Part I
I’ve had this nagging problem of living long enough to have accumulated an awful lot of ‘stuff’ that I USED to Own… but which now Owns ME. The ‘Stuff’ is everything imaginable that relates to Mechanical Repair and GOK “God Only Knows) projects going back before the time before many of your own Fathers were born. But since: "Death is a Gentleman, Too… He Makes ‘Good Losers’ of Us ALL...”
I can’t ...and for the most part never would want to ...take all of these “Things” with me when I ‘Step off into The Void to see what The Great Mystery is all about’. What comes to mind about having all this ‘stuff’ reminds me of what Prof. Howard Carter described the first time he broke open the seal on King Tutankhamen’s Tomb and saw that this young Egyptian King WAS able to take everything he might need right along with him after he died in a Two Wheel Chariot Hunting Accident and was ceremonially entombed. Carter’s eyes bugged out when he whispered that he could see: “Things… Wonderful Things...”
Me… Not so much. When I’m Dead… As far as I’m concerned...they can stick a Carrot in my Hiney and let the Rabbits drag me away to fight over me for all I care. But… since I DO have so many ‘Things’ in my Garage and in various rooms around the house that I’d like to leave to my family and still get all this Junk out from under foot (& cane) while I can still move around and give my Garage some Blessed Breathing Space… I need to Build Me a Shed. Hell, who knows… if I can move enough of ‘The Stuff’ out of the way it might even make enough room for me to get the Trailblazer pushed up a little closer to the Garage when the time comes to pull out the Old 2002 TB Engine and install the 2004 Re-Manned Engine when its finished.
Wow… Now those are some serious aspirations when you consider that the only way to Clean Out One Garage… is to have Another Garage to put all of the stuff that has conspired to get in the way. You would not believe it, but almost a decade ago I was preparing a space in the back yard by building a raised platform constructed out of weather and bug treated lumber and completely painted every stick of lumber (Yup… even the Achilles Tendon of the feathered open edges of the Plywood Flooring) with weather resistant paint. The platform I built back then was 10’W X 16’L X 8”D and strong enough to support any building or shed I might add later on. I covered the broad plywood floor spaces with the Gray Rubber Utility Mats sold by HF and Gorilla Black Taped them all together as a decent, easy to walk on surface for accessing the storage area.
As a temporary solution… Way back then, I bought two of those Giant Yellow Tarps from HF and at the time, I moved enough stuff out onto that platform of the things that needed moving to clear much needed Garage utility space. After covering it all with the Tarps held down with Cinder Blocks, I seldom ventured back there on perhaps only a few occasions since and so that platform has never been finished and used to its full capacity. But Lo and Behold… Enter the Arrow Metal Shed and Utility Building Company with a Metal Shed that will be capacious enough to do justice to the work I put in with laying down that platform so many years ago. This is the one I chose:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Arrow-Galv...nterior-Dimensions-9-85-ft-x-13-13-ft/3125503
Before I finally settled on an Arrow Shed Model that has the Classic Barn Roof Design and occupying the dimensions of 10’W X 14’L X 7’ 8”H and ordered it for a scheduled delivery a few days ago. The next problem I had to overcome was to hire The Yard Man who was able to remove all of the foliage and junk blocking the entrance and egress to the Platform and be able to openly construct the metal edifice. I wanted to figure out if this was something I could actually do myself since the hard part in my opinion is getting a level Platform made first. Of course everybody and his Brother has a video showing how they “ ...put together a Utility Shed with an Eiffel Tower ARRL Short Wave Antennae on Top...Blah, Blah, Blah...” … in 20 Minutes with a Swiss Army Knife. Yeah… Right. But No… for to my very great surprise… a diminutive but resourceful woman who probably does not reach 5 Feet in Height was able to construct a similar size Arrow Building and document these activities in the following Youtube Series:
...and follow all (5) Sections of how she does the Build… I know… I know she could have done things a little better here and there ...but at least she DID this job all by herself!
… To Be Continued in 10 Minutes…
I’ve had this nagging problem of living long enough to have accumulated an awful lot of ‘stuff’ that I USED to Own… but which now Owns ME. The ‘Stuff’ is everything imaginable that relates to Mechanical Repair and GOK “God Only Knows) projects going back before the time before many of your own Fathers were born. But since: "Death is a Gentleman, Too… He Makes ‘Good Losers’ of Us ALL...”
I can’t ...and for the most part never would want to ...take all of these “Things” with me when I ‘Step off into The Void to see what The Great Mystery is all about’. What comes to mind about having all this ‘stuff’ reminds me of what Prof. Howard Carter described the first time he broke open the seal on King Tutankhamen’s Tomb and saw that this young Egyptian King WAS able to take everything he might need right along with him after he died in a Two Wheel Chariot Hunting Accident and was ceremonially entombed. Carter’s eyes bugged out when he whispered that he could see: “Things… Wonderful Things...”
Me… Not so much. When I’m Dead… As far as I’m concerned...they can stick a Carrot in my Hiney and let the Rabbits drag me away to fight over me for all I care. But… since I DO have so many ‘Things’ in my Garage and in various rooms around the house that I’d like to leave to my family and still get all this Junk out from under foot (& cane) while I can still move around and give my Garage some Blessed Breathing Space… I need to Build Me a Shed. Hell, who knows… if I can move enough of ‘The Stuff’ out of the way it might even make enough room for me to get the Trailblazer pushed up a little closer to the Garage when the time comes to pull out the Old 2002 TB Engine and install the 2004 Re-Manned Engine when its finished.
Wow… Now those are some serious aspirations when you consider that the only way to Clean Out One Garage… is to have Another Garage to put all of the stuff that has conspired to get in the way. You would not believe it, but almost a decade ago I was preparing a space in the back yard by building a raised platform constructed out of weather and bug treated lumber and completely painted every stick of lumber (Yup… even the Achilles Tendon of the feathered open edges of the Plywood Flooring) with weather resistant paint. The platform I built back then was 10’W X 16’L X 8”D and strong enough to support any building or shed I might add later on. I covered the broad plywood floor spaces with the Gray Rubber Utility Mats sold by HF and Gorilla Black Taped them all together as a decent, easy to walk on surface for accessing the storage area.
As a temporary solution… Way back then, I bought two of those Giant Yellow Tarps from HF and at the time, I moved enough stuff out onto that platform of the things that needed moving to clear much needed Garage utility space. After covering it all with the Tarps held down with Cinder Blocks, I seldom ventured back there on perhaps only a few occasions since and so that platform has never been finished and used to its full capacity. But Lo and Behold… Enter the Arrow Metal Shed and Utility Building Company with a Metal Shed that will be capacious enough to do justice to the work I put in with laying down that platform so many years ago. This is the one I chose:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Arrow-Galv...nterior-Dimensions-9-85-ft-x-13-13-ft/3125503
Before I finally settled on an Arrow Shed Model that has the Classic Barn Roof Design and occupying the dimensions of 10’W X 14’L X 7’ 8”H and ordered it for a scheduled delivery a few days ago. The next problem I had to overcome was to hire The Yard Man who was able to remove all of the foliage and junk blocking the entrance and egress to the Platform and be able to openly construct the metal edifice. I wanted to figure out if this was something I could actually do myself since the hard part in my opinion is getting a level Platform made first. Of course everybody and his Brother has a video showing how they “ ...put together a Utility Shed with an Eiffel Tower ARRL Short Wave Antennae on Top...Blah, Blah, Blah...” … in 20 Minutes with a Swiss Army Knife. Yeah… Right. But No… for to my very great surprise… a diminutive but resourceful woman who probably does not reach 5 Feet in Height was able to construct a similar size Arrow Building and document these activities in the following Youtube Series:
...and follow all (5) Sections of how she does the Build… I know… I know she could have done things a little better here and there ...but at least she DID this job all by herself!
… To Be Continued in 10 Minutes…