Today, the temps approached 98 with a ‘feels like’ temperature of 102 degrees. It looked to us as if it was a day to walk in the mall. Well, actually, it looked like that to me as I lay awake at 6:45, 15 minutes before the alarm was to go off. When the alarm awoke Gary, I murmured the dreaded phrase: ‘I have a plan.’ Enough to make Big Gar pull the pillow over his head. Too late.
Breakfast then off to the mall for our 4 mile walk. Walking 4 miles gets a bit boring when you do it every day. There are only so many different ways we can get the 4 miles in around our home and we walk the same blocks day after day sometimes clockwise and sometimes counter-clockwise. Well, walking in the mall in infinitely more boring. But, on a day like today, it was infinitely more comfortable than walking outside.
Coffee after the walk and, though Panera at one end of the mall sounded delicious, we chose Barnes and Noble, where there was less temptation and more to read as we drank our coffee. We also spoke with the Barista with whom we've spoken before. Interesting character: gave up his corporate job to work part time at B&N where he is now the coffee shop manager. He says he has ADD and to focus he keeps lists of things like: US lighthouses, US National Parks, counties of the US that he has visited, etc. He hitch-hiked across the US more than once in his youth and that's where he began to 'collect' the counties he had been through. He says there are 1600 counties in the US and he has been to 1400. He even belongs to a Club which meets annually, this year in Des Moines. He was the one who told me about the 'stamps' you can get in the National Parks, which I do at every NP managed site. I don't think I'll hit all 1600 counties.
Finally, we drove over to Costco to buy a few things. And, of course, one thing leads to another and we walked out with a shopping cart partially full. Now the problem with Costco is: if you buy it, you’ve got to find a place in the refrigerator or freezer to put it. That’s the challenge: especially for two people. We will eat it all but it might take a day or two.
Meanwhile, back at home, we have decided that we have too many ‘things’ in our house: electronics, tools, clothing, kitchen stuff. Our home is filled and, as we have learned over the last 4 years that we have been traveling, we need only what we can carry in the RV. We need nothing else. If we can live without something for 9 months as we travel, I’ll bet that we can live without it forever. Thus, our goal for this summer is not only to get some work done on the house but to empty it of everything we don’t need, which is considerable. I want to look into each drawer in our home and see - nothing.
ELECTRONICS:
We’ve got an old desktop computer with its huge hard drive, an old laptop which died on a vacation several years ago, old CD’s with their cases, an old amplifier, old wires, cords, old discs with their jewel cases, you name it technologically, we’ve got it. We’ve even got about 100 cassette tapes which we spent hours compiling. And, right now, none of this stuff is being used. It’s just being stored in the back storage room. First we think my brother will be able to use some of it. But, here’s the trick: Best Buy will take it all. They’ve got bins for some of the stuff but will take the computers, etc. out back. They strip all that is valuable out of it and then dump the rest in the appropiate PC location. All for free. Sweet.
Gary began in our small storage closet in the lower level. He’s emptied most of these old electronics and is ready to begin our trek to Best Buy. But first he took a few nostalgic pictures. Remember all these things? Luckily we had tossed the 8-track tapes a while back or you’d think we were really troglodytes. As it is, we’re just old. Printers, scanners, old laptops, old TV’s of varying sizes, old desktop computers with their towers. All old, all unused and all taking up space.
See those items on the bookshelf in back of the computer? Those are Royal Doulton Character Jugs or more commonly known as Toby Jugs. My mother had a collection of about 400 of them and, before we moved, we sold about 330 of them. Now - we want to see the final 70. Obviously to a dealer. This is not easy to do since those people who collected Toby Jugs, or anything for that matter, are in our parents generation. How many of you collect anything: stamps, coins, plates, Toby Jugs, Precious Moments, whatever? My parents thought they had a pretty valuable collection but, price is determined by demand and there is less and less demand every year. I’ve sent out 4 e-mails to 4 different companies who sell these with a list of the jogs we have and am waiting to hear which, if any, might want to buy them.
CLOTHING:
One of my goals is to empty my closet of everything I’m not currently wearing. Now, most of this is work clothing: I’m retired, do I need all of the 8 wool work suits? How many occasions will I find in the near future to wear these. How many trails will I be able to wear these wool pants on? I certainly could be the best dressed hiker but the itch would drive me wild. And, yes, both Gary and I keep a suit in the RV for any occasion which might call for a suit. And what about all those wool sweaters I’ve got? I haven’t worn them in 4 years - in fact, I haven’t seen them in 4 years. I’ve got them packed into the cedar chest which I got from my mother-in-law which I haven’t opened since we started RV’ing.
But, let’s face it: all of this clothing belongs to a 66-year old, 110 lb, stodgy woman. Who is going to want any of this? My sister-in-law had no trouble selling her work clothes in a yard sale because they were so chic and modern. Me, I probably can’t give mine away.
KITCHEN:
Then the kitchen. How many cookie pans do I need? But what will we do with all the Elizabeth pattern stoneware that we got at our wedding and afterwards? We’ve got lots of good dishes: my mother insisted that I have good china so that I could invite my boss over for dinner. She lived in a different generation: does anyone do that these days? And, who at Goodwill wants stoneware?
If we can live quite comfortably with what we carry in the RV, why do we need all this stuff? Beats me.
Looks like Goodwill, friends and relatives and Craig’s List will be hearing from us this summer. Anything to keep it out of the landfills.
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