Monday, July 29, 2019

NEVER BORROW ANYTHING FROM YOUR OLDEST BUDDY

    Never borrow anything from your oldest buddy or you may find that it's so old you wouldn't know what it is. 

    This summer I've had to renovate some of my fence because the city has gone to a cart system to pick up garbage and I didn't have a place to put the carts. It required making four new post holes. I didn't want to rent a post hole digger so I started to think about who might have a post hole digger. Yes our city is small enough that some of us know each other well enough to borrow things. 

   I thought for a while and then it hit me. Mike might have a post hole augur. He has a farm although he never farmed it. So I phoned Mike and yes he had a post hole auger and I was welcome to borrow it.

    So I went over to get the auger and it wasn't what I thought I might be borrowing. I have seen these devices but never used one. I was expecting something that you turn and it bites in the ground and fills up the center . When the center is full you empty it. This process is repeated until you're finished digging the hole. What I saw was something with a lever on the side. The lever operated a cup which was used to get the dirt out of the hole. There was a special shovel to do the digging. So Mike's about ten years older than I am. I should have known that most things he has are from his Dad. Mike's Dad worked on railroad maintenance and also had a farm. Anytime something wasn't needed for maintaining the rail bed it was disposed of. Mike's Dad picked up much of this stuff. So I couldn't very well say I don't want this. 

    I took it home and learned how to use it. So now I have my fence changed and have learned how to dig holes with an antique post hole digger.

27 comments:

  1. I have not heard of the auger you are describing. I have used the twist handle one way to many times. I had my father-in-laws’ for a short period of time. His son came a got it because he didn’t like me having it. We don’t talk much anymore. I did get the trees planted that I wanted to with the auger. I am glad you got things switched to work for you.

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    1. The twist auger is what I thought Mike had.

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  2. Well, that was cool. The antique could still get the job done. I'm talking about the tool, of course. :-)

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    1. Well, for a minute I thought I was cool and then you went and spoiled it!!

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  3. The old things still work, that can not always be the case of the modern ones!

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    1. Yes, but this thing is very , very old. Yes it works.

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  4. Hey, it worked, and you learned a new skill, Red. I enjoyed imagining you out there with it. :-)

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  5. Hello,

    I would think digging fence post holes is hard work. Any tool that helps get the job done would be great. Thanks and I wish you a happy day,
    Eileen

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    1. I like fencing but when you're doing bits and pieces it's not easy.

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  6. You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble by ordering The Micro Manager to dig the post holes while you read your newspaper.

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    1. Ordering the Micro Manager is like pushing water up hill. It's a never ending battle.

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  7. Old stuff is sometimes the best stuff:) Good for you figureing it out!

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  8. I thought for sure this post was going to lead to a broken post hole digger. Glad it was a successful project.

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    1. Yes, I was extremely careful because that crossed my mind.

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  9. It's always great when you learn something new using something old. :)

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  10. That is pretty cool. It never hurts to learn something new! Glad it did the job.

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    1. Life long learning is what makes us tick.

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  11. Impressive Red. I look at some of these contraptions and just scratch my head.

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    1. I had seen this used before. I just didn't know what I was getting.

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  12. I haven't heard of that type before either.

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  13. Quite a story. Hope you will share some pics of your new fence when all done.

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  14. It's always good to learn something new, I suppose! I can't quite picture that device but it doesn't sound like something I'm familiar with.

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  15. From the description you included, Red, I think that we had something similar when we lived in VA and had to dig holes

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  16. very interesting sharing dear Red

    all happens for the best :)

    you learnt using old device is good but it worked for you is best indeed :)

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