A Day in The Basement

I have mentioned cleaning and/or rearranging the house.  You wouldn't believe how little difference that usually makes.  Time spent is like cleaning up 10% after a tornado.  I try.  And while *I* can tell the difference, few others would.

So today was cleaning off the accumulated stuff on the table saw.  I wanted actually USE it.  The rule is that before you can do ANYTHING you have to do something else first.   So I wanted to use the tablesaw that had stuff on it (any horizontal surface collects stuff).  That meant I had to move that stuff. All sorts of gardening stuff.

To do THAT, I had to but them where they belonged on a shelf under the stairs,  But to do THAT, I had to clean the sawdust and junk from there.  And to do THAT, I had to get stuff out of the way.  And to do THAT, I had to move THAT stuff.  You see where this is going...

So I put the damn bicycle I bought (because I thought I would ride it for exercise) out of the way.  It ended up leaning against the fireplace I don't use these days. 

THAT meant I could push a cabinet on wheels into a corner. 

Which meant I could actually take stuff OUT from the understairway shelf to Of course, the table saw.  Progress comes and goes...

But with the shelf empty, I could vaccuum the sawdust out.  Which meant dragging out the shop vac.  And I found stuff in there I had forgotten existed.  Arrows.  Posters.  One was a 70's poster about comic strip characters all drawn together.  Another was even unopened.  I opened it.  It is a map of the LOTR Middle Earth.  Given that it is untouched after 30 years, it is probably worth something.  I have stuff like that all around.

But I cleaned the shelf.  And started sorting out the various garden bottles by type.  I'm generally organic, but I have poison ivy (not organic) and mole repellent stuff (organic). More than I realized, in fact.  The moles are going to have a VERY BAD 2020 here.

And I had cleaned a dozen boxes I was saving because they were all the same size and decided I didnt need the from in front of the internal heat pump part.  

And I have organic fertlizers and fruit sprays (a clay spray).  And finally, I have all my rooting hormones in one place.  3 bottles (I kept losing them).  And several pH sets of test strips.  Useful if I ever get the 8' pond set up again.  Point being that I have too much stuff in duplicates.  Cleaning reveals that. 

So the table saw was clear.  That meant I could vacuum it clean.  And the metal part could use an auto wax...  Since my car never gets waxed, I'll have to buy some.  Maintenance is NOT MY BIG THING. I drive a 15 year old SUV with paint rubs, dents and scrapes.  The battery only works because I have a trickle charger on it.  I could easily buy a new one, but I hate all the stuff that come with new cars.  Tell-tale equipment, auto brakes, internet of things...  I don't want that.

But there ARE pictures...

From left to right, mole stuff, herbicides, insecticides, fertilizers, and test equipment...

The cleaned tablesaw.  And yes it is a fancy one.  I need all the help I can get.

The cleaned area in front of the internal heat pump unit...  And yes that is the cat PTU in red on the right.  I don't dare bring it upstairs until they are all outside.  They panic seeing it.  And they haven't all been outside at the same time.  Some days are like that.

My lettuces under lights...  And some ivy I intend to pot up.

That damned bike...  The tires are both flat.  The sellers tricked me on that, pumping them up just before I bought it.  But it didn't matter.  It turns out you CAN forget how to ride a bike.   I gave it a go and fell over twice.  I need to donate it somewhere.