Several years ago a couple friends set up a garden in my front yard. As part of this, they set up a lightweight plastic deer fence.

After a few winters, there was a bit less fence, and a deer fence is not necessarily a dog fence. It would be nice to let Caz roam free in the front yard, but only with a proper fence.

So I got some green metal posts to rebuild the fence and sturdy metal fencing that I could attach to the ground.

After all, deer are inclined to jump over a fence, while dogs prefer to go under.

We had weather that encouraged me to put in the new fence poles. The weather had broken one of the wooden fence poles and I needed to replace one, so why not replace more?

My plan was to pound a few fence poles into the ground and restring the existing fencing before I moved on to the metal fencing.

So I grabbed a 2-lb sledge and went to work.

What I ended up doing was installing a nice set of tall survey stakes marking where 90% of the rocks in Washtenaw County reside. I may have missed a few rocks, but I've got 16 or so more posts to pound and I'm certain I'll find the rest.

It was enough of a success that I hit the BigBox store for more fence poles and a proper pole-driving tool.

When the weather is nice, Caz likes to go outside. Unfortunately, he hates to be alone. Fortunately (for him) there's plenty of yard work to keep me occupied while he soaks up the sun and marvels at my activity.

He's not a working breed, but he loves watching anyone else work.

After marking the location of most of the rocks in Michigan on my first attempt at installing fence poles, I decided to go probing for rocks again, now that I've got more metal fence-poles and a proper pole-driving tool.

(Try saying "Proper pole-top pole-pounding tool" a few times.)

It turns out that metal fence poles are excellent as dousing wands if you're searching for rocks. I found more rocks than I needed on each of the first half-dozen places I put the pole. My luck finally ran out, and I managed to install one pole for the new fence.

By then, Caz had had enough sun and was ready to go back inside, and I'd had all the fun I needed.