look out – morons at work

Our next door neighbor is planning on renovating a small mother-in-law structure to including new electricity.  So, new lines must be installed onto the power pole which is located next to our property on the right of way.  Which forced my husband to freak out about making sure the property pin is not dug up in the process.  If it was, someone would be required to pay a surveyor to come and install a new pin.  Anyway, my husband went into a major tizzy looking for the property map online (which I found) and then going to the engineer who created the map to get measurements to locate the pin.  The pin is beneath the soil because so many years have passed.  So using the measurements from the engineer, we determined a general area where the pin would be located.  I suggested getting a metal detector.  He said no.  Anyway once he completed that task he decided to locate the pin using a method his father used — placing string on a magnet and then waving the magnet over the soil until it is attracted by the metal pin.  Which didn’t work.  Again, I said let’s rent a metal detector.  So he finally called a rental company and found a place that had a pin locator which is exactly what we needed.  My husband went to pick it up, returned home, and showed me how he was shown how to use it and we set out looking for the pin.  We couldn’t get it to work properly.  So I said I’m going online to find out how to work it.  Found the manual with pictures.  My husband found a how-to tutorial and we learned that he had been holding the locator upside down.  Upside down !?!  We went back to use it correctly and within a minute, we located the pin.  While we were originally looking for the pin holding the machine upside down, the local electric company and the guy contracted to do the work stopped by to discuss the best way to burrow into the ground (no sharp turns, etc.)  So more time was spent talking to these two people.  Anyway, it’s hot outside, and kind of smoky so I’m more than grateful our stupid adventure is over.  Upside down.  funniest story yet.  Hopefully, the rental company will train its staff to use the detector properly in the future.