The previous owners of our house bought the lot next door and removed the trailer. The size of the lot essentially doubled, but they left behind a lot of semi-useful stuff: stone steps, a satellite dish, a power pole with a breaker box, and a bunch of miscellaneous garbage I've since discarded. The steps have become a place to hang out and sit around a fire pit. The satellite dish is still an eye sore, but the power pole, as it would turn out, had some value.
As my wife and I thought about a price for the power pole, it dawned on me to offer up a trade. Help me run fence, and they could take the pole. Some folks might suggest this was a bunk deal, but today we stretched fence and I learned a good deal of knowledge. Today we fenced in the pasture for our goats, but I also learned a skill that I will use and reuse in the future, and for me, there's so much more value in that than in a little bit of cash.
