The "Quarry"

We were so excited the day the stone guys arrived with LOADS of boulders and flagstone.

When they left the first day, they had managed to lay out these stones - the coping around the spa. And so the stoning began and continued. V.E.R.Y. S.L.O.W.L.Y.
Every little bit was exciting to see, though. The spa began to take shape.

The boulder weeping wall began to take shape. I watched them place the long, diving-board-shaped jumping rock. I wanted to take pictures of them trying to balance the heavy rock on their bobcat tractor - rock dangling from a chain with 3 guys counter-weighing by hanging on the back of the tractor. I was too scared to laugh at the funny sight. I just knew that big rock was about to crash down into the bottom of the pool.

Sometimes they would lay out stones, cutting and moving them and never mortaring them down until a few days later. Laying aside impatience, we finally discovered that these guys were artists. They would cut and place and rework the stones until they had them like they liked them. They would even take a hammer to what they'd already done and redo it if it didn't look right. I was skeptical at first, but soon learned to trust their judgement and suggestions.

It seriously looked like a rock quarry out there at times with all the rocks and boulders and equipment laying everywhere. And it was SOOOO dusty! Forget trying to keep floors clean in the house because there was a layer of dust on EVERYTHING inside and out.

Every couple of days, the view would change.

The coping stone work would get mortared in. The waterfall steps would start filling in and connecting all the way to the boulder wall.

Finally, the decking was all formed in! It's coming together!