Sometimes You Have to Bring Your Own Shade

We are glad to be in the sunshine and warm weather.  We hoped it would work out that way when we decided to spend the winter in Arizona.  And thankfully it has been mostly good weather here.

And with all the sunny weather, we sometimes need some shade.  It is thinking about Springtime here, but still has a ways to go.  The tree near our campsite is just budding.

But not a lot of shade.

I thought I'd see if I could come up with something with our beach umbrella to use here.  My biggest challenge was the corkscrew end of the bottom pole.  It works great in sand, not so great on hard packed gravel and packed dirt.

I came up with an idea to use a length of PVC and three large spikes.  I was going to use some nuts and bolts but decided not to.

Then I drilled three holes in the side near bottom of the PVC.

Then I scraped away the rocks, put the PVC in place

Then I put the spikes in, only I aimed them downward and used a 8# sledge to hammer them into the ground.

The PVC is just large enough for the corkscrew tip, but the rest of the umbrella needed to be stabilized inside so it didn't wobble.  I accomplished this by some extra wood I had.  I cut a couple of 6" pieces, then split them.

Then I dropped enough pieces (3) down the inside which made it snug and stable.

Then I moved the picnic table over near the umbrella pole and secured it with a bungee cord.

And it seems to be working.

And now we have more shade!

That's all for now on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Thanks for joining us!