GOOD NEWS!!!

          Yesterday’s post was very sad, so today (Friday) I’m going to write something very positive. As I believe I’ve written before, Haley comes each Wednesday after she gets out of her class. She stops and picks up Ruby, Karma’s daughter and Kaizer’s sister so the three of them can have some playtime. Some Wednesdays, we get something to go to eat and others, Nana makes something…the mac & cheese pie is a real hit.

          Then, we get busy in the garage. We’ve made piles and piles of various tools. Haley goes through the various toolboxes and filing cabinets and gives me handfuls of stuff to place in the appropriate box. Nana follows Haley’s orders very well. Sometimes, though, we both end up unable to identify whatever it is that Haley finds. Those items go in a different pile and we wait for Haley’s dad or uncle to come and identify whatever it is. Amazingly, Thor almost always knows what we don’t. I suppose that’s understandable since Thor worked with his dad on a variety of jobs for many years.

          So far, everything we’ve organized in various piles has been gone through by both AJ and Thor. They, and Haley, each took what they could use or wanted. This past Wednesday, the table was loaded with unwanted stuff. I suggested we go through the safe loaded with collector cards. Haley said she wanted to organize everything on the table and put it up on the shelves where it will remain until we haul it out for the garage sale…this year, next year, whenever. If that doesn’t happen before I end up under the apple tree, at least Haley will be able to tell her dad and uncle what’s in what box.

          While Haley was doing that, I tackled the safe with the combination. I’ve never really been through that safe and John only provided the combination a few years ago…it was HIS and it was HIS STUFF!!! I even went so far as to think I might find some real treasures in there. Well, no, not really. What I found the most of was more stamps and more stamps and more stamps. I also found some money, i.e., coins that maybe John planned on rolling someday. There aren’t enough so that I can retire to Costa Rica, damnit anyway. There are more cancelled loose stamps as well as a number of cigar boxes containing plate blocks of stamps.

          Now, my new friend Steve, the stamp guy, has told me there’s really no value to stamps these days and I should just use what I can as postage…I’ve been doing that too, although I have to admit I can almost hear John shouting at me as I lick and stick them on an envelope. So, now I have another box of stuff to go through and organize. Maybe next winter.

          I did find some treasures even though I don’t know anything about them. There’s a full bottle of Evening in Paris perfume, another silver container that holds a small bottle of some Coty perfume…I don’t believe either of these scents are available these days. I also found two containers which I thought were powder, but when we managed to open them, they are cigarette holders. The size of them leads me to believe they were for straight cigarettes without a filter. Haley probably wouldn’t have known what they were without me there. There were three carved monkeys of some stone…maybe jade?...that illustrate, hear, say and speak no evil.

          The one thing I found that is very curious to me is some kind of document that’s written in what I think is Arabic. There’s no English anywhere on the page and while the envelope it’s in came from an attorney we know; I think John just put that paper in that envelope because it fit. I do remember that John inherited or was given something in India. He asked his friend, Guru Singh, about it and I think Guru brought John back a lovely plate with various inlaid semi-precious gemstones that came from the area with the land. I guess I should have paid better attention. Maybe there’s someone out there that could read the writing???

          When I got to the bottom shelf, I found the real treasures John had been hoarding. I absolutely had to laugh, almost hysterically. There were four bars of soap, i.e., Fels Naphtha, Ivory, Swan, P&G—The White Naphtha Soap. They were in the very back corner and had become damp at some point in time. I put them directly into the garbage and washed my hands. Now, you watch, someone is going to tell me I just tossed thousands of dollars!!!

          By the time I finished cleaning out that safe, Haley had cleared the table. Everything was organized, boxed up and on the shelves as you can see in the photographs. I was amazed. I told her she got her organizational gene from me, but actually, she was triple whammed…her dad and mom are both very organized too.

          To date, we have emptied one very large standing toolbox and one small one, five filing cabinets (four and five-drawer) and two safes. The contents of those have either been taken by family members or now reside in boxes on shelves. In addition, I have two boxes of metal for recycling. But, we’re far from done. The garage attic holds numerous boxes that need to come down to the table for identification and sorting. I’m going to have to talk to Haley’s dad and make sure he thinks Haley and I can do this without his or Thor’s assistance.

          So, how about that. PROGRESS in capital letters and something to feel really really good about.

PS:  Thank you to everyone who extended sympathies about Mabel after reading Friday’s post. She now resides, double-bagged in the freezer, until Haley comes next Wednesday. Our first order of business then will be to dig a hole and put her with John and all our other pets. I like to picture John sitting in a chair with all our beloved pets around and on him…makes me feel good.