Now that it's official, I'm letting the cat out of the bag

This was our yard's major eyesore. A broken down hot tub. It came with the house. When we were buying the house, we tried to get a better price by not taking it (the seller said the price was negotiable with or w/o the tub...I don't think he expected anyone to not want it). Whatever happened, we took the tub with the house. It was pretty big...approx. 7.5' x7.5'...and could seat at least 6 people comfortably. After having it and using it, we fell in love with it.

The major problem we had was that it had a large cover, and we didn't have anywhere to put the cover when we took it off. So each time we set it on the ground, it slowly got scraped up and water eventually leaked in. We bought a replacement cover ($700). After that, the heater just kept heating and the water would reach temps of about 108. We spent another $600 to have that fixed. Shortly after, our new cover began to take on water. We shut it down just before moving to Nantucket several years ago, and since then it has just been collecting rain water and reminding us how much we would love to have a hot tub.

We got rid of it.
We bought a new one!
It's MUCH smaller (7x6'...seats only 3-4), but it's so much nicer.
We only did it because when we went in, the guy quoted us a price just out of our budget. Hubby and I said, well, we were looking to spend a little less than that so we'll have to think a little longer. Now, we have been shopping around for months and trying to decide if we should make such a large purchase...but we've decided to stay in our house and want to make it pleasurable while we're here. So of course he says 'let me see what I can do.' So we got one pump instead of two, though we can easily add a pump down the line if we want/can afford. He came down to our budget price, and threw in a cute little bar. The price included a years supply of chemicals, steps (which we never had with the old one), a cover AND cover lifter which will save the cover from getting ruined by being on the ground, AND disposal of the old tub! We think we got a good deal.
Part of the reason we got the smaller tub was so that I could have the lounge seat. This allows optimum massage for my weary legs. Most of the other tubs don't have them, I think. We also got the 'therapy' jets which was part of what I liked about the old tub, too. The dealer tried to talk us out of them (because it would bring the price down), but I wanted them, and he still made us a deal though I was willing to pay for the feature!
What really sold us on this brand of tub, versus the other area dealers, was the salt water system. It uses a salt mixture in the filter system so that you aren't adding chlorine/bromine to the water. I can't wait to see how it feels, but with this system, it takes several days for the salt levels to get just right. Once it's right, though, we only need to clean/adjust twice a year! It smells clean...not chemically. We're almost ready to start using it, maybe tonight if stuffs right.
It's also much deeper and once you're in, you can see trees and sky...no neighbors!
So that is our big news...now that it's official, I'm letting the world know!