Last summer we got a free pool. I’ve wanted a pool for a long time and had been looking at options for a cheap way to get a pool at home for those hot summer days when you just need to cool off.
I’d been searching for different things that hold water so we could set up a cheap pool to cool off in. I looked all over the farm for something that might work. I’d looked on TradeMe for old spas, water tanks, water troughs and anything else that could be repurposed into a pool.
Life doesn’t suck…
because we got a free pool.
Once I’d almost given up on finding something cheap to become our pool we saw a post on Facebook. A friend of ours was getting a new pool and had a freestanding pool that they were looking to get rid of. It was free. We made contact as soon as we saw it thinking even if it wasn’t any good we could always sell some of the parts for a profit.
I managed to arrange to have it picked up. It showed up on the back of Dad’s small truck, a mountain of bits and pieces and a giant vinyl pool liner. I did my research and the pool needed to be on flat ground for it to work best. The space where we wanted to put the pool had a slight angle. This meant I had to flatten out a sixteen-foot circle of ground for the pool.
I spent a week of nights after work digging the lawn out with a spade. It was around thirty degrees each day so I was digging at nine o’clock at night to stay cooler.
Once the ground was level we set the pool up. The first swim was amazing. The words “there’s no such thing as a free pool” were thrown around a couple of times. The effort was worth it though and everyone got to enjoy the pool.
This summer it was much easier to set up as all the hard work had been done last year. I was grateful to sit on the deck today and watch the kids enjoying the pool. They managed to swim five times. I’m grateful that after all the hard work the pool gives so much enjoyment.
Current gratitude streak: 32 days
Did you miss my post from yesterday? Read it here Gratitude, Day 31: I’m grateful for family Christmases