As of this writing, the spas aren't fully closed, but the precautions at the Korean one include emptying the pools. I'm not sure how I'd feel about spending time in a sauna or steam room with others right now anyway, but the pools are a very nice part of the experience I'd really miss.
Lots of people are getting kiddie pools but I knew that wouldn't work for me. They're not tall enough to bother and just sitting in a little water with nothing to lean back on didn't sound super fun. More importantly, it would probably hurt a lot. Even just the few minutes I sit on my bed at the end of the day checking Instagram before laying down usually leave me a bit sore.
One trend I discovered was people using large stock tanks as small pools and I decided I could use a small one as a small hot/cool tub. Thankfully Google Shopping has an option to filter results for local stores because I definitely didn't want to ship something so large. Here's what I found just 11 miles away for only 100 dollars, and it holds 100 gallons.
I spent a pretty hefty amount having it delivered but you know what? My time is worth something, too. If I didn't have it delivered, I'd have to drive to my inlaws' place, empty out the back of their van, drive to Monroe, pick it up, drive here, drop it off, drive back to my inlaws' place, put everything back in their van, then drive home. I can splurge a little here and there. It's not like I'm spending money on the gym, tattoos, or spas. And we aren't really drinking much any more either, so that's another substantial savings. New clothes? Who needs 'em? Gas in the car? Ahhahaaaa.
Anyway, it's here, and it's great. For now I use an outdoor chair next to it to hold my beverage, towel, and phone while I read on my Kindle.
My video where I introduced it via Instagram and stories.
https://instagram.com/p/CCzee11gh_t
And Garrett got a very nice shot of me in it while he was on the deck working the grill yesterday.
I might have posted about it sooner but the tank's story took a sharp left on Thursday. I was just climbing out of it on that day when a large dog emerged from the overgrown brush at the back of the yard and came charging at me barking its head off. Thankfully the spot I chose for the tank is conveniently close to the door as I barely had time to get inside.
We live on a hill and the house behind us is a lot lower, and the hillside is very overgrown. Apparently not too much for this dog. I didn't mind so much when coyotes have visited the yard because they'd definitely run away instead of toward us if they saw us. The dog's a big problem, though. I got dressed and drove over to that house, but nobody came to the door when I sat in the driveway and honked because I was afraid the front and back yards might connect and it might not have been safe to open their front gate.
In the meantime, Garrett texted our yard guys and asked them to put up some fencing across the back of the yard. On Saturday, the dog returned, shitting all over the yard and tearing apart one of our decorated pinwheels. That's when we realized it was probably him who dragged our hose around the yard a couple of weeks earlier instead of a coyote as we'd thought.
I tried getting a hold of the owner of the home to talk to him about the problem with his renter's dog on Thursday but he didn't answer and his voicemail box was full. Same deal Saturday but he happened to be on the phone and texted back. He came over right away to get a look at the terrain between the yards and figure out how the dog was getting up, plus he cleaned up the poop everywhere. Turns out there was a fence down below, but it wasn't containing him, and he mentioned that he'd recently cleaned up some of the sticker bushes surrounding the yard. That's probably how the dog was able to get out and cause problems. Turns out my report to animal control wasn't the only one, as he'd charged toward someone who was getting into their car. He took a tie-down stake to install in the yard for the owner to use until he could upgrade the fence, but we were still looking forward to getting our own. That happened today.
Not the nicest fence, but the nice fence we'd like to get is a bit out of the budge for now. It goes all the way across the back of the yard, so we'll no longer have to worry about croquet balls disappearing or set up our short temporary fence to stop that from happening.
The owner is getting ready to sell that house so the dog probably won't be in the neighborhood much longer anyway. We've previously tried to get a friend who lives in Arizona to move back home to Everett, buy it, and build a stairway connecting our yards. He's definitely not ready to move back, though.