Father's Day and the Garage

I announced Friday evening that this weekend we would start on the garage. We decided that we had a plan and we would work on the garage in sections.

Saturday morning rolled around and after I had my first and only cup of coffee we got started. The area closest to the back door was where we would start as it would be easy to bring stuff out onto the patio. But first I had to dispose of a bag of paper that had been around since 2005. We had decided long ago that anything with any important information on it would be destroyed somehow. This bag has been hanging because I didn't want to deal with it at the time. Today I dealt with it. There was all sorts of stuff in it that needed destroying but I was determined that I was not going to run it through my new shredder as there was a lot of dirt involved and i didn't want to destroy my shredder. So I got out the fire pit and started burning the items that need to be disposed of and the rest was put in a plastic bag to be taken to the recycling drop spot.

Dave hauled out bag after bag of plastic that was no longer being used that I went through and determined that most of it could be dumped but there was some of the items that could be sold in the garage sale that we are going to have in August when the students start to come back to town and are looking for bargains. I found a set of curtains given to me from our neighbors house 10 years ago. I will cut them down this next week and have Dave put them up in my bedroom as they are room darkening and they're all the right colors to boot.

Out came empty shoe boxes that we can dispose of. We kept them because the kids were needing them for dioramas for when they were in elementary and middle school how many years ago? The youngest is now 27. Out came items for serving food to large amounts of people. Those might come in handy when we hit the road, we will just have to see. Bags of rags and old clothes made an appearance and were quickly disposed of. Boxes of old taxes that we still have to keep were discovered an stored in the shed (That too will have to be gone through). We even discovered a Rubbermaid cleaning caddy that was loaded with cleaning supplies from my daughters house in Shawnee while she was in school there 10 years ago. It got emptied and cleaned up and discovered some items that were still usable, so cleaned the containers off and now I have a cleaning caddy that is now in good order. Recycled a lot of old plastic #1 and #2 containers. We are in the process of getting some containers for the garage to put recyclables in to make it easier to sort and take to the drop spot.

I even found my fathers wool blanket from the U.S. Navy in WWII. We washed it but it is full of moth holes but the printing is still on it so I may cut it to put in with the the book that I am working on about the love letters my dad wrote to my mom during WWII.

Once again I ask myself why are we keeping so much "stuff"? However today was a good start and once it became too hot to work outside (100 degrees) we came in and cooled off by emptying the front closet and carted off a bunch of coats and raincoats and hats to the Salvation Army Family Store.

Christie and I went to the store to pick up the fixing's for dinner tomorrow. We are going to have boneless ribs fixed in the crock pot and then I am going to do some baby back ribs on the grill along with grilled green bell peppers, red, yellow and orange sweet peppers, onions, mushrooms along with grilled corn on the cob and homemade bar-b-cue sauce.

My brother and his wife surprised us and we went off to Van's Pig Stand for dinner, a must place to eat. It's celebrating it's 80th birthday. For a description and a bit of history on Van's see the attached link above.

Sunday morning had brought us clear weather and out on the patio I am with my cup of coffee going through more stuff. It's mind boggling to think we kept all of this instead of dealing with it at an earlier date. Dave just brought me another load of things to go through. Ugh, will it ever end. Just how much stuff is in the garage? That's easy to answer...too much! I already have several boxes packed with old chemicals and such that will have to wait until next springs clean-up day to dispose of. More stuff to the curb, actually we have to put it in a garbage can and a truck comes along and dumps it. It is full to the brim so will have to pack more in next weekend.

Christie and I went all over Norman trying to find propane and had to go to south Oklahoma City to get some. It is more expensive than gas $3.13 a gallon. Dinner is on the grill and the corn on the cob is just about ready to pull off.

To all you Dad's out there...here's wishing you a wonderful Father's Day. If your children have grown an moved away. Remember all the wonderful times you had with them while they were growing up. The little league games, soccer games, school activities, camping trips and teaching them how to fish. If you are getting ready to be a dad, just think of all the wonderful things you have to look forward to. And to those dads that have children at home still...cherish these moments as they are fleeting. Remember to teach your children well.
Happy Father's Day...928 days and counting.

See ya out there...