Garage Progress

All right, now for the money shots. We attacked three places in the last couple of days. First we (I should say Tara, really, as she did most of the work) cleared out and went through this little area over by the shed. It probably doesn't look like much, but under the leaves and tangled undergrowth was an entire wheelbarrow full of rusty pieces of rusty junk (including the wheelbarrow itself). There was also a bit of broken glass and of course one of my very favorite things, three more milk crates crammed with cedar shingles, which I hear bugs won't eat. So here is the before and after:



We were a little afraid to rake, as those fallen leaves are probably off the copious amount of poison ivy vines in the area.

Then when it got too dark to work outside, we went into the shop, where we attacked the northwest corner of the thing. It's a little deceptive, I'll admit, because a lot of those boxes in front just got moved; but we went through the shelves and sorted old parts into junk, things J might want, and stuff Tara might need (or might not) for her bus. (And then we threw out the shelves, too.) This was where the bulk of today's iron run came from.

The before and after:



If you look closely on the left, you can actually see the grey of the concrete-block wall.

And now, for the really impressive bit. We've been working away at the garage and moving stuff out of there for a while now; for example J has come by and taken some of the engines and transmissions that were beneath the benches on the side. However, since stuff was in progress it actually looked rather worse, since everything was sort of out in the open as we were dealing with it. Last night, though, we went in there and consolidated a bunch of stuff, also, of course, finding plenty more stuff to contribute to today's iron run. Tara also started in on the attic of the garage, since there were also parts up there that J might want. And with the room she made upstairs, the bulk of the seats could get moved.

I know, a lot of the time this feels like some intricate puzzle-game, which, I'll admit, I have little patience for, as it is very reminiscent of the way my father insisted things had to be done. The thing is though, given the nature of the stuff, we really can't just pitch everything into a dumpster. It has to be gone through and separated. Though on the other hand it isn't all that bad considering that it is netting us some cash now, which I, for one, as a self-employed freelance artist, really have no business turning down.

So we tidied the place up a bit and even swept. And it actually looks like we made some progress, holy moly. Contrast the last panorama, from the fifth of October (top), with the one I took today (bottom):





OH MY GOD THERE'S A FLOOR THERE.

And comparing the panoramas taken from over by the door to the breezeway:





That's just Tara's old peacoat on the back of the Triumph; otherwise we got that car all cleared off. And, okay, the hood was stuck on the Saab for cosmetic reasons; but it really does help the place look better. I'm beginning to be able to see the contents of the garage as finite.

That is a really good thing.