Jim

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Salt Chlorine Generator from ContolOMatic
ControlOMatic (Grass Valley, CA) offers MegaChlor, a salt chlorine generator for pools and spas with…
Chemtrol Launches ORP/pH Controller
Chemtrol (Santa Barbara, CA) has introduced the PC2100 Controller for automatic management of ORP and…
Trench Grates from Iron Age Designs
Iron Age Designs (Burien, WA) offers ornamental cast-metal trench grates made with recycled iron or…
Water Wall Spillway from Atlantic Water Gardens
Atlantic Water Gardens (Mantua, OH) offers a vertically oriented spillway to ease the installation of…
2018/5.2, May 16 — Double-Shell Pop, Pond Pandemonium, Flowing Symbolism and more
THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS May 16, 2018 www.watershapes.com FEATURE ARTICLE…
Pop Goes the Pool
There are few things in the world of watershaping as dramatic or devastating as a popped pool.  On their way up out of the ground, they'll shatter decks and coping, break pipes and conduits and, often, leave cracked shells behind and generally make a terrible mess.  They also lead to one big first question from the owner:  "So can you make it go back down?"  I'm pleased to report that none of the pools I've built has ever risen above its assigned grade, but I live and work in the south, often in areas where
Mystical Moments
For me, one of the highlights of the 20th Anniversary Celebration for Genesis was the place most of us stayed:  The Allegretto Vineyard Resort is a spectacular facility created as an extension of the imagination of the property's owner, Douglas Ayres. The hotel embodies an eclectic blend of design concepts, from dashes of feng shui to dollops of talk-to-the-land spiritualism mixed in with
Renovation Time
By Jim McCloskey The weather has taken a turn toward heat in the time since I wrote my last blog:  It's been in the 90s several times recently, and it reminds me of an even hotter stretch early in May 1989, when we moved into our current house and settled in as a family with our first swimming pool. When we arrived with our
Nature’s Ways
When a pond's fish shift to spawning mode, all sorts of things start happening in a hurry -- in turn whipping new pond owners into a frenzy right alongside their fish.  At these times, Mike Gannon counsels restraint and helps novices recognize and follow what's happening.    
Defining Delicate Tasks
The first of this pair of articles mentioned that Julia Morgan had completed the architecture program at Beaux-Arts in Paris in three years rather than the usual five, but I didn't mention all of the circumstances. One of the rules of that institution prohibited the instruction of students after their thirtieth birthdays, which seems a totally bizarre limitation to us now but apparently made sense to French academicians at the turn of the 20th Century.  Given the delays in her gaining a position at the school, she'd entered the program with the clock ticking and really had no choice but to