ended up with a black Mustang GT with T-tops and silver pin striping and accents. Greg of course had to tease me that I essentially purchased a ‘speeding ticket waiting to happen’!

I was exceedingly embarrassed, when leaving the dealership. I let the clutch out too quick and lit up the tires. Greg just looked at me and snickered, saying, “I think I’ll take out some stock in Goodyear!”

At home, I was happy to see that my Mustang fit in the garage much better than my station wagon had. Mary tentatively drove her new minivan in and wasn’t sure exactly where to stop.

I got out to give her a little guidance. Once she got it where we wanted it, I grabbed a chunk of 4 x 4 that Greg had cut off the top of the fence and used it to ‘chock’ her front wheel. I told her that from now on all she had to do was pull in until it stopped her.

When she got out, she gave me a big kiss and told me, “I love the way this drives, but it’s a lot bigger than my little Corolla! Thanks for helping me.”

We decided to spend the rest of the evening vegging in front of the television. We were all dismayed when we heard that the weather forecast called for thunderstorms for later tonight and much of the day tomorrow.

Mary said, “Maybe we should all just sleep in tomorrow so we’ll have plenty of energy for tomorrow night! I just hope it doesn’t rain out the barbecue.”

Greg added, “That sounds like a plan. Maybe by tomorrow morning my sweet little ‘Kamikaze Lover’ will be all healed up!”

Mary and Greg were tittering so Jamie and I stuck our tongues out at them. Then, the four of us headed off to bed.