Such a nice plant, what is that?

I suppose I should have mentioned that the "ground rod" (actually a piece of 1/2" copper tube) was the sole method of "grounding" this outlet. It had an old 2-wire feed.

The difference between grounding and bonding never more visually apparent.

Just curious. Why was this outlet blanked off instead of installing a GFI receptacle and bubble cover? Now Harry Homeowner will have to run his extension cord in through a window or door to plug it in.

And if the house is old enough for no grounds, he'll be plugging into old dilapidated wiring.

Ian (50s wiring) A.