Border Fence Issues

      The border of my back yard, that is.  There's a nice double gate, where the previous owner kept his fishing boat in the back yard, with heavy 6x6 posts holding each half of the gate.

     At least one of them -- and the 4x4 two feet from it that helps hold up a little stretch of privacy fence -- was not quite as pest-proof as could have been hoped.  Last winter (or would it be winter before last?), that half of the gate fell over, and I propped it back up.  I spent most of last summer trying, off and on, to find a fence company who would replace it for less than the price of a well-used car, and had no success.

     It broke again in the storms a few days ago, and took the 4x4 post with it.  I'm about halfway through putting in a replacement that should do for a few months, and I'll just have to see what I can do or hire done from there.

     So, let's see, that's a large gate and a little fence, plus a bad post or two in the neighbor's fence that they're not going to fix (it's a rental now), a dead dishwasher, a lousy garbage disposal and a very worn kitchen range.  Yeah, I'm doing great at home ownership.  And it's time and past for a new coat of paint.

     A massive advance on an uncompleted novel being unlikely, I'm probably going to have to dip into savings.