OTTUMWA —
I noticed the counter on the lid of my Brita water pitcher indicating it was time for a new filter.
Hmmm, I thought. Now, where could those filters be? I just saw them ...
All spring I have had this memory problem. I know I have these things, but I can’t remember where they are. And you know whose fault it is? All those workmen who took over my house to make some improvements. I had to move everything out of a few rooms to allow the walls and ceilings to be made new again. I had never done this before, so it didn’t occur to me to make a list of where I put what ...
Now that the men are all gone, I cannot find some items like dishwashing gloves, the key to a file cabinet and the water filters. It took me a month to find drinking glasses that had been in a bag that had fallen between two chairs in a basement room.
My old movie films, the movie projector and my camera slides from fifth grade through college have been missing for years. I am hoping now that my basement has been cleared of a lot of junk, I can sort through the rest and find some treasures.
God bless the men who made my basement workable. As in new wiring, sorely needed (and now my daughter is off my back about that), some new plumbing and trip after trip up and down the basement stairs removing box after box after box … some of it not so bad stuff, but mostly trash. I made good use of that big black trash bin we all have, the red recycle bin and Jim’s old truck that made its home here a couple months.
In fact, a friend stopped by recently and wondered what the convention was here. Ha-ha, I said, you missed it. Others, too, commented on all the trucks in the driveway and yard — five at one time was the record.
It was like that nursery rhyme, the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker.
For me, it was the wiring man, the cabinet man, the floor man, the walls and ceiling man — the plasterer, the caulk man, the steps man, the painting man and the fireplace man.
The “jack-of-all-trades” man carried much of the basement crap outdoors and was a huge help in moving giant pieces like an old refrigerator, old chest freezer, big sofa, huge piano and old washer and dryer. It was oddly funny that most of the men drove red trucks. I don’t know why.
And the master man, the thinker and planner, was the best — the guy who kept it all running smoothly, acting as go-fer and wall patcher and any little thing that needed done. I couldn’t have done it without him. So, thanks, Jim. You are the best!
Now that I’m on search-and-rescue for items hiding in the basement, I must say that I’ll never go through a project like that again.
I may have “lost” a few things, but I’ve found a “new” home.
I love all the compliments I’m receiving. I just say thank you, but I know who deserves the thanks: The two Jims, John, Jack, Gary, Jeremy, Kenny and Dave.
I couldn’t have done it without you, guys!
Judy Krieger is a retired Courier editor.
Columns
June 11, 2012
Lost and found
Et Cetera
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