Luckily for me the sprinklers are already installed from the prior grass we had so reconfiguring a few to water down the turf every once in a while is simple. We are looking at Global Synturf right now which has a W Blade 80 turf that is suppose to be 15 degrees cooler. We did look at Tiger which seems very similar. Also looked at Grasstex (which I love but its the most expensive and the one that holds the most heat), Purchase Green and one more I can't remember the name of that was similar to Tiger. We are looking at using Zeolite for the infill instead of sand to help with the heat and odors for pets, etc. Rubber bits are used for sports field and now there are other options beside those nasty little things for fields too. It's a huge decision and I hope we don't make a mistake installing this stuff. It seems like the installers here can't get it down fast enough to keep up the demand for turf right now.

Suggestions from a dog parent with 2 shady back yards. 1st, pick out an area where you want the babies to do their business and, when you walk them, start in that area. My boys don't like "going" near the house so we're lucky. We have 2 areas that we've trained them to go to. Can you replace your rock mulch with cedar or cypress mulch? A bit more maintenance but has some nice benefits-encourage your dogs to go there and helps a bit with some bugs. 2nd, ajuga reptans! Fantastic ground cover that thrives in shade, it does extremely well in the lawn and looks very pretty. It also helps with erosion and can handle a beating from foot traffic. You will not have a pristine grass look, though. We have a little cabin on a private fishing lake, due to the health of the lake (super clean and we want to keep it that way) we do not use any pesticides or chemicals but we wanted a yard so we left the ajuga (thanks birds) that had cropped up. There are a lot of varieties of ajuga, I've included a photo of "Chocolate Chip". The suggestion for a french drain is spot on, a 24 hour period for your yard to drain is crazy! Here in NC we've had quite a bit of rain over the last week but my yard has not turned into a bog. I hope you can get things worked out, your yard looks it can be a great warm weather space.

Now these pictures are very helpful. Don't fret about the mess. Most of us love construction sites. In the previous pictures I had a hard time believing the pool deck could be one step down from the patio but now I believe it. The left side of patio (as we face it in these last pictures) seems like the obvious place to cut an opening through the wall to the pool deck, as it is direct and convenient for access to both pool and pavilion. You wouldn't want to rely on access to the pool from how you now go to the pavilion IF it required you to step down from the patio to a lower level, then step back up to a higher level (pool deck). That would seem not well thought out. Going down first to get back up is not a good strategy. I gotta say it is a shame about the difference in elevation between pool deck and pavilion floor level, on 2 counts. One, because looking at the pool would be much more enjoyable from an equal or higher elevation, and two because of the inconvenience of steps it necessitates ... at an awkward place. Honestly, if this was my place, I would be exploring every angle of how I could raise the whole pavilion, and then its floor level to the pool deck height. Depending on how the roof support posts are attached, it might not be that difficult and you seem like resourceful people. Too, it would be an opportunity to reface the pavilion floor with an attractive, upgraded surface like patterned brick or similar. I'd figure out if I wanted to fix this down the road and if yes, then come up with a short term plan for a quasi-temporary fix. It seems like you need two or three steps. Measure the elevation difference between pool deck and pavilion. I would be especially careful about grading at the area between brick portion of house and pool deck. It looks like the pool deck is higher than the grade at the house. You definitely want grade to slope away from both those elements, so a subtle swale carrying water away is in order. Exactly what are you want to cast tree shade on at the north side of the pool? Is there a view in that direction that you want to preserve, enhance or hide?

Wow.........this is a great thread! I thought I had already commented on it, awhile back but I don't see it. It is soooo hard giving up things that we love and things that sort of "define" us. I'm 73 and 1/2 and I still garden (vegetable and water), but the water garden is suffering. My big problem is that I'm a hermit and feel uncomfortable hiring people. My husband does some things for me, but he's still working full time, and doesn't have the same interests as I do. But, .....I finally got my bad knee replaced and able to take care of my garden this year! DH does weed-eat the ground around most of my raised food-grade stock tanks. I just couldn't bend over any more and went with the raised beds. Unfortunately they need watered every 2 days if it doesn't rain. I also grow butternut squash, cucumbers and pole beans up trellises. I highly recommend trellis growing. I've really narrowed down what I plant now and always use the same varieties. A good fence and a solar electric fence charger have kept the animals out. I do grow a couple things in the back yard in big pots, and that's definitely an easier thing to do. There are a few things that I have given up on, since organic greens/spinach, etc., are easily available. For me, feeling like I'm "less" than I used to be is something I need to work on. I guess I need to learn to define myself in different ways, but that's hard. I know this thread is old but hopefully you all are still doing well and getting at least a little bit of joy out of your gardening. Thanks for listening.