Death by Pergola...

So at the beginning of this summer, this is what the backyard pergola looked like.  Attractive, but not terribly stable.

Here is what the area looked like after the take-down phase.  Only managed to bounce one of the boards off of my head during this part.

The most challenging part of the whole enterprise was getting four 32" cement pillars out of the ground.  Lots of sweat equity was spent here.

Then came the next phase.  Dig the holes down to four feet deep, put a 16" cardboard tube in and add cement.  This part was not that bad.

With the help of my friend, Paul, we have the first two posts up for the new pergola.  This part was fairly challenging as the twelve foot long posts were a bear to handle.

Tuesday night we were treated to several inches of rain, which, as you can see, filled the holes with water.  Fortunately by breakfast time the water had receded and after scooping out a little mud, work could progress.

I wonder what my friends the vols do when it pours like this.  How to they stay dry in their underground homes?

So, this is where we were at lunch time yesterday.  After a bite to eat, and a chance to cool down in air conditioning, we came back to decide that we had build the posts too high.  Sigh.

So we either cut down the posts from the top, or we dig them up and cut off the bottoms so the top is at a better height.  No great choices there.

This pergola better be top-shelf when we are done.....