Mom's best friend died and owing to peculiarities in Florida law, an attorney had to step in (had to. State law) to help settle stuff despite Mom being the estate executor.
Let's run this to the heart of the matter.
Tons. Of. Crap.
Honestly. Literally. Without question.
Tons. Of. Crap.
The deceased lady (we shall call her JS) left behind a doublewide trailer packed with Tons. Of. Crap.
After three trips down, we've dented the pile.
Example - JS had, and I am not kidding, 10+ pounds of mailing labels from places like the Humane Society, Easter Seals, Veterans and etc. If your name was JS and you lived there AND YOU ARE STILL IN THE WOMB, you'd have enough labels to last the rest of your life, once you were born.
One room we could barely open the door. Stuff was stacked in boxes to the ceiling. Other rooms had stuff shoved, stacked and piled in every available space. Open bags of trash were common.
We threw out receipts and bills 15 years old. We threw away catalogs, random pieces of paper, pens that probably quit working 10 years ago. We found staples, staplers and scissors everywhere. Apparently, when JS needed something and could not immediately find it, she went out and bought another. We expect to find many more duplicate items.
JS' mom was a quilter and seamstress. JS was not. We found busted sewing machines, quilt frames, boxes and boxes of material just shoved in boxes and pushed into a room. Part of the cleanup crew includes an expert quilter so what is useful is being taken to a local quilter's group.
Yes. We found finished quilts. These are no trash, but very real treasures. Oh yeah.
We found broken and busted appliances and equipment. Why?
This has given me severe cause for pause.
What about the stuff I have?
Uh, yeah.
Tools. Lots of tools (and now more thanks to JS' estate). 300 pounds of nail gun nails and decking screws, again TY JS estate. Well, when I'm gone finding a home for the tools will be easy enough.
Fishing gear. How many more fishing rods do I need anyway? One more.
Oy. Still, finding a home for that when I am gone, way easy. Susan & Jesse have one giant yard sale, it's with a new owner.
Books.
Someone say books?
Gad. I have got books. Mostly Science Fiction and Fantasy. I gottem. Rehoming these will be more of an issue. I've tried to give some away (ahem, James?) but no takers.
Vinyl records. I have a 10-foot high stack of classic rock vinyl. (YOU! NO! Hands off Bubba!) But these too, easy enough to get rid of. The 75 or so CDs, no so much. Also have a stack of 78 vinyls from the Big Band era. No one wants those. (Want 'em? Lemme know.)
Some things I wonder why I have 'em at all. Why do I need 2 retired breathing apparatus tanks? Damfino. Same with the camera collection. Who uses film these days anyway? Gonna be useless junk when I'm gone, but they do remind me of the days when we had to work to be a photographer.
The keychain collection. I hear you saying WTH? I have a few hundred keychains, a few pounds worth. They take up almost no space, but der yaggo.
Some will call me a hoarder. Will not argue. But I'm nowhere near JS's league.
Still, I need to start winnowing.
The screws and nails, keeping those. Need to repair my own back deck as well as build for handicapped folks in need. (Have a crew that builds handicapped ramps. All you gotta do is buy the wood.) Other stuff, well, may have to go,
Anyone want a bushel of SF novels? The good ones from the 60s, 70s and early 80s?
The views in this blog are not those of people who can't think for themselves and rely on others to think for them. For that matter, the views expressed here may not be those of people who CAN think for themselves, but it comes extremely close.
