Firearms Friday: Returning To The Work Bench

Try as I might, it has been extremely difficult to find the time to spend at my workbench. Whenever I thought that there would be a little bit of time to spend in the basement there would be something that would come up requiring my time and attention leaving the dust to collect for another week or two below the kitchen floor. That is just how things go sometimes when trying to juggle a variety of commitments at the same time while also dedicating time to family. However, every once in a while I am able to create the time to wipe away the dust and resume putting the pieces together.

Over the past couple of weekends, while the air conditioning was being overhauled by my brother-in-law in the basement, I was able to carve out some of that time. As the pieces were being put together and secured to the studs, I was busy at my work bench trying to find some semblance of organization and attempting to get a few of the smaller planned projects completed. While I was little help with the air conditioning and duct work, I am in my element when I have my bench, my tools, and the parts and pieces with which I am familiar.

There were many moments when we were both intensely occupied by our own tasks pulling tools, hammering pieces together, and watching each of our respective projects come together. Piece by piece, minute by minute, we each took a simple collection of parts and pieces and created something functional. It has been rather relaxing to just focus on the process and each step necessary to complete a fully functional firearm. It is somethings that I can do rather quickly but I am intentionally slowing things down and focusing on each screw, pin, and detail.  

Eventually I will resume the more involved projects but, for now, I was just enjoying the few days of working with my hands on some of the most basic tasks that I have been putting off. But, the important thing now is that I have been able to take the organization to the next level and I am now fairly comfortable with how everything is set up, what has been checked off the list, and what I have yet to start but that is stored away in boxes like adult Lego sets. I don’t know when I will be back down there, there are a lot of other things that need to be accomplished, but I can now, more than ever before, get to work right away should I find that little bit of time.

Uncovered During Some Digital Digging

Buried in one of the many old files that have been passed down from computer to computer over the last seven years I stumbled across a small word document containing the notes for a few story ideas that I jotted down back in 2009 while riding the train to work. There are a few interesting ideas and a number of options regarding the directions that these brief glimpses can go. What I find most interesting is I can remember each building, station, and person that I passed when these ideas came to mind. However, there are also many issues and a heck of a lot of polishing that needs to be done in each instance but thought I would share because it is interesting at times to consider the raw idea…

Her neck flexed and vanes protruded as the rope swung forward and back. A dripping lead pipe kept time in the echoes of the opposite corner. In the cool cavernous corner of the basement she pursed her lips for one more breath of musty air. Her body relaxed, she struggled to caress her lungs with one more pollen laden breeze.

She found the staccato of the braided hemp stuttering as it rubbed across the wooded floor support to be soothing. The light shaking reminded her of collecting tickets for the roller coaster at the amusement park on the boardwalk. At the end of the night, with the cool ocean air swollen with the stale smells of caramel corn and hot dogs, she would take the last ride.

She knew every turn, every drop. She sat in the same seat, front right, every night.

Pressing the start button, the hydraulics would hiss, and she would run to her seat. As the car began to climb the spiraled ascent she would pull the lap bar down, cross her legs, smile, and watch as Ocean City went to sleep.

As she neared the top the clicking crescendo echoed across the now empty park. Slowly, the car would tip forward and she would close her eyes and listen for the crashing waves.

The wind filled her lungs and caressed her face as she recalled every turn and dip, side to side, front to back, until the ride was over.

***

What is written by the hand is determined by the mind. The devious script of the foreseeing mind tells all. These hands shall harm no more than paper.

He studied the hand written letters line by line, word by word, letter by letter.

“See here. He Stopped. Like he was thinking. Like he didn’t know what came next.”

“Where? I don’t see it.”

“Right here.” He pressed his calloused finger to the middle of the first sentence. “Right there, as the d trails in the word hand there is a hesitation. The ink bleeds.”

“You’re right. As if he didn’t know what to say. That might explain why it is so cryptic.”

He brushed the note with the tips of his fingers mumbling something that, by his expression, seemed to be a circle of questions.

“What is it?”

“A man who takes so much pride in his writing, in his work, but no signature.”

“Why is that?”

“I don’t know yet.”

***

The elderly man stared out the lower deck window of the arriving New Jersey Transit train.

“I know that walk.”

The half asleep crowd paid no attention to the hunched over man with the long white beard.

“I know that walk!”

Not a single look glanced his way as he pressed his hands against the window trying to grasp the shoes walking past.

“I know that man!”

The train hissed to a quick stop, the doors slid open, and the determined herd hurriedly pressed toward the nearest escalator.

The old man waited for the crowd to pass, slowly pressed himself to his feet, and took slow, measured steps toward the grinding paddles of the moving stairs.

As his eyes passed the horizon of the Penn Station lobby floor he saw those same salt stained brown shoes that passed by his window.

He slowly lifted his head and as his eyes met those of the owner of the brown leather shoes his brow lifted.

Both men stood in silence. They were of similar age and height. The two old me slowed their breathing. Mist pouring from the other man’s clean shaven face while the warm breath rolled from under the old man’s white beard.

The other man strained to stand strait, wincing as he pulled his chest up. In a disbelieving raspy whisper the other man said, “I thought you were dead.”

The old man responded with deliberate words, “I’m surprised you didn’t kill me.”

There may be something to the ideas above… of course, there may not be anything at all. I guess I am going to have to give them some more thought and try to find any notes or outlines that may be scribbled somewhere else. After that, it will all come down to finding the motivation to pursue the stories, develop the characters, and let everything unfold before me without over thinking the process of progression. That has always been the hardest part for me.

TMI Tuesday: Who Knew Cleaning Was So Much Fun

Our Son's New Toy!

My wife and I entered the childcare search with a little trepidation not really knowing how to approach the process. We have already found a great daycare in the area but there are times when we would like to get out for the evening or have someone at the house when either the daycare is closed or when our son is home sick. While we know that our family is there whenever we need them, we can’t expect them to make the long drive out to us all of the time. We also have a number of people that we know in closer proximity but that is where the allergy part of the equation comes into play… our home needs to remain free of cats (and their dander), nuts, and shellfish.

In the responses that we received through Care.com there were a number of them that pretty much disqualified themselves simply in how they responded to our posting. Some didn’t bother reading what we had written (to the point of addressing their communication to some other name entirely), others had no business in childcare, a few wanted us to pay them for dropping our son off at their house, and others touted their love of animals of all kinds (see the first noted disqualifier). As for the other, thankfully, my wife’s background has been tremendously helpful in weeding out some of the “candidates”.

It took some time but finally we came across someone with a background that we were looking for, the clearances we were requiring, and a personality that matched well with our family. Despite our son’s grumpy sleepiness, this initial impression was proven correct when we met with her last week. As a bonus, she was also willing to take on the chore of cleaning our home on a weekly basis eliminating our need to conduct a second search. Sometimes things seem to just fall into place.

Not wanting to waste any time, and also wanting to get a handle on the cleaning, we had her start this past weekend to see how she would interact without our son and how our son would interact with her. After only a few minutes it was as if they had known one another all along and our son even “helped” her clean a little following close behind with a duster double checking her work and pushing his “vacuum” back and forth across the play room taking care all of the spots she missed. More importantly, he was comfortable having her around and the two of them played and read together for much of the morning which allowed my wife and I to take care of some organizing around the kitchen.

It took some time to find someone but sometimes you have to wait for the right opportunity to come about to find that perfect fit for your family. Fortunately, I also had a copy of his baby book on hand to get her up to speed! Looks like things may work out and we should have some time for ourselves moving forward and a clean house every week which will allow us to spend more quality time with our little boy on the weekends. And that is well worth the extra expense of having someone come in once a week.

A means to get the care giver up to speed!

Firearms Friday: Miscellaneous Parts

This summarizes the majority of the spare parts that I have... 

When sorting through the boxes, drawers, and safes around my work bench it is amazing how much stuff that I am able to uncover. Not only is it a useful exercise in updating my parts inventory but it is also a means to reorganize all the miscellaneous items that got put aside at one point or another but never properly cataloged. Not get me wrong, anything with a serial number is well documented but anyone that does any gunsmithing or replaces parts knows that there are always pieces that simply get consumed by the workbench.

However, what I find to be the most interesting part of the process if not finding the useful parts and pieces that I can either use right away or store in my bench for later but the parts that I have no idea how I got them. Well, that isn’t completely true. Many of the items revealed during the excavation are from firearms that I used to own. We all have that miscellaneous box or drawer of parts laying around full of items that we thought we would use but never did. Before we knew it, the parts had been swallowed by the work bench and the firearm was sold or traded.

Then there are the parts to firearms that I never owned. These come about because of three very simple reasons: I hope to own that particular make/model in the future; I didn’t read the box, bag, or description closely enough and bought the wrong nonreturnable item; or, it was too good of a deal on a part that I can easily use for trade fodder. I know that I am not alone in having some things fall into one of these three categories.

At this point it is a matter of pulling together all of the different parts and separating them into a system that will work moving forward. Actually, it is more about updating the current system. This basically comes down to parts that I expect to use immediately, backup parts and those that were swapped out, parts that I will use in the future upon acquisition of the correct firearm, and those that will be exclusively used for trade fodder or will be sold. Of course, this is all in the hope that I will be able to maintain this means of organization moving forward and now that my wife and I have settled down that is actually a possibility.

Mortgage Monday: The Work Never Ends!

Or Both!

 While it has always been a constant project on our list of things to do, now that we own our own home, cleaning is something that I try to put greater emphasis on. And with so much more room than we have previously had in rentals, there is a lot of cleaning to do. It is a never ending list of things that need to be scrubbed, swept, washed, or rinsed. And that is just the things on the inside of the house.

Now that we have some property (and no management company), there is a lot of yard work that has yet to be done. While I should have taken care of many of these things immediately after settlement, it was a project that was quickly put on the back burner once the temperature got colder and the snow began to fall. After all, nothing like a fresh blanket of white to hide all the leaves still covering most of the planting beds.

We have been pretty good about keeping the interior of the house in relative order (organization is still lacking) but, now that the weather has turned warmer once again, all of the things that we have been putting off in the yard have to be addressed and, at this point, we are ill prepared to tackle the task. The first step is going to be buying a tractor and a better rake or leaf blower. After that it is all about setting aside the time to get things done.

However, the more I think about many of these things, the more I find myself considering hiring a cleaning and/or yard service company to take care of all these tasks. While it would undoubtedly add an additional line item on our budget, it may be worth the money so that we can spend more time with our son. After all, our schedules are still quite a bit hectic and blocking off another brick of time would be less than ideal. Definitely something to consider.

While the extra time and effort has been inconvenient at times, it is still well worth it as we are taking care of a place that we own rather than someone else’s property. It is important to remember that there are great things about being a homeowner and they definitely outweigh, by a large margin, the inconveniences, but it is not a utopian dream. There is work that comes with home ownership and also a sense of pride in caring for your property. Sometimes, though, you just have to figure out the best way to balance everything and we are definitely still working on that aspect.

Firearms Friday: Finally Getting Organized

Now that's a work bench!

It has only taken five months but I am finally getting around to organizing my work space. Within the first couple of weeks after we moved in, I did take the time to get all the boxes downstairs, unpacked a few, and stacked the rest neatly in the corner for when I had some more time to dedicate to the endeavor. With the exception of adding a few boxes and retrieving a few items, this is pretty much as far as I got with regard to organizing my work space.

The reason for this lack of progress is simple. It was quite the adjustment during the first few months in our new home and during that period of time there were other projects that took precedence over my designated basement work space. When there was some free time on the horizon a couple of months ago, once again, there were other matters that needed to be taken care of before I could spend the time needed below ground.

Now that a few things have seemingly slowed down and I am finally getting caught up on the various projects and responsibilities that have been hanging over me over the past couple of months, the time has come to set aside the time to get things organized. Of course there is also the motivation (mentioned last week) to complete a few projects and pull together a number of items to be sold. Sometimes you just have those moments when you need to cull the heard and with the unexpected expenses that my wife and I have incurred lately, a little extra cash would be welcomed.

It will also be nice to take stock of the parts that I have. While I have a spreadsheet to track much of the material huddled in the corner of the basement, I am certain that there are a few things that may have slipped through and I would like to know exactly what I have before I resume building. After all, you never know... I might be able to take a few of my personal projects up a few notches. However, the most important thing is that I will be able to have the space organized so that, in the future, I can take care of a few things when I have ten minutes here or there rather than waiting, as I have been, until I have a day to get things done. That would be nice.

TMI Tuesday: Finding EVERYTHING on the floor!

Even before our son began crawling he would find the most minuscule piece of trash, hair, dust, crumb, lint, or string hiding in the carpet around him. Now that he is mobile and crawling at a clip that would impress even the most hard-nosed drill sergeant, he is finding more and more nearly imperceptible things within the field of carpet throughout the first floor of our house. It is actually quite impressive the amount of things that he has been able to find and also rather annoying since we have to keep a constant eye on anything that may seem out of the ordinary in the beige and brown floor.

Thankfully his toys keep him occupied more often than not and he tends to ignore many of the small pieces that we are able to quickly pick up behind him. Although there have been moments when I have contemplated putting some kind of shammy on this hands and letting him loose in the kitchen. He would probably have fun with it but I think it is a little too early and there might be something in the child labor laws about it. However, I think with his OCD tendencies he might do that all by himself when he gets a little older.

While we don’t keep a spotless house, and we probably never will, we do keep track of what could possibly be hiding in the fibers across the floor and in the kitchen around his highchair. We know where the possible discoveries are and we make sure to sweep, Swiffer, and vacuum enough to keep him from ingesting something we don’t want him to. On the other hand, the harmless things we don’t give much attention as he does have to learn every now and again that something, while perfectly safe, doesn’t taste very good.

And this is a lesson that he is quickly learning especially when he spends some time in the yard. Not only do leaves leave a bad taste in your mouth but they can also stick to the roof of your mouth even worse than peanut butter… something we avoid bringing into the house until we get some additional testing done. Now, fully mobile, he finds everything and he tries to eat everything which is proving to be humorous at times but, more than anything, a very tiring and challenging daily routine. And it is only going to become a bigger challenge when we start some of the improvement projects over the summer.

Another Season, Another Blood Drive

After a long week I left the house this morning with some trepidation. Our son still hasn’t completely recovered and his schedule has been off lately. And with him still on the mend, I knew that I wouldn’t have my family with me in Ardmore as I had been expecting when I originally organized the event. As I woke up early this morning, I knew that it was going to be a long day but I was also looking forward to reconnecting with a few of the brothers as we all converged upon the lodge for our spring Blood Drive.

Arriving at the lodge a few minutes later than expected (thanks to abnormal Saturday traffic), I didn’t waste any time in coordinating with the Red Cross drivers parked next to the building and immediately opened the doors, turned on the lights, and adjusted the heat. With these minor preparations out of the way, I finally turned around and assessed the space only to find that nothing was ready for the event. So the work continued and even though we had to spend an additional twenty or thirty minutes in setting up the space, everything was ready to go by the time our first appointment arrived at 10:00am.

As usual, the bulk of the appointments were at opposite ends of the day with morning schedules and late afternoon schedules proving to be the most flexible. By the time lunch came around, the steady flow of people had slowed to a trickle and we found ourselves falling well short of our goal for the day. In actuality, while not great our attendance was pretty good but we ran into a number of hiccups along the way as there was an unusually high number of people disqualified from donating (new travel restrictions in particular where not helping).  

The afternoon brought a welcomed flurry of activity both in donations and other brothers joining us for a couple of hours. In the end, while we only received 12 out of a possible 21 donations, it also provided many of us the opportunity to meet brothers whom we had not seen in some time, brothers from other lodges, and also members of the community and from the extended masonic family. It would have been nice to have held a successful blood drive but there was at least some good that came out of the event in the way of fellowship, sure up plans for other events, and gaining greater understanding of what we need to do next time around to far exceed the number of donations that we have received the last two events.

TMI Tuesday: More Presents!

Over the last couple of weeks my wife and I have been picking up supplies, coordinating food, and ordering a special cake (the product from the local Walmart was surprisingly good). It was all for a very special day and a memory that we wanted our son to carry with him in these early recollections of life. So, with the Mickey decorations strewn about the kitchen and lining the driveway, this past weekend we had a very small gathering at our home to celebrate our son’s birthday (even though we think the calendar is lying to us). It was a great, low key, get together which actually required less preparation and clean up than my wife and I were expecting.

While he is now playing shy around most people now, it was great seeing him play and watching his face light up when a present piqued his interest. After lunch and presents it was time for cake and while most kids would love to smash the heck out of the confection and get icing on their face, our son wanted nothing to do with this and was displeased when the blue icing founds its way to his face (with a little assistance… and no it wasn’t me). After that it was just about time to pass out for the afternoon and to recover from the mid-day activities.

In the few days since this gathering we did our best to continue making this a special time for our son. In addition to the plethora of presents that were brought or sent to the house, we have continued to celebrate his birth and giving him a little more leeway regarding play and television time… Mickey is just as entertaining the second, third, and forth times on the loop. However, with so much activity and simulation (plus some intense teething), his schedule is a little off and, when playing, he sometimes has trouble deciding what new toy to play with. While we originally put his other toys away before the party as a means of keeping things clean, it has actually served us well as there is now a whole new host of toys at his disposal.  

It has been a great couple of days celebrating our son’s birthday and I am glad that we spread the distraction over the entire weekend. Even though there have been moments of readjustment after so many days following an alternate routine, it has been well worth the effort and few hiccups along the way. I guess you could mark this down as another first experience of parenthood… the birthday party hangover.

New Year, New Life

It is always interesting spending time at the lodge for the first time in a new year. The turn from one meeting in the previous year to the next is something that can’t really be explained but there seems to be a new life that is breathed into the lodge as the page turns on the calendar. I guess it is something about working for the better part of a year to put a plan together and now that the time has come we are finally able to put it into action. And it is also a time to catch up on some of the things that I have missed over the last couple of months.

Last night in particular, I spent much of the night jumping from conversation to conversation either trying to figure out the next steps on a project already started or looking for some way to get things off the ground. The lodge office, the contents of which was moved last month, is something that we still have to figure out and it is pretty astounding how much stuff was in that space which was now staring me in the face. Needless to say, the pile in the upstairs room was bigger than I expected.

Seeing this mountain of masonic ephemera and memorabilia, I immediately started trying to figure out a way to configure the room. What did we need to keep? What could we possibly get rid of? Was there a way to have the space serve multiple functions? Was there enough room in the closet for storage? These were just some of the questions that initially came to mind which became more detailed as I explored more options and more closely assessed what we had to work with. There is tremendous potential that I am excited to see realized in the coming months.

Toward the end of the evening it was time to try and get another project off the ground… raising dues. Obviously a topic that isn’t really going to be very popular but we have gotten to a point that it is a necessity to have the discussion (and debate if necessary). We are the smallest lodge in our district (by a good margin) and we have, by far, the lowest dues in the district (maybe in the entire commonwealth). That combination is obviously not going to work in the short or the long term. While I don’t know quite yet what this little journey will entail, we have at least gotten things started and the conversation moving in the right direction. We will have to see what happens.

While this past year was trying and draining in about every way possible hopefully this year I can maintain the energy that we all have seemed to found in this new year. There is a lot of work to be done, much more than the few things I have mentioned and alluded to here and there, and the right people in place and participating in the success of the lodge on a weekly basis. There are enough sturdy shoulders to lift this lodge to the next level and I am definitely not the only who has noticed this and we are all excited about where we are heading.

Email Surprise

I got a bit of a surprise when I checked my lodge email yesterday afternoon. What I thought was going to be a simple message making an appeal to the brethren to attend the fellowship night was something that caught me off guard. The first half of the email stated almost exactly what I expected to read but the second half changed things up a bit notifying those in receipt of the email that all furniture and files were being moved out of the Secretary’s office that night. This was clearly the first time that I was hearing about this clean out.

While this is something that we have discussed many times over the past couple of years, I was not aware of this tasking being scheduled so soon. In my position I hear about a lot of the things happening at the lodge but every once in a while I hear something either right before it happens or immediately after the fact. The problem isn’t necessarily in what is taking place but in being prepared when someone comes to me with questions. At the office and at the lodge, my job requires me to know what is going on and when there is a break in communication, issues like we have had over the past year begin popping up and, as a result, my phone begins to ring regularly.

It seems as though we have gone from one extreme to the other. While there were many plans and little action in the past, now there is plenty of action but few plans to be found now. This is obviously not the entire picture but there is no reason why this should have happened so abruptly and why the first time many of us are hearing about these plans is a mere few hours before we were all to converge on the lodge.

When I read the email the second time I was both happy that something was being done but also annoyed that this could cause more issues and work for me in the near future. And while I don’t like to miss moments like this and evenings at the lodge in general I am actually glad that I wasn’t feeling well yesterday and that I opened the email with the intent of informing the brother who sent it that I would not be in attendance. After an uncomfortable night it is now time to wait and try to put the pieces together through a variety of phone calls and conversations. Hopefully, this goes smoother than similar situations in the past.

Firearms Friday: More Space

A similarly blank canvas...

When my wife and I first saw what would become our home, we pretty much knew what we were going to do with each of the spaces and rooms. Actually, we found a house with enough room that we had to put some effort into figuring out what each of the rooms would be after we filled the spaces that we knew we needed (this is how our son ended up with two playrooms). Two of the spaces that we were able to immediately figure out were my office (the former formal living room) and my work bench and safe space (the dry and clean unfinished basement).

Let’s just say that I have a very understanding wife. In our former rental I had taken over the basement with a combination office and work area. Now I have more room than I really know what to do with as the basement covers the entire footprint of the house with nothing else down there except the basic equipment (i.e. boiler, well filters, electrical panel, etc). There was already a small work bench tucked in the corner and now that small section is significantly expanded. I might be taking up an eighth of the space and that is pretty spread out.

For the first time I am going to be able to keep the vices, cleaning kits, and tools out and organized. This is a bit of an odd situation for me as I have always needed to put things away at the end of the day with the previous work spaces that I have had. In addition to being more convenient and feeling like it is a more permanent space, it is also much more efficient. With all those items already out and ready to be used, I am able to immediately start working on a project seconds after I open the safe.

Being able to separate my office from my work space is something that I have been looking forward to for some time now. Work is work. It is a completely different atmosphere and mentality. Relaxing at the bench is just that… it is a means to forget things for a little bit and focus on the small projects and working with my hands. Now that we have the space, and the fact that I have an understanding wife, I am able to have those two areas to myself. Hopefully this means that you will be reading about some long overdue updates to a variety of projects that I have mentioned before… at least after I get everything organized.

Moving Quotes And Changing Plans

For the past week I have been busy not only prepping for settlement day (which has been pretty smooth thanks to those at the bank and our realtor) but also preparing for moving day which has been a little move involved. Having received quotes from about a half dozen companies in the area, it is amazing to see the difference in how the prices are calculated. While not as expensive as I had originally expected, it is still not a cheap proposition especially when you ask them how much it would cost to have the company pack up your belongings as well.

The range of prices that I received was rather staggering starting at the low end at $700 all the way up to a ten times multiple of that initial figure. Surprisingly the economic company that we used for our last transition, Two Men and a Truck, was the most expensive (by a wide margin) because of the fact that we are moving just outside of their ‘service area’. In the end, we didn’t go with the least expensive but rather the company that seemed the most inclusive, had the appointment available for tomorrow, and was reasonably priced (still on the much lower end of the range).

However, nothing ever goes as smoothly as it should and that was definitely proven about a week and a half ago when I got a call in the early evening which changed our plans. Who called? The realtor representing our current landlord… he wanted to start showing the townhouse in a couple of days. Keep in mind that we gave notice with our September rent check so he could have coordinated this whole process months ago.

Having not packed much of anything at that point I quickly rejected his proposal pushing the earliest possible day to this past Sunday also adding the reminder that we have a 9 month old and he will have to be flexible in scheduling appointments. What realtor in their right mind calls a tenant and asks to begin showing the apartment in a couple of days?

So, since then I have been packing the house deep into the night and making friends with the sales people at Staples, Home Depot, and Lowes. With an evening to go there are only a few more boxes left that need to be packed, the bathrooms and kitchen have been cleaned, and we are, for the most part, ready to move on down the road in the morning. One more night with the preamble coming to an end and the real story beginning tomorrow.

One Keurig At A Time

Lately there have been a lot of things that we have looked to move around at the lodge. Some are simply plans that we hope to follow through on in the future while other projects are well underway and will hopefully be completed by the end of the year. Of course, one space where a lot of moving around needs to be done is in the office… this is something that falls under both the former and, time permitting, will soon be a part of the latter. Frankly, I am not concerned with the space itself, although there have been talks regarding the moving of the office itself, it is more of a matter of all the stuff that has accumulated in that half of the basement.

Know in the middle of my own packing and sifting at home, I am really not looking forward to the monumental undertaking that will be required at the lodge. It really isn’t about how much stuff that needs to be moved as the room isn’t all that big. It all comes down to the fact that we have to go through each and every item, ever sheet of paper, and basically get approval to dispose of all the items that are unnecessary. At least at home I can, for the most part, take care of this pretty quickly as I know almost immediately what stays and what goes… the lodge is another story altogether.

I guess a bonus for my own move is the fact that there are a number of things that we have either replaced, plan to replace, or simply don’t need any more at the new house. While many of these things have been donated over the last couple of months (primarily shoes and clothes) there are a few other items that I am happy to donate to the lodge and some of the brethren. I always enjoy this part because it is a means for me to bring a little comfort to the lodge for all of us that use the space. While computers are completely practical and do a lot to accomplish this, having a Keurig in the new kitchen should be that little extra for some of us that makes it that much more comfortable.

I am sure that there are other things that would be beneficial to the lodge (there are definitely more important and pressing needs) but sometimes it is nice to satisfy that need for creature comforts. After all, we want the brethren to feel comfortable in the space. We want our families to feel comfortable in the space. And we want all of our guests to feel welcomed in our space. The lodge consists of the men who are members of the community with a common meeting place, the building is not just a home for those brethren but also a part of the community as a whole. By providing a welcoming lodge, we support a welcoming community.

Reversing the Flow of Packages

While I have received a number of packages from Amazon and other retailers (i.e. Allen Edmonds) lately, I have also been sending a lot of packages out as well. In fact, I have been sending out more packages and items overall than I have been receiving. In addition to the returns process (which has been pretty good despite what some have said about Amazon customer service) because of clothes being absurdly smaller than that which is stated on the tag and overall descriptions not quite matching up with what I received, I have also been collecting the unused items, unwatched DVDs, and unplayed video games from around the house and selling them to Amazon for credit.

At this point I think we have gotten rid of about five or six moving boxes worth of stuff that, in the future, I won’t have to haul from place to place, store here or there, and open and close trying to find that one misplaced item. Putting in the time and selling these items now is saving us a lot of time in the future and putting a little bit of credit in our account as well. Of course, that credit did lead to some of the aforementioned returns so really it is just a vicious cycle. But at least shipping is free across the board.

That credit has also served to help us get a head start on buying some of the Hanukkah gifts for our son. Nothing big but some toys that we have been eyeing since we either saw them in a store or at someone else’s home. However, while we have gotten a bit of a jumpstart on our holiday buying (definitely not the first time we have been in this situation) it has also introduced another issue. Remember that vicious cycle I mentioned earlier. Well, we may have gotten rid of a lot of stuff but we also have a lot of stuff coming in which is currently stacked in a few boxes along the back wall of my office.

It is actually a pretty eclectic pile as there are toys, home upgrades, gifts for family members, shoes, and a completely overhauled wardrobe. And those are just the things that I can remember or see when I glance over. Thankfully, the pile is a bit deceiving as the packaging takes up a bulk of the space, the clothes are replacing ones that I have already donated, and the gifts will be handed out in about a month so it really isn’t that bad and we are still saving space. Of course, I don’t expect this to last and I am sure I will find myself writing about this again like I am doing now and I have done in the past. But, until then, we will certainly enjoy a little extra space.

Firearms Friday: Fall Cleaning

Sometimes you just want to go back to the basics.

I realize that The Yankee Marshal may hunt me down (in high heels no less) for doing this but I decided to do some safe cleaning recently and some of the things that I plan on getting rid of I will not be replacing with another firearm. I know. Fortunately, I am in a constant state known as tactical butterscotch so I am ready for him when I hear the clicking of his heels as they approach my car from across the parking lot. Of course, just in case, should he show up at my house I have also strategically placed things slightly off center throughout the house which buys me at least three hours to respond while he goes around fixing all of them.

In all seriousness, as I wrote about previously, it was time to sift through the safe and get rid of the firearms that I hadn’t taken to the range in a while and that I don’t plan on taking with me in the near future. I don’t just want things sitting in there not being enjoyed and really not having any purpose… if they aren’t being used they shouldn’t be taking up space. After all, someone may be looking for exactly what I don’t want and will get some use out of it. So, with that in mind, I sorted through the shelves and brought the queens to the gun shop.

At the same time, it was also time to get a different kind of cleaning done. One important thing too often overlooked about firearms is the fact that they need to be well maintained. I am not talking about a Yankee Marshal degree of cleaning but a basic field strip, wiping down, and a thin sheen of oil. Enough to maintain the tools that are used regularly. Even this is more than most people as I also clean the firearm after I have taken it to the range. Each and every time.

This is the process that I plan on doing at the same time each year because I know that as the weather gets colder and schedules become more hectic during the winter, I just don’t have the time to get to the range as much as I would like. Now I know that there is plenty of space making it easier to find what I want when I have those few moments to get out. And I know that everything will be good to go without having to double check and prep before heading out the door. Doing all of the cleaning now just makes things easier down the road.

Trick, Treat, Or Video Game

My wife and I are not ones that put stock in the Halloween holiday. It has actually proven to be more of an inconvenience than anything else most years. We are actually one of those houses that simply puts a bowl of candy out as the sun goes down with the hope that some kid doesn’t dump the whole thing in his bag or bucket. Of course, we mitigate some of this by putting half out at the beginning of the night and the other half a little later after having checked the rate of depletion. Generally speaking, this keeps things pretty quiet outside our door.

However, while we don’t care much for the holiday itself, we appreciate the opportunity that this night has afforded us over the years. I am not talking about the amount of money that we have to spend on candy (seems like a waste to me) or the scant leftovers remaining in the bowl after the noise subsides. The evening gives us an opportunity to clean out the house a little bit… in the past we have handed out Starting Lineup figures (they were actually cheaper than candy that year) and this year we were able to add something even better to the bountiful bowl.

A few seconds after I finished dumping the rest of the candy in the bowl tonight, the next group of kids walked up to the front door to inspect the offerings. It is safe to say that based on their wide eyed expressions and near shaking excitement, none of them expected to go home with a free Wii video game. I have to admit that we both chuckled a little bit when we could hear the next group of kids come up to the door after being summoned by the previous visitors and proclaiming “this is the best house ever… by far.” What they didn’t realize is that they were helping us out a little.

Unbeknownst to them, we spent some time earlier in the day putting together a trade in order on Amazon after we had come to the conclusion that we were probably not going to be using the various video game systems that have been collecting dusk in the basement and laying unplugged on our shelf in the family room. All those games that Amazon wouldn’t take (that were age appropriate) were what we put out in that tiny candy bowl. By the end of the night, all the games were either packed in boxes ready to be shipped or in the hands of neighborhood kids. However, the most important thing is that it cleared out about five boxes worth of stuff that was not being used. Everybody won tonight.

Digital Cleanup

The office situation at the lodge is pretty obvious to all the brethren who have ventured down into the basement. One thing that they don’t see is just how much digital clutter is accumulated on the weekly, monthly, and annual basis. Not only that but there are other documents and lists that need to be updated and organized in order for me to do my job without pulling my hair out. It is definitely a process but at least I don’t have to actually be at the lodge in order to make progress on this front. It is all on the computer and on the email server which makes it both easier and harder at the same time.

Over the summer I did my best to try and make some headway with the dozens of folders and thousands of unfiled emails but there never seems to be much progress when time is limited and the emails keep coming in. Besides, this project, while important, is well down on the list of things that I need to get done on a monthly basis. However, it seems as though there is now a time limit to this virtual endeavor as there is a new system rolling out in the spring which will switch over everything from what I know to a platform of which I am familiar but with which I do not agree.

At this point it is really a question as to how much work I want to put into this digital cleanup when I am not sure what the transition is going to mean over the next few months. I agree that the other ancillary files on the computer, those not reliant upon the online portal, should and will be updated but what about all the records being housed there? I actually believe that, having had some previous experience with the provider chosen, I should be backing everything up, copying it from the current portal, and hoping that I don’t have to manually input it later. In this highly digital age, there is something to be said about the additional security locally housed data (and hard copies) can provide.

So I guess this is all a roundabout way of saying that while the digital housekeeping will continue, it will be more strategic than productive. We are a fraternity full of history, tradition, and ritual most, if not all, of which relies on the accuracy and completeness of our records. I don’t want to run the risk of losing any of that. Sometimes it is best to stick with the way that things have always been done. At least for now.

Overdue Project

Of all the projects that have been talked about at the lodge time and again there is one that piques my interest each time that it is brought to the forefront of the conversation. The discussions have been ongoing about reallocating different spaces in the lodge to fill our various needs one of which is moving the Secretary’s office to the main floor. I fully support this idea but I also do my best to stay out of the back and forth unless someone asks for my opinion. After all, it is just a room, I can do the work no matter where there is a place set aside in the lodge whether it remains in the back of the basement or it is right off the main hall on the ground floor. The change would be nice but it doesn’t really matter.  

Not long after being raised I began spending a fair amount of time in the basement assisting the previous Secretary with the various tasks that fill the weeks between gatherings and the nights after the meetings. For all of its flaws, it has always been a bit of an escape for me. However, when I assumed the office shortly after that, it was painfully clear just how much work needed to be done in the space to simply make it functional again. And in my first year as Secretary, the situation didn’t get any better when a leak was discovered streaming down the outside wall. Needless to say, the “organization” project never got back on track after that and I rarely venture below grade these days.

That is a projects that is long overdue… finding some sanity in the office and turning this old fallout shelter (designated by the town years ago) into a fully functional working space not just for me but for any of the brothers who need a place to privately meet at the lodge. What it really comes down to is setting aside the time, convincing a few brothers to do the same, coordinating with the Trustees to sort the material crammed within the walls, and cleaning out the entire room. It actually might be best to just hit the reset button and start from scratch.

We need to consolidate the furniture and figure out what is really needed in the space. Part of that will be consolidating the filing cabinets after sorting through the draws full of files with the Trustees overseeing this operation. And finally, it is about simply getting rid of all the trash and clutter that has accumulated over the years from old phone books and computers to empty boxes and brittle desk organizers. It seems like a quick and easy endeavor but I know that it’s not. This is going to take some time and some significant effort but I do have a plan together to finally get it done next year. Let’s just hope that it sticks on the calendar.

Wet And Stinky

It is safe to say that we did not have a relaxing start to the week. When my wife and I finally finished sorting and packing all the things that we wanted to store on Sunday night I made a big pile in front of the basement door. I was hoping that I could simply make a few trips up and down the stairs while sliding the boxes onto the shelves. There isn’t much room left but there was enough to accommodate our recent cleaning. This was the quick and easy plan when I first balanced those boxes and bins atop the stairs… sometimes plans just don’t work out.

It all got derailed during my first trip to the unfinished storage room. I opened the door, turned on the light, and squinted a bit as the glint reflected off the wet floor. Something was obviously wrong and I soon found the culprit in a leaking pipe coming out of the HVAC unit. After taking a quick picture and sending it to the maintenance guy for our house, I quickly stacked the shelves before calling to report what I had found. Thankfully, he was up at midnight and quickly got a plan together which had everything taken care of in a couple of days.

Stuff happens and things were taken care of quickly so no complaining on this one (unlike in the past). However, our fun didn’t stop there as when I got home from work on Monday I was welcomed with fumes filling the house and my wife, with a rather pissed look on her face, greeting me at the front door. As it turns out, our neighbor decided to refinish all of his hardwood floors next door and didn’t even think to let us know. By the time I got home they had just finished stripping the floors and the stink was permeating the walls.

While we can’t stop him from improving his property, it would have been nice to have had a heads up. After all, we spend a couple of hours going back and forth and double checking that our son would be okay sleeping in his own bed. This frustration could have easily been avoided.

The following days was met with more stink as the finish was applied. It wasn’t until I left for work this morning when the smell finally somewhat dissipated and the noxious wall finally fell (it still stinks but it isn't as bad as when it started). So hopefully this is the last of the leaks and soon to be the last of the smells for a while but one thing that this reinforced for us is the fact that we are definitely going to look for our own free standing home with a little bit of a buffer of land around us. Thankfully, that was already part of our list.