The weather has been weird all year. It got to the 90’s in February, then rain and hail. After a week of hot weather in the upper 90’s to 100’s with evening/night temps never dropping into the 60’s, we awoke to low 50’s and a breezy beautiful morning.
We decided the pool-area was looking a little dilapidated. The staked-down astroturf panels (6’x8′ @ $20 each) from Home Depot had weeds growing up between them, and the umbrella stands were awkward and heavy to move – and I didn’t want have to mow the weeds… So we decided to expand the pool area and cover the weeds, and build-in the umbrella stands, and off I went to social-distance at Home Depot.
Six more squares of astroturf, sixteen 10-inch 3/8″ carriage bolts to use as corner stakes, some grommets as bezels on the stakes, and an eight foot piece of fence-pipe.
After staking out the fake grass an re-using two pieces, and then filling the pool, I measured to the center of the pipe and cut it across at an angle so it had a pointy end, good for pounding into the ground.
My little sledge hammer was a bit on the small side so I used an old, 15-lb. dumbell to hammer the pipe into the ground, and voila: umbrella stands. 
It’s also a reminder of my Dad and growing up. In our front-yard as a kid, the flag-pole holder was a piece of pipe sunk flush into the ground so that the blades of push-mower I used to cut the lawn (and earn my $1.00 weekly allowance) would roll right over it. On days when we put the flag out, it fit right into the pipe sunk into the ground. Thanks Dad, I miss you guys.
So I got a pick-axe and did a bit of trenching to find that three wires were buried below the pipe. Good thing the shovel handle was wood, and the pick too because I suppose that’s insulation… 
And with the pick I levered-up and bent the pipe a bunch to get a good look at it – it’s only about 8″ deep in the dirt, but keeps going. And the direction it goes is pointing at the terrace block circle, where a couple years ago I dug down to waist-deep (36″) and came across the junction point of three, very old four-inch clay pipes that teed-joined an eight-inch clay pipe… 
nThe old pipes that I dug down-to were loaded up with gravel and sand, and whatever connection had broken – which is why, after rains, the way water kept coming up in that location we thought there might be a spring or other water source.
So…my neighbor the plumbing contractor, has a buddy who’s an electrician and owns a business and the junk to do some subterranean detection. Initial “probes” with a long screwdriver indicate some metal clanking, and an electrical thing showed some voltage in the wires that are upstream – but whether it’s millivolts or bigger is the question. A guy is coming over with equipment to detect and terminate anything as needed.
The ongoing protests by radicals – the lawlessness and looting, the public displays of violence by anarchists that are disturbing the rest of the country, are thankfully not evident up here.
We’re expanding the footprint of the “dry creek” area, and have been moving large, smooth river-rock out to expand and build up the walls of the drainage…
So with a few nice days ahead before another wet-weather system rolls in off the Pacific ocean, I decided to remove it with my Stihl chainsaw-on-a-stick… Now the pathway up the embankment is more open and fewer dangly birch-pods festoon the remaining trees.
So with that done it’s grillin’ time, with some zucchini and asparagus, and re-heating a piece of petite fillet.
The Wuhan Chinese Flue distancing guidelines meant we all stood, about half-masked, in a line to enter the Essential-in-These-Parts store, while a security guard clicked a counter. As some number of persons left the store, another number were allowed to enter. Since I needed to replace the Kohler toilet-seal so it wouldn’t run annoyingly all the time, I made a detour through Plumbing after picking up the astroturf. Then I went to Hardware and got six 10-inch, 3/8″ carriage-bolts to hammer into the ground as anchors since I didn’t have any tent-stakes. Works a treat.
Meanwhile in the zoomed-in Matisse-like iPad image you might notice red blotches (under blue arrows). Those are flags where we are expanding the size of the dry-creek drainage, about six to eight feet, to contain more run-off and avoid mowing in the squishy area. So a bunch of work ahead this Springtime moving rocks around to build the new, expanded perimeter. In the Summer when it all hardens-up, I can drive a truck-load of rock out there and fill in the gaps…