"The 'dozer is coming tomorrow to rip." I said that to Sarah this week. I'm not sure if I am more surprised that I said it, that she understood it, or both. Either way, it is one small indication of how our vocabulary, interests, and time spent have evolved over the past 18 months.

The 'dozer coming to rip translates into this: A bulldozer is coming to our property to drive a "ripper" deep into the hard, dry soil throughout our property. I'll explain more about the importance of this work tomorrow. That said, it is critically important that we clearly provide boundaries to keep the dozer from ripping through power, water and sewer lines.

When the machine arrives to scar our soil deeply, it can't be easily undone. To keep the bulldozer away from critical items, we use flags as boundaries. The flags identify an exclusion zone in which we literally put a stake in the ground to enforce a line that shouldn't be crossed. They are not suggestions. If the operator becomes distracted, he or she could unintentionally cause costly (though not irreversible) damage. In this case, it's just wise to have clear boundaries, arrived at in advance, with decent margins.

J&SK