More progress on the house and yard

We've been in our house in Fair Oaks for almost a month now, and Gordon continues to make progress especially outside in the yard. Last week, he finished painting the pool. This week, after it sat for 7 days, we were able to fill it and then use it. It took 36 hours to fill it. We got it filled in time for a visit from Dara, Zach, Aidan and Zach's sisters, the twins Ciara and Cheyenne. So, along with Aisling, they spent two days in the pool having a great time. When Dara was pregnant, I bought a child's wetsuit with built in floatation device at a second hand shop. They all made fun of me at the time, questioning when a toddler might use it. But I guess I was right! Aidan wore it into the pool on Friday and Saturday and it worked beautifully. He came down the slide once, and just bounced up to the surface, so it feels very safe to have him in the pool with that on.

I got in the pool with Aisling on Sunday. I must say, it's very relaxing to float around on one of those air mattress loungers. Dara thought it had cupholders, but I didn't find anything that fit a wineglass. Oh well! It also seemed that Aisling enjoys shooting me with the watergun, both when I'm on the air mattress and on the side of the pool. Hmm.

The other major development is the shed. There was an old shed in the back yard. It really needs some serious work. Basically, I think the walls have to come down and be rebuilt. The foundation seems to be okay. Also, it was pretty overgrown with ivy and other trees and vines. So Gordon has been cutting back the growth over the last few days. As he cut back the ivy, he found that there was actually another shed buried under there, connected to the original shed. I would guess it has been buried under the ivy for years. That shed (on the right in the picture) probably needs new walls and a new roof. There were also things in there that had obviously been there for years, including an old crib and bike. However, there is also an old 55-gallon drum full of something, we're not sure what. We're contacting someone with the county's hazmat department before we do anything with it, just in case. But it'll be interesting to see what's in there!