If
you’ve read previous posts, you know how annoyed I get from time to time about
John and the crap-fest he left behind for me to deal with. It was Wednesday afternoon when I began to write this. My plan was to spend a couple more hours out in the garage sorting
through crap on top of the time I already invested. Just to give you an idea of what I’m dealing with, I’m including
some photos as it looks before I go out there to continue organizing.
Prior
to my friend Dave coming down to take home those boxes of drawers full of screws,
etc., mentioned in a previous post you couldn’t see the window. In addition,
the workbench in front of the window was piled high with stuff. I know you’re
dying to know what I found in that pile. How about a bunch of sparkplugs…I’m
wondering if they’re the ones that came out of the ’57 Chevy pickup when AJ was
16. I also found a wide variety of screws, nuts, bolts, miscellaneous carpentry
stuff and other things I have no idea about.
I
also found I don’t know how many sets of socket wrenches. I put them all
together in a tray that’s now in front of the window. I found lots of
screwdrivers that are now housed together, a seriously broken hammer, a good
hammer and a whole bunch of electric cords. I wound up the cords and cinched
them together with zip-ties I put all the extension cords I could find in one
box and it’s on a shelf now.
As
I found stuff in boxes or just loose, I put them into a box of miscellaneous
stuff destined for either Goodwill or a garage sale. In one of the photos,
you’ll see a green cabinet with a bunch of drawers. Today I’ll finish emptying
those drawers and adding to the pile of plumbing, electrical, carpentry, etc.,
materials.
Yesterday
when I began on the green cabinet, I became aware once again of John’s
passive-aggressiveness. A long time ago, I wanted new cabinets in the kitchen.
Instead, John had a nephew of a friend who was in the painting business take
the doors and paint them. I did get to pick the color. I also wanted new hinges
and, especially pulls. I got neither, but in that green cabinet were more than
enough pulls to replace all the ones in the kitchen. I may even have found some
hinges, but I’m not sure. The kicker here is John preferred and installed a
certain type of doorknobs and switch plates…these pulls would have matched
perfectly.
It's
now Thursday and I didn’t get a thing done yesterday as planned. Well, I did
actually, but that was just moving stuff around so the men who come to mow and
edge my lawn could get the lawnmower through the garage. So, today, while Haley
is behind the fence and in the chicken-yard eliminating overgrowth of the wild
stuff in the greenbelt that loves to invade my garden I’ll continue sorting and
sifting.
By
Saturday, I want to have the various boxes and containers on the table in the
middle of the garage. My sons are coming over to cut up the old hot tub and
remove it from the deck. I’m hoping they’ll have a few minutes to look through
the crap on the table when they finish the hot tub and decide if it should be saved
for my garage sale, taken to Goodwill, or the most likely choice put in a
recycle or garbage bin. Maybe there’ll even be enough room for them to pull
down a few boxes from the attic while they’re here.
On
the other hand, I still have to go through the one small red tool chest, the
filing cabinet, the larger red tool chest. There’s no order to whatever is in
those containers. I glanced at the contents last fall and there’s no rhyme or
reason as to the contents. I think John just opened any old drawer or cupboard
and put whatever he had in his hand in there. Dave joked about wanting to
borrow a tool and how John would search hither, thither and yon, and occasionally
come up with whatever he wanted to borrow.
Since
I’m such an organized person, I find it really hard to understand how and why
John couldn’t have put some sort of thought into a system so that everything
had a place. I have a friend whose husband passed away some time ago. When she
began to sort through all the tools, she couldn’t believe how many hammers,
screw drivers, etc., he had. She said she thought that every time he needed a
hammer, he couldn’t remember or find where he’d left the hammer he used last. So,
he took a trip to the hardware store and bought a new one.
There
are buckets and boxes out there as you can see from the photos. I have no idea
what’s in them, so my sorting and sifting will continue for some time I think.
I just wish I had a better understanding of what might have some value and what
doesn’t. Maybe on Saturday I’ll get a better idea of that when the boys look at
what’s on the table. Maybe I’ll even get lucky and they’ll want to cart off
various tools, screws, nails, whatever. If not, I’ll at least get some
direction for my future days in the garage.
