u/scFox116

Update: I went to the U.S. Will Registry and was not able to find my father's will. I also went to my state's probate court site and did not find a case. I'm stumped.

My father died several years ago in South Carolina at the beginning of the COVID crisis. He named my stepbrother as executor. When my father died my SB announced that the "(family name) bank is closed". All of my father's other children had borrowed money from my dad at one time or another and never paid anything back, but my dad was OK with this. He had been an economist and many years ago had started a family trust. My brother says that dad had showed him some of the trust paperwork and it had performed VERY well. But according to my SB, there was nothing left to any if the kids and the trust was basically empty. However, my brother says that my SB's ex wife hired an investigator to look into my SB's finances. The investigator found that there was still plenty of money in the family trust and that my SB was borrowing against it. This was how he paid for building a new house shortly after dad died. Borrowing against the trust allows him to avoid paying the taxes that he would owe if he withdrew money. He does still support my stepmother (his mother). My brother has ongoing health problems and got taken advantage of by his ex and now is trying to live off of just social security and medicare. I was forced into taking early retirement due to an emergency health issue that is still plaguing me a spawning new problems. I've been denied SSDI twice even though I cannot work and have had multiple surgeries and another coming up. I've tried asking my SB about the trust and dad's will, but he just says that dad didn't leave so much as a note to me and the trust was empty. I obviously cannot afford a lawyer and am frankly astonished that my SB is acting this way. I mean, I wasn't raised with him but my brother was for several years and he has 3 full sisters and none of us got anything. Is there any way of getting a copy of my dad's will without my SB knowing? If I've been misled I don't want to ruin the barely-there relationship that we have or to cause undo tension in the family. However, if he is only looking out for himself and his kids while lying to the rest of us I'd like to know.

Plus, even after years it hurts that dad didn't leave me so much as a note. I hope that isn't true and that he remembered me in some small way. Incidentally, the only thing that I ever asked my dad for was his vintage science fiction books that he used when teaching me to read. My SB has those and finally sent me ONE of the books but refused to tell me how many others that he's got or any of the titles.

I've had some medical problems for over 30 years, but they were mostly stable. Then, almost exactly a year ago and literally days before I was to retire I went to the ER and woke up a week later in the ICU with 75% of my small intestine removed. Since then it seems like it's been one complication or entirely new problem after another.
Even before all if this my adult daughter lived with me. Partly for financial reasons and partly because I think that she secretly worries that I will suddenly drop dead if she's not around (my first health problems arose when she was at an impressionable age). This past year she has been shuttling me back and forth to doctor appointments, new operations, lab tests, etc. She is a little on the autism spectrum, but is high functioning except for hoarding tendencies. However, during this past year she has put on weight (that I suspect is stress related), had her job eliminated right before Christmas, and hasn't been able to find a new one. She recently mentioned that during an interview she informed them that she might have to take time off occasionally in order to help me. She didn't get the job.

I feel like I am holding her back. I keep telling her that I can drive myself, but honestly that's only true for visits that are close to home. I don't know what to do.

I've had secondary Addison's disease for about 30 years and it was largely stable. Then last Memorial Day I went to the ER with abdominal pain. I woke up a week later in the ICU with 75% of my small intestine and the cecum of my colon removed. I now have short bowel syndrome. This means that I have frequent, smelly, and long bathroom visits, chronic diarrhea, multiple nutritional deficiencie, chronic anemia, hair loss, weakness, fatigue, and brain fog. I have to break up my eating into small meals every 2-3 hours and I have to drink special oral rehydration solutions to try and combat chronic dehydration. This forced me into early retirement. I am very isolated and rarely leave my house except for my numerous doctor and lab appointments.
Every time that I seem to be making progress at getting better, something else pops up and knocks me back down again. Constant complications have lead to 3 more surgeries, including putting in a Power Port for infusions to treat my vitamin and mineral deficiencies and blood transfusions for my anemia. I've applied for disability, but I am now on my second appeal after being denied twice.

It was also recently discovered that my right carotid artery is at least 90% blocked and I'll need another surgery to clear it unless further tests show that it is completely blocked. If it's totally blocked then it's too dangerous to operate.

I had been working for years to be strong going into retirement. I ran, lifted weights, did yoga, ate beans about 5 times a week, took supplements, the whole nine yards, only to have bad genes ruin everything.

The carotid artery and the anemia and deficiencies that aren't responding to treatment just seems to have broken me. It feels like I well and truly doomed. What's worse is that my live in adult daughter is a hoarder and is on the spectrum and I worry about her. Her job position got eliminated and she's hasn't been able to find another job. She's also started putting on weight that I suspect is in response to the stress of losing her job and feeling responsible for helping me.

It's just all overwhelming.

[Update] After reading the comments I got on my original post (Thank you!), I decided to go with an electric auger from Amazon. It was about $150, but considering that a 1 day rental of a gas powered auger is $100, I thought that buying made more sense. I'm going with a little 4" auger since I'm putting up T-posts. The auger comes with an extension, but since I'm only going down 2' I won't need it. The electric auger is pretty light and allows me to avoid messing with the lawnmower type pull starters, gasoline, and oil. My soil isn't rocky and the area that I'll be digging in isn't very compacted so I'm hopeful that this little electric auger will do the trick. It should arrive next week, so I'll do another update after I've used it some to let you know how it performs.

[Original post]

I've been trying to put up a t post fence for a garden and a puppy play area. Unfortunately, I am still having complications from emergency surgeries that took place almost a year ago that leave me weak and easily fatigued. Plus, I'm a 61 year old short widow. I've been using one of those manual post hole drivers that slide over the top of the t post and a digging bar, but it's been very slow going. And I just found out that I will need another surgery in about 3 weeks. I desperately want to have this fence up before then. I just found out that my local Ace Hardware rents gas powered 1 man auger. I've been able to look at it and pick it up and I think that I can handle it. Yeah! It costs around $100 for a 24 hour rental so I'd like to get all of the holes dug in one day. I am going to clear the fence line of leaves and such and mark every 5 feet where I want a post to be so that when I've got the auger I can just go down the line digging holes. I'm not even going to worry about putting the actual posts in as I move along.

Aside from clearing and marking the fence line, is there anything else that I should prepare ahead of time? I would also appreciate any tips or tricks for using the auger?

I've been trying to put up a t post fence for a garden and a puppy play area. Unfortunately, I am still having complications from emergency surgeries that took place almost a year ago that leave me weak and easily fatigued. Plus, I'm a 61 year old short widow. I've been using one of those manual post hole drivers that slide over the top of the t post and a digging bar, but it's been very slow going. And I just found out that I will need another surgery in about 3 weeks. I desperately want to have this fence up before then. I just found out that my local Ace Hardware rents gas powered 1 man auger. I've been able to look at it and pick it up and I think that I can handle it. Yeah! It costs around $100 for a 24 hour rental so I'd like to get all of the holes dug in one day. I am going to clear the fence line of leaves and such and mark every 5 feet where I want a post to be so that when I've got the auger I can just go down the line digging holes. I'm not even going to worry about putting the actual posts in as I move along.

Aside from clearing and marking the fence line, is there anything else that I should prepare ahead of time? I would also appreciate any tips or tricks for using the auger?

A few years ago there was an ice storm and after it passed a sheet of ice fell and decapitated an outdoor faucet. At the time I was only able to find a plastic faucet to replace the original. Now I'm building a garden and want to put a 4 way hose splitter on that faucet. Should I replace the plastic faucet with a brass or stainless steel one while I'm at it? I guess that I don't really trust the plastic to last, but maybe I'm wrong.

I've started putting up my garden and dog run t-post and welded wire fence. I'm only a few posts in and I've already learned a lot so I thought that I would share.

1. Driving t-posts, even with the help of a manual driver is a workout!

2. I tried using a post to attach ratcheting straps to and then attach to a tension bar woven through the wire fence to apply tension. There were some problems with that approach:

a) The post that I attached the straps to bent! I had no idea that the cheap straps

that I was using could exert that kind of pressure.

b) I tried to tension a 50' length of fencing, but even after applying enough force

to bend the t-post, there was barely any tension in the fence.

c) When I reduced the length of fence to around 20', the results were much better,

but I still bent the attached post.

d) My car cannot fit near that area so I van't use it as an anchor point. I have a

small garden tractor that hasn't been started in 2 years, plus I don't think that

It is heavy enough to work as an anchor.

e) There are plenty of trees around, but they are all off to the side of the fence

line (of course), so again, no anchor points.

f) I will probably have to content myself with only applying tension to the 5' of

wire between posts. If so I will probably not bother using the straps at all

since it would take forever to set them up every 5'.

3. Being old and recovering from surgeries makes driving the t-posts REALLY hard.

It's made even more difficult by my having to use a step ladder to reach the top of

the 8' t-posts. Again a few things that are helping:

a) Wetting the ground before I start to drive the post makes it a little easier.

b) Using a 17 lb. 60 in. pinch point bar that I got from Harbor Freight to start the

post hole speeds things up as well.

Note: before anyone asks, there isn't anyone with an electric or gas powered post

driver to rent and I'm not sure that I would have the strength to use one

anyway.

c) Resigning myself to taking very frequent breaks and that I probably won't have

the fence finished in time to have a garden this year.

But! I am still making progress, so I'm counting that as a win. Plus, as I work on the fence almost daily (I did have to stop for over a week when I strained my back) I'm bound to get stronger and more able to work for longer periods of time. Not exactly the workout program that I had in mind, but definitely a workout nonetheless.

if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions on making this process easier and/or faster I would appreciate the help. Just don't bother telling me to hire someone-I can't afford it.