July 10th, 2006

Dancing Thru

Screen room excavated

I have to admit that having help, even when I have to do most stuff myself (boxes to sort and determine to pitch, keep, or Deal With Later), makes it a lot easier to get things done. I'm not certain if I've *ever* gotten all the way to the back wall of the screen room, since moving into the house. I doubt it.

I do know I was finding items going back to...ahem...my college days. (Also found some magazines that had articles I'd written in them, that I'd forgotten about. Which actually is a description of most of my writings. I tend to forget what I've written. These were ones that made me actual money, too...) Lots of things related to friends who are no longer with us, too. The one that was actually kind of neat was the birthday card from my father, which was marked "insufficient address, return to sender" and was unopened until I found it. Like getting a card from beyond the grave.

And lots and lots and lots of SCA-related stuff, from a bag of bird blunts to bits and pieces of old armor to the Kingdom of the West Constabulary archives, to piles of old waivers from events that happened in the 1980's. Pieces of garb, eating utensils. Even boffer weapons.

I am also convinced that room was not just the repository of Dead Furniture, but that of Dead and Obsolete Electronics. Hmm, a box set of Gem, lots of 8 1/2" floppies. Old stereo components. Old computers. I think a trip of the electronics recyclers is forseen.

I don't even want to know how many old boxes Dan and I broke down, yesterday. I put them out for cardboard recycling and they disappeared--yay! Some were old supermarket boxes that were full of old magazines, junk, misc. oddments. I transferred some to new boxes in better shape. Did some sorting at the same time.

When I got up this morning, Dan was in the driveway, cleaning up what he calls "ghost poop" (drifting bits of packing peanuts, which get everywhere) and arranging boxes so as to clean up a bit, expecially since I need to get the cannon out for an event, this coming weekend. He did a good job, and I was thrilled. Having someone to help out around here, in exchange for a place to stay, is already proving to be useful. He's been cleaning my ice chests, too. Wow.

Scary things I've learned:
* a bag of raw wool will turn into a complete ecosystem, if left alone long enough: said ecosystem will include dirt, and generations worth of insects that feed on each other.
* dirt is all-pervasive. Even when you think you've cleaned and cleaned, there is still more dirt. And it gets very thick in areas that haven't been disturbed for years. Even mopping doesn't get it all.
* packing peanuts, even when originally contained in boxes and bags, will eventually drift and get *everywhere.* They will also degrade into pea-sized bits, making cleanup even harder.
* there is always more Cardboard
* you will always find things you have no recollection of. In my case, this included an entire bag of what appear to be Regency costumes. Say, huh?
* the bottoms of bags and boxes, once sound, will become considerably less so with age

All in all, I'm happy with the results I've achieved!
  • Current Mood
    accomplished accomplished