We are having some … issues … with the company that’s installing a new fence in our backyard. Aside from the damaged sections, the slanted top rails and the incorrectly poured concrete, we also found this at the end of their work on Friday:

How did we find it? The crew left the water to our hose turned on when they left Friday and, eventually, the pressure got the better of the rubber. A small water feature was not part of the new backyard plan.

This morning, we found they left us with this:

That is the remains of the drain pipe to the pool. How did we find it? Well, the large water feature near one of the corner posts was a good hint that they’d hit the very well marked underground pipes. In fact, once we shut off the water and drained it out of the hole, we found that not only had they broken the pipe, but they had then covered part of it with concrete.

I so badly want to go on a rant about the quality of workmanship in the south, but you’ve already heard most of it. And, really, you probably don’t care too much.

Let me just say that after running to the hardware store to buy a replacement section of pipe and some couplers, digging out the old pipe, cutting it out, cutting back some tree roots that had grown over it and installing the new pipe, my Sam Adams Irish Red was an awesome reminder of home. Perhaps only a Utica Club Ale would have been more refreshing.