2003-01-12 - 10:55 p.m.
I have emerged from the basement, weary but relatively unscathed. This was clean-out-the-basement weekend at our house and it was quite a job. We got up Saturday morning, dressed in clean-out-the basement outfits: jeans, old sweatshirts and comfortable sneakers, hair in ponytail...and descended into the netherworld. It isn't truly a scary basement --any more-- we fixed the walls and painted the floors several years ago, and the mice seem to be all gone. But it was just a mess. We have tried to store way too much stuff in too little space for too long, and it needed some better organization. Our goal is to make the basement more "user friendly" so we will feel more comfortable going down there to a.) use the treadmill...b.) work in the darkroom, and c.) work on stained glass/ wood projects.
First there was the War on Mold. We found that vinyl flooring in the dark room had trapped moisture underneath it, and was growing a colony of mold. Skootie is alergic to mold and we kept wondering why the basement gave her a headache... So I ripped out the vinyl and scrubbed with bleach, and after it dried we even repainted the floor. Half the floor is a nice smooth, clean expanse of pale grey. The other half is still in process. I suddenly realized that I hated the old "workbench" that I was using: an old door laid across a couple of rickety kitchen cabinets. It was left there by the other people who lived in the house and even though I like to make things and work on things, I never got around to coming up with anything different. I did something one rarely gets to do: I took and hammer and tore the old cabinets up into pieces. I highly recommend this as way to release frustrations... it is weirdly satisfying to land a good blow on something you don't like and have it go flying apart. Saturday we went looking in hardware stores for a real work bench. The only things available were ridiculously expensive and small. I decided to I was going to have to make one and called my son to ask if he still the plans he used for his.
Sons come in very handy at times like this. He didn't have the plans, but offered to help me make a work bench by measuring his and cutting up the wood. So I went over there this morning and we made some measurements. He had some wood in his shop that we used for some of the parts, and we went to a lumber yard and bought the rest.
This is kind of a sidebar story, but while we were at the lumberyard, Cary wanted to buy a new toolbelt so we were looking at them. All the ones he liked said they were for waist sizes 37" to 47" and Cary is a slim guy, much smaller than that. He asked the salesman if he could take one out and try it on. There was no way he could wear it, even as tight as it would go, it still fell off. The salesman kept saying, "Oh, she'll get you fattened up one of these days." And I realized, he thought I was Cary's wife. He looks a little older than he is, prematurely balding at thirty-one, and I look a little younger than I am, at least most people seem shocked to find out my age.... but still.... it made us both feel kind of weird. We didn't bother to explain.
Cary has a great woodworking shop in his basement, and we had the pieces for the new work bench measured and cut in no time. I like to watch him work. Like all good woodworkers, he has instinct for precision. Careful measuring and marking, always taking time to make sure things are square. He actually practices the old addage, "measure twice, cut once." Watching and working with him reminded me of the part of myself that loves to produce good craftsmanship. I think in the last few years I have been in too big a hurry. There is something really soul satisfying about building or making an object carefully and beautifully. It is just a work bench, but it was measured and cut so nicely that the pieces fit together like Lincoln Logs. Cary and I cut all pieces and then I hauled then home, ready to be assembled in my basement. I can hardly wait to get down there and finish up..... tomorrow.....after work. A reason to live through Monday.
Another weekend has slipped away. It has been a good one, though. I feel good about the way we have been spending our time lately, just working hard on projects and then enjoying our relaxation. I think every so often I have to go through a phase where I rethink and reinvent my daily life. It is one of those nostrums I have held onto over the years: If you want to improve your life, improve the style of your daily existence.
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