I put down my computer and rebuilt the sukkah. This time, I pounded the poles into the ground a good 6 inches, and it hasn't fallen down since.
So, if you are interested in building this not-so-good-for-wind-or-weather sukkah, here are the rest of the instructions, picking up from where we left off:
Finish banging the 4 tall poles into the ground. As you are done with each pole, place (or force) a garden s-hook into the top of the bamboo pole.
Then, to make sure things fit, pick up the poles that created your outline and set them into the hooks. So that they are level, choose which two poles (the 6ft or 8ft) will be on the bottom on each side of the sukkah.
When you are done with this step, it should look like this:
If everything seems to work, you can then take the back and side poles down. Fold about 3-4 inches of the fabric you are using over the pole and pin the fabric to itself (creating a sleeve). You might consider sewing this if you'll be doing it every year. After all the 3 pieces of fabric are pinned to the poles, put them back up on the hooks. Use your string to tie the horizontal & vertical poles and s-hooks together.
Then take your ladder inside the structure and bring the trellis up through the middle and place it on top. I put it on there diagonally because I thought it looked better and was sturdier. If the string makes you happy, time the trellis into place, too.
(Note: for those pieces of fabric that wrap around the front, I tore a big cloth in have vertically and just used 2 pins each to pin each strip to the top corner of the structure.)
Now all you have to do is trim your trees and bushes and throw some branches on the trellis and move in some furniture and viola! Sukkah!
