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.
