Man, I used to roll my eyes so hard at rocker toe shoes I thought they'd get stuck. Had this one mare with chronic stumbling, and I tried every trick in the book, pads, different trims, the whole deal. Finally caved and slapped on a pair, mostly to prove they were junk. Two weeks later she's moving like a yearling, and I'm eating a big slice of humble pie. Your story hits home, it's wild when the gimmick turns out to be the real deal.

Yeah, it got fully erased from history. Maybe it's in witness protection.

Why do you think hands-on stuff like that cuts through the small talk better than just hanging out? Feels like having a shared goal to focus on, even a silly one, makes the real talk happen on its own.

Yeah, jesseblack is right about the foundation being key, lol. I did the exact same thing with my patio edge and it all tipped over after a downpour. What worked for me was digging a shallow trench and filling it with a mix of gravel and concrete mix, even for short walls. Without that base, the bricks just slide on wet dirt every time. Your fish got a free upgrade to their place though, lmao.

That "led us to a cliff" bit is classic, @the_harper. Tech can really leave you hanging sometimes. I still trust a paper map for the real backcountry stuff.