Hang it, smooth it, fill it up

I guess it's always this way toward the end, so it's probably a good sign that it was a busy day.

And it was divided among three audio-visual guys, two plumbers, five pool plasterers, four electricians and two homeowners pulled in 14 directions at once.

On the A/V front, Trevor and Paul hung the digital flat-screen, and brought in another guy to help with most of the speakers, and all of the sound-control switches in each room. I actually got to plug the TV in -- from a drop cord -- and got the media equivalent of a dial tone. A measure of success.

On the plumbing front, Ryan and his helper trenched a bit for our irrigation line, considered the possibility that they'd reversed lines on our water heater No. 2, presented me with a bill, went away for lunch and never came back.

On the pool front: Oh, my! They mixed, sweated, plastered, smoothed, sweated some more. First a subcoat of mud, then the black Diamond-Brite, flecked with quartz. "This is gonna look real pretty in a couple of years, once it's etched out," said Harold. Like most of the others, he'd come down from Ft. Lauderdale for the job.

The pool started filling about 2, the gray of the curing finish turning to black underwater. By 6, it was almost up to the steps, when the surface area would increase and the fill speed would decrease -- rapidly.

On the electrician front: They came in teams of two, and a few hours later had hung 1.5 fans, out of 5 remaining, installed the deck lights, put in the first of our smart switches (dimming wonderfully, though still none linked to The Big System), energized the fridge and juiced up a few of our outlets.

Meanwhile, Robert made two trips to Home Depot and tried to keep up with phone messages. I hung Grandma's picture, fetched lunch from the Bodega, put up some shelving in the office nook for the A/V stuff, vacuumed up various dust, did the liaison thing with A/V, plumber, pool and electricians, and went home pooped.

. . . Where the message on the answering machine told me the building permits in my name were ready, which means I'll be able to call for inspections when all those subcontractors say yes.

'Round midnight, with Robert in a deep snore, I went back to the house to check on the water -- it was up to the first step -- and my right toe became the first to take a dip in the pool.