Hello Karinl! I'll take that as a compliment to my determination. :) Yes, I haunt the woodwork forum! I am using 6x6s because I am mesmerized by the changes in the colors in the wood. I find myself stopping on the road to look at people's retaining walls. Plus, I've got 'em! In 2008, I was tired of spoiled, slimy water that would accumulate against the concrete of the front porch. I'd had a garden bed there (6x6 walls) but firemen killed everything and I dug it out. I collected 6x6s from everywhere. EVERYWHERE!. I had no idea and no skills. I couldn't stand the stenchy mess another summer, tho. I laid them down in the mud, thinking it would be temporary. I created a 35' "deck" of 6x6s, which is sadly still there today. I even created steps. Man, I lugged these things from all over town. Ask me how a 5'2" 105 lb (then) woman moves a 16' 6x6 alone. My point in all that, is that someday I want to build out my porch, which means I will be able to use the 6x6s that aren't laying in mud, too. They're aging beautifully. I also picked up the 30 at Long Fence this week. You brought up a good point. Despite someone giving me 11 dump trucks of top soil, they lay of the land pours water across the front yard and leaves marks like waves on the beach. Drainage. I want to create a courtyard effect in front of my house. I have collected pavers (1000s of them) to eventually use. The walls would define different areas. I think I would need to have returns on them, too, for stability in addition to the posts. I like the picture you posted. I am also now trying to figure out how to elevate them just off the ground enough that I don't create stinky, stenchy cesspools again. Perhaps lifting them a paver height off the ground. I have to think about this. It'll be a long time coming, but I have to store these babies somewhere. I was going to lay them out and move them around until I'm satisfied. I think I will make the support posts on the inside, which could frame gardens. I have more plants in "temporary" pots than a nursery. Then save the $$ to get fill dirt and someone to get me started laying pavers! Anyway, you've got me thinking. I would need some kind of bolts to hook the posts to the horizontals. (I have tons of those) What's to stop me from putting a pencil's width of space between each of the horizontals so they also dry? It would dictate more posts, but I like the look of what you posted. And yes, maybe to sit on. Thanks for organizing my thoughts.

Here is an update today. My 2 friends came over to help with the digging of the 6 holes. I changed my pergola plan again. :( Hopefully it will look good. I arrived home from Home Depot around 8:45. I rented the 2 man auger and the 12" diameter drill. I also had to request for an extender which will allow me to go down 4 ft deep(required by the village). The weather was bad. It was raining although we were able to make 1 hole before it became strong. There were many rocks while we were digging. The auger would stop rotating. The first hole took us 30 mins. The rain stopped at 10:15am and we continued to the second hole. Took us short like 20 mins but it rained again. It stopped around 11:15am. We continued again and it didn't rain anymore. There was this one hole which took us more than 1 hour. :( The clay was so hard, there were more many rocks. Then at around 36", there was a huge rock that our long shovel couldn't remove. I had to buy a 5ft digging bar. :( It still took us more than 20 mins to remove the big red rock. We though it was a brick but it was a red natural stone. There is another hole which only took us 10-15 seconds. :) Anyways, I'm glad it's done. I'll call village on monday for inspection of the holes. Holes are 48" deep. What do you think about my new pergola plan. It's 9ft x 20ft. It's perpendicular to the wall of my house. I did it this way so I can have more room on the sides. My friends were telling my why I didn't do 10ftx20ft. I just told them it's too much. Not sure if I made the right decision. Here is a pic of the original Sept 11 update. The other picture is what I am planning to implement. What are your thoughts about my design/layout? I'll take pictures tomorrow of the new holes. :D hehehe

Thanks guys. As you look at the myriad of different ones, you see the elcheapo ones don't have the shock spring. Not for me. A hundred years ago we signed on to be an Earthquake service center. That was in another life. Good to see they are around yet. The Thunder Bay that Lowes has looks to be close and it is supposedly in stock. . I thought that I may have to weld up an extension to deal with an area by a retaining wall. The bigger was going to be for gazebo beams and some weld em up/ paint em up art work I did that has to hold up to the huge winds that I seemed to have moved into.

loribee- The problem is that it is too late to do anything. Rot typically occurs with the section of the post in the ground/concrete. Sealer will do nothing to prevent that. Typically, in a situation like this, one would put gravel in the bottom of the hole before pouring in concrete, which allows some water to drain out the bottom rather than be contained by the concrete and contribute to faster rotting. Also, a pressure treated post would be superior to natural, untreated wood. Having said that, however, since you have a redwood post it will be a number of years before you have to worry about anything.