They came out today and shot the crete (well, how else would you say it? They 'applied the shotcrete'? ) for the pool.

Here's the artist's conception of what it's supposed to look like when it's finished (they did this by taking pix and using a 3D modeling tool):


                 

Here's what it looked like after they dug the hole:

                 

....Then they put in the rebar, did the plumbing and electrical, and today they did the shotcrete.

Here's what it looks like now:

                 

NOW it looks like a "cement pond", as we folks from down around Bugtussle like to say.

Tomorrow they'll add the boulders and water feature, then the concrete has to cure over the weekend before they can do tile and paving.

After being kept in all day while the shotters were creting (or whatever the terminology should be), we've let the dogs out into the yard around the pool  - Kia is scared of the big ugly gray thing and wants to eat the curtains to make her stomach feel better, Lucy is unaware of any changes in her environment, and Maia is not too sure that they got the negative edge properly laser-levelled.- but she thinks that it's within tolerances, and they'll be able to correct any imbalances during the tiling phase.

Ethel gave Rondo Pools YAHC (Yet Another Humongous Check) and I all but gave up trying to work through the noise and distraction, and just took a day's vacation. But it was really cool to go out and watch them every so often.

We're supposed to go out and spray the concrete three times a day,.20 minutes each time, for the next three days. I think Ethel's injunction for me to not use my arm because of the broken collarbone has a lower priority than Ethel's demand that I go out there and hold the hose for an hour a day.