stuff i think

sorting things out....

Today we started packing in earnest. Well, in semi-earnest. I say that because we're still not entirely sure how much space we have to move with or how much space we have when we'll get there. It's an odd situation to say the least.

I worked quite a bit in the garage today. "Disaster" doesn't quite convey how bad it is, but it's best I can do. Kelsey gave me an early Christmas present in the form of two new toolboxes. One might argue that a man with seven tool boxes does not need two more, but the seven were in really bad shape.

With the exception of a couple of grout trowels, I have never purchased a tool in my life. I bought several grout trowels because I keep losing them between tile jobs and finding them afterwards. All of my tools came from the farm I grew up on. I have four pipewrenches. No one who is not a plumber needs four pipe wrenches. I think I had seven hammers when I started giving them away. Hacksaws? Three. Sockets? Too many to count. ViseGrips? At least 3 each in six, eight and ten inch sizes. A 10 inch ViseGrip is a sight to behold. It was what God was thinking when He created the pitbull.

I spent some time sorting tools and condensing down, eventually throwing out several of the older ones. It was not easy...not because I love to use them but because they all belonged to my dad. I spotted the six inch ViseGrip that he spot-welded one day after throwing it at the concrete floor of the shop, yelling "*#@#!$ ViseGrip!" I discovered the metric box-ends he was forced to buy when he purchased the New Holland combine. That machine made us rethink our theology on purgatory. I also saw the big green screwdriver that I left in the field one Fall (only to have it reappear in a tractor tire the next Spring).

Anyway, I thinned them out and created one Mother Of All Toolboxes, with one of everything from drill bits to a gorgeous little 3/16 box end wrench that looks more like a toy than a real wrench. The new toolbox weighs around seventy five pounds, which will stop me from lugging it around for fun. The toolboxes I tossed out were apparently made of cast iron and seemed to weigh that much even without the tools in them.

Did I mention that I have a huge variety of C clamps, three rasps, and a tin snips that could slice the sheet metal off a minivan?