My First Blog

This is a "first blog" attempt to record the progress of fixing up our "new" old house, which I've named Walnut Hill. I chose that name for the stunningly simple reason that it has a hill on the property which has a lot of walnut trees on it. :) The house I grew up in was called Hickory Hill so it has a certain nostaligic flavor for me too.

Today I arrived around 8:30 AM to help the rolloff dumpster guy place the dumpster on the flat ground near the barn, near the largest trash pile left by the former owners.

After hauling all that into the dumpter, or stacking old tires alongside it..., I cut down overgrown weeds all around the pool. Yesterday I disassembled, cleaned and reassembled the power outlet by the pool and this morning I started the little pump going right away. It's not fast so I was thinking this could take days to drain.

(Earlier this week I found a dead squirrel floating in the pool, which has not been touched in 5 years according to neighbors. Therefore I decided to go with the "replace the water" not the "clean up the water" method of getting the pool usable. Turned out to be a good idea, keep reading...)

I cleared away overgrown privet hedge near the south entrance to the barn, then began cleaning out the room just inside there. I hauled off about 8 wheelbarrow loads of junk and dirt and debris, took the top off the old chest freezer. Have to find a way to get rid of it at some point... can't go in the dumpster they say.

Hauled away all the debris piled by the north door of the barn that I'd tossed out of the upstairs (hayloft). Began to pick at the things inside that doorway. Took away the pink Barbie Lamborghini. Sits atop the pile in the dumpster like a trophy...

While I was taking a lunch break about 2PM I visited the local hardware store. Older model store, not a Home Depot type place. Friendly staff, LOTS of the sort of things I'll be needing, good quality stuff. Anyway, they have a rental business too, and I ended up renting a 72GPM submersible pump which drained the pool to within a few inches of dry in less than four hours. The pool is 25' diameter by about 4' deep. I haven't worked out the volume yet, but it was a lot, I'm sure. Tomorrow I'm going to start shoveling out the five years worth of leaves matted on the bottom and see what I can do to make sure the liner is in good shape. Found a dead squirrel decomposing on the bottom of the pool as the bottom came into view. (Water was very cloudy and you could only see down a few inches.) Thought about naming the pool the "Floating Squirrel Swim Club" in honor of these two fallen furry critters.

{Note to the future, find a way that will give squirrels a way to climb out if they fall in.}

For all the hard work today there seems to be a decent amount of progress made.

Yesterday I priced a new water pump at around $250, so hopefully we can get that up and running soon. It'd be nice to have a hose handy when we start to burning the brush piles that are growing around the place.

I'll try to figure out how to insert some pictures in here as time goes on.

Off to bed,

Doug