Monday Thoughts on Stuff

Last year, Bill said something about celebrating our tenth anniversary here (July 1) at the Lovestead this year by purging.  His idea was to get rid of all the stuff that has sat in boxes or has simply taken up space for the past ten years.

Good idea, I thought, especially zeroing in on those boxes of college-era clothing basics belonging to Willie that have sat in one of the upstairs storage rooms since we moved here in 2006.  

I've been thinking for nine years that Willie's probably never gonna wear all those big white athletic socks again.  One never knows, though.  They may come back in vogue.  

We have lots of other boxes that have seen no activity except for a time about three years ago when I searched through every box we own to see if some items packed in other boxes may have come to the house rather than that vinyl quansit storage shed that graced the property when we first moved in.

After my search, I'm thinking those items may have been stored there when the shed collapsed from heavy snow about a third of our way through living here at the Lovestead.  

Anything in those boxes was destroyed over the winter-long siege of a collapsed roof. Then, it went to the dump when we had a new building built. 

Except for that year of intense searching, many of the boxes on the floor in the shop where Festus, our lone cat,  lives have merely functioned as a place for him to rest and to shed ten years' worth of his hair.  It's kinda scary looking at them with their coats of cobwebs, dust bunnies and cat hair. 

Purging will be a good idea this year, but before we begin, we've just got to get over this recent siege of having to buy new things to replace the old things that have been falling apart lately, like lawnmowers and rototillers.  

I plunked down several dollars at North 40 yesterday (thanks, Mike, for your friendly help) for that lightweight tiller you see Bill using in the garden.  

It will go along with the new Sears lawnmower purchased last week, and Tony, our repairman, has fixed the zero turn mower, which means, altogether we have three working lawnmowers again and three simply taking up space.  

Tony promised to come by next week to haul away the 10-year-old Craftsman model to use for parts.  I think while he's here, I'll direct him to the 10-year-old weed eater and the other two lawnmowers that don't work. We also have a pull-behind lawn sweeper (just the rage a few years back) which has fallen apart. 

Maybe I need to tell Tony to bring a big flatbed when he comes.  

I don't think, however, that he's gonna offer up to take the two dead vacuum cleaners or all the boxes of accessories to various Big Blue blow-up pools we've had over the years.

We do have a lot of pool accessories and maybe even a couple of ladders, if any hoarders are out there interested in adding to their household junk. 

And, then there's the $50 homemade plow we bought at an Albertson family yard sale long before we moved here from Great Northern Road.  We brought it with us, and as far as I know, it has never plowed one drop of sod since we've owned it. 

Somehow I think the Albertson's wouldn't mind if we sent it on its way to a new home where it can sit for several more decades. 

Maybe if we do get busy at our purging, we'll have more room for all the mechanical newbies we've had to add since the oldies but baddies fell apart. 

In thinking about our ten-year purge and our recent forking out of cash for new items to add to the mix, I also had another comforting but dreadful thought:  maybe these will be the last such purchases for our lifetime. 

And, maybe we ought to just leave those boxes of Willie's college clothes right where they are so when Willie comes to purge all of Mom and Dad's stuff, he'll get really excited when he finds his vintage white socks in that box.

Lots of that kind of stuff comes to mind these days.  

In other news, this is Day 5 of my week of "taking it easy," so that's why Bill rototilled the garden, and it's probably why that brand new "Earthquake" tiller is still working. 

Good stuff for upcoming meals is going into the soil, though.  My stand-up planter boxes have onions, chard, carrots, spinach, potatoes and some herbs.  I think I'll put out a few tomato plants this week and a few corn stalks but will keep the cukes inside for a while longer.   

We're putzing along with the projects and enjoying it. When we get all the garden stuff done and the lawn mowed once again, let the purging begin!

Happy Monday.