In our own front yard……….

Well it has been an interesting last few days. The ruptured water heater necessitated pulling a lot of  stuff out of the garage onto the driveway in front of God and everyone. I will admit to positioning my truck at an angle to block the miserable view for some.

But out of this mini-disaster has come some timely waste removal, purging, hard decisions, and discovery of long forgotten treasures. As I write this at 0645 hours, the sun is up (a blessing with no rain) and the temp will reach 90 today with a touch of humidity. With only a little bit remaining for sorting, all that remains is a few corners of stacks that were high and dry. It would be easy to ignore them, but I have some momentum so I will continue this coming week through the holiday to sort and purge with hopefully a decisive momentum.

 

A telling pile in back are the Christmas decorations still down on the garage floor in June. It was a small miracle to access the attic in the garage in December and the cold temps and lack of desire to place the decorations back up in the attic resulted in them standing in a pile on the garage floor blocking access to anything and a reminder of our recent lack of momentum in life in general. Burn out?

Another pile of mostly outdoor gear. These cleanup events always make me contemplate the state of my (or someone else’s) life. This gear must be consolidated and USED more often!

 

A big pile of sorts in the garage, high and dry. The Tent Trailer and all the camping gear atop it plus two pontoon boats and fishing gear stack around the front. Another nagging reminder of what was and hope for what will be. The Tent Trailer has not been used in four years. The tags are long expired. The tires are low. There was never the comfort to slip away for a week or more of tent camping like the old days when every Summer had one or more outings. Elder care and hoarding cleanup have eliminated that for a while and this Summer too it seems. Maybe a short outing here or there in the Fall, but no camping this year.

These are seemingly simple decisions that make me (and my wife) question my tendencies to retain too much. This bench was built by me 50 years ago, when at 14, I started to lift weights in earnest. The bench has moved through multiple locations over the years and probably not been used in forty years. It used to be red. The hinges are obviously rusty but the screws are loose in the wood. The bottom of the bench, wet from the tank rupture was already rotting from ‘several’ years of setting on the garage floor. The obvious decision is to get rid of the bench because it is unused and it is degrading. My sentimental inclination is there, but I know the correct decision to make.

Whoa…Are We Hoarders?

Two days ago, we realized our water heater, our old water heater, had ruptured and flooded the garage. I mean what harm can 66 gallons and an open water line do? Stored in that garage, the garage that no car has ever been parked in…stored around a tent trailer and a large weight machine…are the accumulations of 17 years. 

When we moved into our existing home, we came from a larger home with much storage into a smaller home with minimal storage. Seemed manageable at the time. But, years later with our stuff and now storing our kids stuff, our home takes on a different look.

The kids are gone yet their stuff remains. Their bedrooms retain their stuff. The living room now holds all my daughter’s stuff post graduation. The garage retains a great deal of my son’s stuff.

A very wet box full of keepsakes. The Gnomes wondered if rescue was likely.

In spending many hours yesterday filling garbage bags and garbage cans with the sopping wet  stuff, my mind clashed with the visuals. For so many years, it seems, we have spent our free time cleaning up after two women that hoarded it all. Yesterday, and this morning, I have to be honest that a lot of what has been stored in the garage and retained has not been touched, if seen, in years.

As I rescued the Gnomes, I came upon the little glassine envelope with my son’s first lost tooth from long ago. Long forgotten, tucked away in a box, in a garage, on the floor.

One has to let the mind go there. One has to ask that hard, sobering question: Am I-We hoarding stuff? 

On a bright note, the Nasturtium seeds I planted are sprouting and the colors  of the Fuchsia lift the spirits at the Hoarding House.

Top Off the Box……No Storm Surge Here

As I sit this morning watching analysis of the pending arrival of Tropical Storm Sandy on the East Coast, I won’t feel the list bit sorry for myself working in the rain. The storm is still 500+ miles off the coast and it has already started surpassing the storm surge of Hurricane Irene. Prayers for all involved and the emergency services that will probably be overwhelmed in the week ahead.

 

In Back of the Sales….The Stacks & That Sinking Feeling

Right now there are three repositories of stuff (maybe more, I will explain). The house, which has barely been touched…the Shed (a 10′ x 15′ covered area) and the TP (a covered canopy 10′ x 20′).

I have handled the Shed and my brother-in-law the TP. The TP has suffered mightily. The load shifted after we crammed the TP in March. You recall we emptied out the mega storage locker and erected the TP to handle most of the contents. The boxes settled and shifted and tilted thereby raising the sides and allowing rainwater to run in under the boxes and make matters worse. Like a sinking city, the contents have not only drastically leaned to the side, but settled into a oozy, cardboard-contents mess of broken glass, muck and wetness. Not as bad as it once was in back for sure. But still not an nice environment to work in. 

The Shed is better off. The bottom boxes to have moisture and mold/mildew from the wet bricks but the load has not shifted as badly. These three areas provide the new ‘merchandise’ moving up front. When we are bent over and digging through all this stuff and attempting to remove worthy items…this is when intruders that bypassed barriers pop up. It is annoying, distracting and they are obviously snooping for whatever purpose.

I mentioned another source for stuff. Our home, other Team member’s homes. Although not a hoarding scene, there is a lot of stuff that we could move out right now. It is a perfect opportunity to clean out stuff. It lends some contrast to all the mid century stuff too. We shall see how diligent I am in cleaning out my own nest. I did move out some old fishing rods and they sold right away.

Hoarding Woes: “Vintage” & “Mid Century”

When you are cleaning up a hoarder’s home, whether filthy, jammed or filthy & jammed (there are varying degrees of smells, disease, disgust, damage regardless of the quantities of stuff), you (at least I) tend to view things in terms of money previously spent/wasted/regained or lost. Was that the most convoluted passage I have ever constructed?!

A constant reminder…past the hundreds of pieces on the patio or thousands of pieces inside the house, visible through the window.

However, in the continuing mental struggle between ‘toss it’ ‘donate it’ ‘move it cheap’ and ‘this could be valuable’ you do learn a bit about tacky stuff that has those quaint marketing designations like ‘vintage’ and ‘mid Century’ (this one irritates the hell out of me…don’t know why).

So, I have fallen prey to the eBay, collectibles researching mode to make sure we are not ‘giving it away’. Often that ‘vintage’ item is worth at least $12.00 instead of $1.00. You do the math and suddenly you are in my Auntie’s and Mom’s mode of thinking. “Well do the math. If we have five thousand pieces to sell and we at least doubled what we are currently asking….well look what we stand to make with our ‘merchandise’!”  This a trap that brings you to a halt. Do we sell this for $1.00? Do we sell the eight of them for $1.00 or are we sitting on something special? The refrain is ‘move it down the driveway!’ We will be here for the next two years at this rate (mindful it took us a year and a half to clean up my mom’s disaster). Yes, a part of me thinks about the possible loss of money. Another part of me is very tired of juggling so many variables beyond my core life. Simplicity and stability are craved.

Here is an example of researching the ‘TV lamp’ so popular in that magnificent ‘mid Century’ period.

TV LAMPS EASY ON THE EYES IN THE 50’s

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Water run off has been a real problem. I hate water problems! The water has run into our work areas on the driveway and back into the carport, garage and patio. I have spent this week digging three holes to about 3 feet deep and filled them with river rock and ground cloth. I still have another downspout to repair. It is raining right now, so we shall see if my concoctions worked. This was an example of trying to ‘rig something up’ given the time restraints and mess such work creates while the focus is on the bigger project. It will work for now.

Decay, Grit (Less Prep and More Mess)

My Aunt had all manner of outdoor furniture tucked away beneath tarps, boards, vizqueen and just out. Ironically this was, she told me one of her favorite pieces. It was wrapped in heavy plastic, bungeed and bound for protection from the elements. In the end, it took a worse beating than most of the pieces. It is even missing one side. It could probably be stripped down with a whole lot of work, but not by me. This is the heavy iron stuff not the cheaper aluminum.

Yet another critter bit the dust and in a spot I had already cleared. Wedged into a spot of the back yard tent we erected in March. Accelerated decay in the plastic. Stinking, putrid mess atop boxes of good stuff.

Water can be so pleasant and a vehicle toward satisfaction or it is a nemesis. Too many times leaks, seeps, just plain deluges cause damage and frustrations. I remarked about the gutters over flowing and soaking things on the patio. Today, I intended to clean the gutters. But what a clogged mess I found with little room to move a tool to remove the moss, grit, scum from the narrow opening of the ‘gutter’. I finally gave up because I was making a bigger mess with the running water than the rain did. I cleaned as much of the gutters as I could reach, but this is a problem I may not be able to rectify in time for the sales.

Today was not one of making the bigger gains. I wasted a lot of time and made bigger messes than I resolved. The electrical is nearly done, a small part remaining for tomorrow. There are now 22 tables. There is just a lot of clunky stuff set around that will not go on a table and is in the way too many times. The drop box is nearly full. The clock is ticking with 11 days to go.

Hoarding Woes: Too much of a good thing…water.

Yesterday, I left work early and headed down to the hoarding house to start filling the 6 yard drop box. So far, I really like that size for a moderate cleanup effort. It is definitely better than the Bagster concept we toyed with for a smaller cleanup. 

As I arrived the skies opened up hard, hard even for Portland. I have been remiss in not fixing a downspout-gutter problem off the patio and as the rain came down ever harder and harder the gutter overflowed and water went everywhere inside the patio and atop items set out. So, I need to get up on the roof (not my favorite places to be) and I need to throughly clean out the gutters for the house and patio cover that are jammed. This is a tedious project given the structure of the gutters and shields that are bolted in and quite rusty.

The Downpour ‘Flooding’ Patio and Carport 

Picture within a few seconds of turning off the recording a bright flash and within a few seconds a loud crack of thunder. Would have impressive hey?

I did fill up over half of the 6 yard box with bags of garbage that has been staged for several weeks. The old rickety card tables with rotted legs and funky hinges went bye bye. The few remaining worthy card tables are being used as supports beneath plywood.

The carport was thoroughly cleaned out and unlike the usual ‘stuff dance’ of moving it here and there, I made decisions to permanently remove items that are not worthy of donations or resale or retention. I scrubbed the floor with a heavy brush and cleaning agent and rinsed it down. The garage (beyond the white door) needs a good mopping because of the smells in there. Once a lot of the cardboard boxes and old newspapers (wrapped around glassware from the early 80″s) come out of the garage a lot of odor will be removed. Then the floor will be scrubbed.
Yesterday, I removed the old rotten carpet/rugs in the shop in the rear. If you recall, I nuked a whole hell of a lot of flies in there. They are all over the floor, counters and stuff. All that will be swept up and maybe a shop van will be christened. Even the damn sticky fly paper strips, full of dead flies, will be coming down. Removing the old carpet removed some of the odors in there.

Trying to loosen the accumulated gunk that coats the cement floors and driveway. I have come to see the driveway slopes back toward the carport and garage. As the water runs back it carries the particulate crap into the carport. There is a drain in the carport off to the side that catches the heavier water runoff but the crud is deposited atop the pad. Swabby Detail

The electrician comes today to finish the wiring and lighting. The drop box will continue to be filled with debris. The back tent with it’s collapsing load needs to be attacked today. The gutters over the patio need to be cleaned. Stuff needs to start coming out of the boxes and onto tables for pricing. It will be a long day/night.

My team has ‘temporarily’ disappeared for various reasons, mostly injuries and burnout. Hopefully, they will regroup to help in various ways. I will do what I can this weekend.

The old card tables propping up the plywood table tops. The table tops will have the upper shelf atop the milk crates too.

What A Mess & Let There Be Light

A mess on top of a mess on top of a mess and wet. I don’t have the photo’s but the comments were graphically conveyed in a loud, frustrated voice. Attention will have to be given to the side panels of the canopy that will help redirect runoff away from the interior. Also, I did forget to recover that pile of boxes…geeeze.

On a lighter note the electrician (get it? :-)) will be at the house in two hours to work tonight and this week. Tonight the garage interior and car port. Later this week outside outlets and lighting for the patio and driveway. No, I didn’t get into any ‘what the hell’ with yesterday’s stuff.

  Once I finish work, headed down to house to work tonight.

Rained All Night & The Canopy

Well, I am headed to work. The Team will head down to the house and check out the canopy and where all that rain water has been going all night. I also think I forgot to cover some stuff with a tarp I had peeled back to get at something. I don’t recall putting it back!