At least it’s a dry heat. The dog moves between laying in the sun, in the dirt next to the Astroturf, and laying in the shade under the deck – or laying in the garage on the cool cement slab.
The two 10’x10′ Ez-Up canopies on the deck are providing good shade, and kill the reflected heat. The dog likes splashing in the pool to cool her hot paws, but the pool up on the deck sprung a leak. They’re made in Mexico of pretty flimsy plastic and only cost $12 at Walmart – but the Walmart summer inventory is long gone. So I pulled up the lower pool and layered the non-leaky pool into the other and it’s holding water. As a skilled proponent of Redneck Engineering, I’m going to spray a can of ‘as seen on TV’ Flex Seal stuff (in blue) into the lower pool, and slap the good one on top of it, and sandwich the two together to strengthen them and stop the leaking.
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.
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.
