Wednesday, December 17, 2008

E Pluribus Unum !! Reducing The Chaos !!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poor Fluff !! Ths last month and a half her new office has been cluttered up with debris from my never - ending climb up the learning tree......... boxes full of books ! Before moving I gave away almost 80% of my personal library to various individuals and organizations and hardly realized that in spite of all that giving away I had still brought about 25 boxes of books and documents along here to Saint John ....the leftovers of a long career spreading the good news of wisdom and knowledge ...... much like a farmer spreads manure !!

So I went out the Kent Lumber and bought eight 8 - foot by 1 inch by 8 " knotty pine boards .... plus two lengths of 10 - foot 4"x 4" spruce ...... both cut up into 10 - inch long pieces .... which gave me a total of 24 blocks all told. It's a make - shift bookcase , simple to put up and dismantle...... like a bedouin tent in the desert. I have already emptied about 15 boxes .... and the smile on Fluff's face broadens with each new one I empty..... less clutter !! I left a one - block space under the bottom shelf so that she might "swiffer " more freely. It would be rather complicated to sand , stain and shellac my boards and blocks in our new lodgings.... so I shall simply put it off for now until next Spring when I can take  the pieces down the street to my friend , Dick Scott's backyard ........  and do the whole shebang outdoors in one fell swoop in the same afternoon with no worry about spilling or splashing stain or varnish on apartment floors , walls , etc.

 

 

18 comments:

  1. We once had a bookscase not dissimilar to yours. The legs were bricks and the boards were, well just boards we had scrounged. Of course the party of the second part insisted on painting the boards but that meant she was volunteering for that project. (c;

    We left the boards, bricks and lots of books behind when we moved. )c;

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  2. Good job!! I think I had a book case like that once upon a time also. Good job!!

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  3. Hey , Jim... weightwise and pricewise the wooden blocks proved to be just what the doc ordered..... supportwise also !! And anways I didn't want to0 eat up our precious space with a huge piece of furniture ... a bought bookcase. After our recent exploits .. and my age thrown in to boot....all I need now is something light I can fold and run with !!

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  4. Evening , Julie - Ann.... why thank you so much for your congrats...... I think almost everyone has gone through this stage at one time in his / her life ,,,, the mobile bookshelves .... usually , as Jim mentioned , with bricks ! HUgs !!

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  5. It look really nice! =o) You did a good job. Don't it look so much nicer with the book case instead of all them boxes? I have not moved since 2004, yet I do remember how good it felt for every box that I could empty.

    Ha en fin dag KRAM

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  6. Based on what everyone is saying here, they think you did a right good job...The shelves are a creative way to deal with books but from what I see, you have other things besides just books, like binders and folders plus stacks of envelopes. I am thinking a filing cabinet might be useful for some of it. Not the ugly metal kind but a tasteful, perhaps wood one would fit perfectly. Think that dust is the enemy here so the least amount of surfaces for it to accumulate the better all round.

    It may be only me but I think you are going to need more room for your stuff.

    I did a quick search on how to make it all come together (my brazen, unsolicited suggestions); http://preview.tinyurl.com/4255vg

    The site I sent has loads of other great ideas to make your new nest feel wonderful. Please forgive me if you think I am being bossy and presumptuous.

    Once I get my own book shelf all cleaned up, I will post a photo, so you can critique me. ;>)

    KRAM AND CRAM come to mind (hehe)

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  7. I need on of those but maybe not as long. I am sitting her thinking if I could pull it off or not. Hmmm! I wonder!
    I like it!

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  8. I had one of those! The braces however were decorative concrete blocks. Spray painted the pine a flat black, packed it full of books, put our small tv on top and christened it Boise Cascade. The thing followed me from NC to TN/KY, and then to NV. This was back in the days when I named everything I owned. That shelving I remember...and a paisley painted mailbox named Ira Hayes.
    My neighbors 'got' my politics from Ira's paisley coat, and the leftish lean he never lost. Boise was middle of the road stern n' sturdy...always ready to serve, suffering my reading material in stoic Western silence. ..

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  9. He's so "prevoyant"...........he even thought of the swifter......but by the looks of things, we are going to need a few more boards

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  10. Mon copain , Bill... the man who wrote the book on home improvement tricks !! I am simply brimming over with " prévoyance " ( foresightedness ) ...... as there are three more boards standing vertically against the wall just off the photo to the right..... and yes , swiffering has become a most popular passtime since the big move here. The wall to wall carpetting back in the ravine made for lousy swiffering whereas the laminated flooring here is ideal..... a real rink !

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  11. Ah ! The lady from Silven Glade !! Hey Angh... Is Boise Cascade still somewhere on the lot ? Or has it been overshadowed by Dan's Auto Body Shop parts and pieces ? Thanks for dropping by.....Hugs !!

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  12. Right you are , Mona.... emptying and getting rid of boxes after moving is like getting a good haircut in slow motion... I brought two more armfuls of them down to the basement this afternoon .... as they were sitting there in the corner doing nothing but blocking our way ... and it felt soooo good !! Hugs !!

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  13. You can surely pull it off , Cindy Ann... and ask Taylor to help you out a bit ... common project for granny / grand - daughter bonding. HUgs !

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  14. Hey Barb... no worry about bossing me as I don't mind it at all, Your suggestions are welcome and I deem Frank lucky to have you around to keep him on the straight and narrow ..... to show him how things should be done , so to speak .. LOL.... please stay warm up there in chilly .. snowy.. Québec . Hugs !

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  15. r has it been overshadowed by Dan's Auto Body Shop parts and pieces ?

    ROFL...everything has been overshadowed, indeed. A guy came hat in hand to offer Himself a Datsun pickup last week, and then DELIVERED the damn thing when the required $75 crossed his palm! We don't even have to leave the premises any more....the lawn ornaments just keep rolling in...

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  16. Yeah, come to think of it my wife painted both the boards and bricks. No undercoating so the paint started to peel over a short time. )c;

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  17. you crack me up...'like a farmer spreads manure!' laughing outloud here!



    k, now we know how much we are alike. here is my $20 Craig's List find. this is merely a representation of 1/10th of the books we owned. we did not want to move them...better that the were donated and given new homes. we are not packrats and this was a quest towards a simpler life. afterall, it's just stuff!

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  18. funny what was essential: music books, travel books, home improvement books, referrence books and computer books. the Holy Bible is scrunched in thre too, inbetween bird identification and Billy's book :)

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