Construction is Officially Over!!

 The pool bar has arrived and has signalled the end of many, many, many months of construction!!

When you haven't had a backyard in over a year, you start to really look forward to future milestones.  For mom, the arrival of the pool bar was going to be that pivotal moment when she could put construction (and the awfulness that unfortunately comes with it) behind her!

Dad snapped this pic of mom while she was relaxing at the bar, having a drink and reading a book. Dad kept telling her that it would be all worth it in the end.  Of course as the copious amounts of rain and the stray animals took residence in our ramshackle home at this time last year, mom was not convinced.  

But, if you asked her now, she might have a different answer :)

The rest of the backyard is coming along as well.  Three trees - one for each of our family.

  Meet Orlando - the newest addition to our family.  

We bought Orlando to scare away birds who were  using our pool as a watering hole and leaving bird-like messes behind.  Orlando did his job perfectly and I've grown very attached to him.  

So, when Orlando had an unfortunate accident that cut him into two pieces, I was quite dismayed (note: don't let workers power-wash the pool flagstones without moving him first).

Mom offered to buy  me an Orlando II, but I refused.  Dad was then left with no choice but to perform the necessary surgery.  We are happy to announce that Orlando has made a fantastic recovery and is back on the job! 

We all love the pool bar (including our neighbour's cat) and are thankful that construction is D-O-N-E!!