Hot Tub Story {Part 2}

.. Read part 1 if you didn't yesterday ..

We hurried back the next day after work to check if it was still there. It only took Greg five minutes to find it, now other people had all day. We came ready with supplies... tow straps, chain, a winch (that we bought), a sled Greg built out of wood, garden clippers for the brush, a chainsaw, gloves and a lot of Gatorade. Thankfully it was still there and to our surprise, the water had receded over 3 feet! We called two of Greg's co-workers to help.

We were able to get a closer look at the other hot tubs. Two of them were pretty damaged on the outside and had huge dents in them. There was a small round one that was upside down. Greg managed to flip it over to find no damage. That was going to be easy to get out. They would just need to strap chain and rope to a tree and roll it out. The big one that was lodged on the side of the creek was going to give us trouble. You can see in the picture below that the sides of the creek drop off, the hot tub is barely visible. Where the boys were standing was flooded the previous day. I also should note that the hot tub weighs 800 lb. Yes, we researched it. Who wouldn't? It was a $10,000 hot tub just hanging out in the creek.

The boys got to work strapping the chain and winch to a tree. They were going to wrap some rope around the hot tub and slowly hoist it up. In the meantime, I was going to cut down some branches that were in the way. We couldn't get the chainsaw we brought to work, so I ran to the closest store to buy a new one.

While I was away, they rolled the round hot tub out of the creek and put it in the back of a truck to get out of the way. We were going to need to load the big one into the truck next. I hurried back with the chainsaw and there was a lot of progress made. The hot tub was up on a flat surface. The plan was to take the wooden sled, shove it under one side of the hot tub (standing up), strap a lot of chain and rope together, then back Greg's Jeep up to the edge of the brush and pull it out.

I was the driver. The guys were standing all around it, guiding it through the path we created. They told me when to pull the hot tub, and then they would re-strap the chain tighter. It went EXACTLY how we planned. The hot tub was out in no time. We dragged it as far as we could on the grass. The three guys somehow lifted the hot tub up, and rolled it on to the flat bed of the truck.

We quickly gathered our supplies are we were off, just in time as the sun was setting.

...

Fast forward a year later. We moved into our new house and this was our first big project. We paid an extra $150 on our home warranty in case something didn't work. This way, we only had to pay the deductible and it would be covered. Greg insisted this get done first, since he had to stare at it for a whole year without it being used. Greg researched, read the manual, and went to Home Depot Friday night to gather the supplies he needed. I went to class Saturday morning and came home to this:

Greg had already drilled a hole into the foundation and was cutting conduit. He spent the remainder of the day outside, calling for me when he needed help. The wires were a mess! I helped him pull them through the conduit, but he was clearly in charge of hooking them up.

It was getting late so I made him come in. Sunday was spent leveling the hot tub, buying some salt and test strips and filling it with water.

Then came time to turn it on. We checked the breakers and crossed our fingers... AND IT TURNED ON! The screen worked, jets worked, lights worked, it was nothing short of a miracle.

And that's the story of how we ended up with a $10k hot tub for free. Would you go looking in a creek for free hot tubs? I'm pretty sure I would do it again :)

xo, Erin

Our Hot Tub Story {Part 1}

It's been a year since we ended up with a hot tub.  I never really expanded on the story because it was a crazy situation that you might hear about in a movie. We started installation this weekend, crossed our fingers and it was a miracle  that it worked!

It all started a year ago when we had a really bad storm. Houses were struck by lightning and the rain came down for hours. The following day, Greg stopped in a pool supply store because his boss needed to pick something up. Greg wandered over to the hot tubs to 'look' like he always does. He has always dreamed of having a hot tub, but knew it wasn't affordable.

A sales guy walked up to him and said "Can I help you?"
"No, I'm just looking for fun. I can't afford these"
"Well, if you want a free one, there are probably some floating down the Ohio River."
....
"Wait, what? Hot tubs in the river?"
"Yeah, the creek overflowed and knocked down our storage shed. 16 hot tubs floated away."
"Aren't you going to look for them?"
"A few guys drove around and followed the creek, no sign of them. They are probably long gone."

Greg went back to work, but obviously couldn't stop thinking about the fact there are 16 hot tubs somewhere. He pulled up Google maps and tried following the creek. He was looking for bends where the hot tubs may have gotten stuck. He wasn't being productive at work, and convinced his boss to let him leave for an hour to take a quick look.

Him and a co-worker followed the road back behind the building a little ways and found a parking lot. They started looking through the brush to find the creek and were sinking in the mud. The creek was extremely high and they couldn't get very close. They were just about to give up and look somewhere else, when something white caught Greg's eye. He was convinced it was a hot tub and had to get closer.

They drove around to the other side of the creek and started investigating. Again, they were walking through mud and flooded brush. They got close and sure enough, it was a hot tub! Not just one, but Greg saw 3! There was a sharp bend in the creek and lots of trees down. Two of the hot tubs were flipped over and the exterior seemed a little beat up. The one Greg had originally seen was perfectly straight up and lodged up on the side.

They had to get back to work, but didn't want anyone else to find it. He found a hot tub cover and threw it on top, hoping it would camouflage it. (The news had covered a story about the hot tubs missing, so they figured others would be out looking for them).

Greg got home from work that night, pants and shoes covered in mud. He explained what happened and I got super excited! We took a drive down so Greg could show me, and we needed to start brainstorming how we would get it out.

The water had already began to recede and we got a closer look. There actually ended up being 4 hot tubs stuck there. As we were leaving to go back home, we noticed a few other cars slowly driving around looking for hot tubs as well. Oh shoot, I hope they don't find it...

(Stay tuned for part 2)

xo, Erin

2 New Lenses

My camera came with a 40mm lens, so I have been using that since Christmas. Unfortunately, there is no ability to zoom in or out, so you had to move your body. The camera wasn't capturing the bigger picture, especially when I tried photographing the rooms in our new house.

I got an early anniversary present, 2 new lenses! I am looking forward to learning more about them and taking lots of pictures. My Pentax K-01 has lots of potential, and I hope to discover that with these lenses. My goal for this weekend is to clean up all the rooms in the house, and take some pictures. The whole room can now fit in the frame :)

xo, Erin

How Many Days Until Summer?

I am just trying to keep my head out of the water right now. Big projects are due for two classes this Saturday and work has been super stressful. I can't really put it into words, and it's really confusing if you aren't a teacher, but I sat through 19 transition meetings for students going to Kindergarten. I had to type multiple reports and complete lots of assessments. My final meeting yesterday didn't pan out how I wanted it to. It is so sad that parents don't know how to be an advocate for their child with special needs. I can only do and say so much, and they ultimately get the final say. I was told from a school psychologist that special education would be a disservice to this child (pretty much my job isn't important). I understand LRE and the importance, but there is a time and place for students that need additional support for them to be successful.

Last night after the meeting, I went for a 3 mile run to try and calm down. I have been typing a report since last night about why I disagreed with the disability category. The more I type, the more fired up I get. This poor student is going to get no additional support in Kindergarten and he doesn't even understand the concept of counting and can't label any letters (and has been receiving interventions for a year!)

Sorry for my rambling. I just don't get it. I am so disappointed and can't stop thinking about it. Hopefully tomorrow I will be back with happy thoughts.

xo, Erin

Blank Slate

You know that big, blank wall I was talking about? Yeah, it looks like this...

I'm stumped. Rather than making the room feel smaller, the dark walls make it feel really tall. The wall now looks huge and I'm at a loss of what to do with it. I don't want any furniture, it will make it feel too heavy. I was thinking some sort of big wall art or mirror? Or two rows of something? There is 5 feet of blue walls to work it, any ideas??

Also, the color we painted on the walls is really hard to photograph. It looks a lot lighter in these pictures than in person. But I love it. I can't stop walking in the room and just staring at it. It's called French Grey by Glidden, but we color matched to Behr.

A few other thoughts: we need a new light, that is a topic for another day. We are painting the lower tier of the ceiling a beige color. Can't wait to get'er done!

xo, Erin