Defeat.

So, you'll remember this pool that I talked about before, right? And it was going to be glorious and splashy and fun and make our summer awesome, right?

Well, it's been a little less awesome and definitely not glorious.

It was one thing to deal with the prep work; Mr F worked like a beast shoveling and prepping and what not. There was the interminable wait for the weather to cooperate and allow the bobcat to do what it had to do. And there was some frustrating tool rentals and loads of crusher dust to haul out. Me? I managed to get heat stroke the one afternoon that I spent out with Mr. F. working on it. I'm awesome like that. (But seriously, it was a crazy hot day. And hard work, too... OK, so I know I should have the good sense to be embarrassed, but really want to make excuses instead. lol)

So, this past Friday, the day finally came that our pad was level and the supports dug in and leveled. We had a good friend come by to be an extra set of hands and set to work assembling this awesome monstrosity. In theory, it's a fairly simple installation. But definitely one of those things where, if something goes wrong, it will totally gut any hope for success.

The pallet was unpacked. Tools were readied. A quick conference with heads bent over the instructions and we were good to go.

Pool Power!

Things were going smoothly. Channels and plates were joined and aligned on the bases. The beast of a wall was unrolled and threaded into place (much more difficult and fussy than one sentence can do justice). At least 20 bolts sewed this whole thing up along the seam -- two of which ate my knuckles in a most unwelcome way. Perfect "round" was verified. Then came the work of laying the felt floor liner and gluing the stryofoam coving alongside the inner wall. Meticulous vacuuming of said liner to ensure that not a speck of crushed dust existed on the floor. Wall supports were installed. The sparkly looking vinyl liner was brought into place and...

***SCREECH***

What is this?!?!?! The bag which was supposed to hold the Beaded Liner receiver strips held something that was definitely NOT what we needed.

Sweet merciful crap.

It was just after 4pm on Friday afternoon. A quick phone call to the company we purchased our lovely sparkly Pool Of Wonder from was met with voicemail. They closed at 4pm. For the weekend.

I then proceeded to phone every single pool supply store in our city, to see if ANY solution could be found. Heck, I would even buy a totally different liner if that would help at this point. No help to be found.

We were left with the equivalent of a giant metal SAILCLOTH erected in our yard. So far, the weather had been mild, although the sky was threatening rain. I braced all the wall supports with stakes and guys and we crossed our fingers in hopes that the wind would stay away for the weekend until we could at least get the right parts shipped out and our Pool Of Wonder filled with the gazillion gallons of water that would make it a stable, unmovable structure.

I swear I gave myself an ulcer that evening -- every gust of wind sent me headed to the windows to look out over the yard and make sure that the pool wall was still standing. By 2am, the wind was definitely coming up -- it looked to be a storm brewing and I had a small inner fit and then gave myself up to try and sleep. I pretty much knew how this story was going to end.

The morning didn't disappoint -- the sounds of metal shimmying freely in the wind was our first clue. But even that didn't seem real until I looked out the window to see the bent and crumpled frame/wall. And somehow, spending the next two hours undoing all the hard work of the day before, in gusting winds, did nothing to improve my mood or outlook.

Bah humbug.

Today, we are finally able to able to deal with the company on this. They are so far being pretty peachy about working with us and hopefully replacing the bits that were ruined. Had they packaged things properly, the pool would have been filled and immovable by that evening and the storm would have meant nothing.

At this point, though... I am rather not eager to set everything up, only to have to basically winterize it in just a few weeks.

Sparkly, splashy, fun, awesome, Pool of Wonder, huh?? I swear that next summer, I will only be leaving the pool for basic bodily survival and sleep. Heck, I might even sleep in it. I have a whole missed season of swimming to catch up on.