So one of my “crazy” purchases (see Inheritance) was a hot tub–and I’m now enjoying Hot Tub Heaven. It is especially nice as the weather has cooled and our pool has been closed up for the winter. I still have a small body of water in my backyard.

It started with a random conversation with a patient at work. I mentioned my pool. He told me that he had a hot tub. I exclaimed “I want a hot tub” and he offered to sell his to me for a giveaway price. I took his card and contemplated it for a month, then called him and said I was interested.

Eventually I went with a hot-tub-owning-friend to check it out. The funny thing was that my friend knew my patient. I decided to buy it and started trying to figure out how to move it. My friend recommended paying a service to do it for me so I called a place and found out it would cost a minimum of $500 to move it. That didn’t make sense since we were planning to move in 6-12 months and figured we’d have to pay yet again for another move. So we plotted to do it ourselves–until John went over to scope it out. It was much bigger than he imagined.

So we decided not to buy that hot tub and started looking around. Costco sells a small 3-seat hot tub that seemed good enough and they would deliver to your curbside. They even offered to come pick it up in 90 days if you didn’t like it. But you couldn’t actually see or feel the hot tub anywhere and that felt really strange to me.

I visited a few stores and asked a lot of questions. One salesman told me that he would look for a used Hot Springs tub so I started watching for them on Craigslist. I emailed one person for several days but opted NOT to pursue that when I realized that his tub was made the same year my daughter Anne was born! Seemed too crazy to consider a 23 year old hot tub.

Eventually we found one (2006) for a good price. John built a small privacy fence and a deck. He rented a trailer and brought it home. Then we carefully unloaded it and rolled it on PVC pipes into the back yard. (It just fit through the gate.) He ran our 220 line through our crawl space and hooked up the electricity (while also completing a drainage system that he’d started in the past.)

We filled it with water and turned it on…….and now I’m enjoying Hot Tub Heaven*. I’ve been in every night and many mornings as well. What a great way to start and/or end the day. I’ve always taken hot baths most nights through the fall, winter and spring, so now I have a bigger bathtub with jets. It’s also a great attraction for grandchildren–and hopefully, friends.

 

*This actually has the potential of turning into Hot Tub Hell as we’ve encountered a leak in the system. John tore it apart and put in some kind of sealant, but we’re still having a slow leak. For now, we’ve decided to keep adding water as needed and muddle our way through.