July 27 – “Projects update”

The peg board is up on the wall behind the big workbench.  My most-used tools have their reserved spots.  Most used tools.  An interesting concept.  Wonder what other people consider important enough to make the wall of fame?  (OK.  That was a backhanded nod to Craig Biggio being inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame and having his plaque on the wall of fame up in Cooperstown.  Way to go, Craig).  For me it’s the most basic.  Hammer, needle-nose pliers, regular pliers, crescent wrench, smaller, very sharp version of my larger fishing fillet knife, a coil of extension cord, a set of wrenches, and a set of screwdrivers.  Oh, and some duct tape, of course.  Once I got everything I needed hung up, Chris stepped in with some design ideas and helped me do some decorating.  We hung up some old truck license plates I have been hanging onto for just this purpose. 

We got my Dad’s old vise bolted down to the workbench.  That thing weighs in the neighborhood of a ton.  I don’t ever expect to work on anything that requires quite that massive a grip, but the sentimental value made it well worth the effort.

The old table that has been serving as a work station since Hurricane Ike has officially been re-purposed.  I had to replace a piece of the hardware to get the legs screwed back in.  Then we painted the bottom and stained the top.  It not sits on the back porch waiting to be used as part of an outdoor dining experience.  Just yesterday we finished doing essentially the same thing for a tiny kids’ table that my Dad made from a student desk many years ago.  It, too, has been scraped, sanded, and painted, stained and designated for outside use along with its larger cousin. 

I put a clock up on the wall.  It even has a temperature gauge on it.  Not that I need a thermometer to tell me it is hot out there.  Quite a bit more stuff was moved to the attic.  The available storage space that once looked so massive is rapidly diminishing to nothing. 

I managed to fix the antique riding toy horse.  Managed to find the newer versions of the two obscure pieces that made the toy actually usable for tiny people like Luke and Noa.  Of course the first one to ride it was Cailyn.  She was just taking it for a test run, or so she told me. 

We got rid of the final cardboard roach hotel, er, box.  There are still a few out there waiting to make their way to Kel and Christina’s for moving usage.  Since one of the boxes was holding the smaller wood scraps that I keep around for projects, I turned the old metal rolling cart into a wood scraps holder.  Sorry, Nathan.  I guess I need the thing after all.  While I was at Village Hardware getting those obscure pieces for the horse, I found another garden tool holder for Chris’ smaller tools like spades.  Even went old school and hammered in a few big nails to hold the hedge trimmers.

And finally, just last night, Chris finished painting our outdoor furniture in an effort to hold off any further rust deterioration, at least for a while.  Unless something has changed, that set will find its way back up onto the deck, making the newly refinished table the downstairs dining instrument of choice. 

Phew.  Yes, there has been a flurry of activity in the wake of completing those workbenches.  I told Chris again that once I get an air conditioning system going out there and have cable installed for Astros games, we’ll be all set as far as the garage is concerned.  For some strange reason all she said was, “Well, we’re finished with the garage.”  Wonder what that means …

Philippians 3:10-11 says, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

Father, thank you for feelings of accomplishment.  You must have felt pretty good when you finished your work of creation.  Amen.