A Project For Later
I had a few "projects" in my basement that were there for years. You may know the type. The ones that get stashed in a corner for "later," a phantom day that sometimes never comes.
My projects were completed in the past week, but took completely different pathways to get there.
The first was a broken lamp. Two years ago this lamp of ours just stopped working for no good reason. It had been knocked off the table a time or two, and evidently one of those killed it. Killed it real good.
So, after replacing the light bulb and having it still not work, I put it down the basement for fixing "later." I often looked at the lamp in passing thinking to myself that it would never work again. Last weekend, Donna mentioned getting a cord kit, so I looked on Amazon and all I could find was a kit that was about $20.00 and didn't look like it would work with our lamp anyways.
Curiosity got the better of me and I started taking the lamp apart. How hard could it be anyways? After messing with it for 10 minutes I narrowed the problem down to a bad switch. It meant a little crimping and prying with a screwdriver, sprinkled with some colorful language and a dropped screw. (What project doesn't have a dropped screw the seeking of which doubles the length of the project?) When I got the part out I took it to the hardware store to see if they had such a thing. They did. It was $2.99. I put the lamp back together and, viola, it worked.
My wife and I had a laugh about how that is our life. Why do we wait two years to do things like this? After I told a few people the story, they all said the same thing. They have exactly the same nature.
It seems we all have those "later" projects.
The second project was my wheelbarrow tire. We are working on a project to put new steps and a walk in front of our house which requires a wheelbarrow. This project is one of those "later" projects of it's own, but I digress.
Anyways, the last time I used my wheelbarrow, it had a flat, so I took it to Tires Plus and they pumped it up. At the time, I thought the tire was tubeless, so they were the only ones who could pump it up, as every attempt I made, the air came out between the cracks faster than it stayed in the tire.
So this time, I tried a few tricks on advice from friends to pump it up myself. ("Put a cinc strap on it," they said. "Use a compressor, not a hand pump," they said. I've concluded they don't know.) I took it to two different air compressors using the cinch strap and labored to no avail.(Stops #1 and #2)
Well, I figured, Tires Plus fixed it once, they could fix it again. This meant Stop #3 on my tired quest.
I took it to them and they determined that it was indeed NOT tubeless and that I should get a tube across the street at Farm and Fleet and bring it over and they would put it in,
Off to stop #4 on the wheelbarrow tire time suck.
Of course Farm and Fleet didn't have a tube that size. They did have a tire that looked like it might work, though was more for a 4 wheel vehicle. I bought it anyway just in case. It was $15.
Off to stop #5, Home Depot "just to see" what they had. They had a tire that was the right size and made specifically for wheelbarrows. It was an appreciably more costly $25 tire, but it held promise
that the $15 tire did not. I bought that tire. Now I had 3 tires. One flat, one questionable and one highly probable.
Off to stop #6, Farm and Fleet to return the questionable tire for a refund now that I had a highly probable one in my possession.
I got home and, after a couple more dropped screws and colorful language, I had a working wheelbarrow. Again a great sense of accomplishment despite the two hours of my life that I would never get back and have to explain to God that, "Well, I needed a tire see...and well, you know it was a project that went south." I'm sure He'd understand.
So if you've got those projects that are waiting to be done, my advice is, wait until it's time, then attack them with a vengeance. It will feel so good. But don't do them before it's time. These things are best left to age and weigh on one's conscience.
Blogging off...
My projects were completed in the past week, but took completely different pathways to get there.
The first was a broken lamp. Two years ago this lamp of ours just stopped working for no good reason. It had been knocked off the table a time or two, and evidently one of those killed it. Killed it real good.
So, after replacing the light bulb and having it still not work, I put it down the basement for fixing "later." I often looked at the lamp in passing thinking to myself that it would never work again. Last weekend, Donna mentioned getting a cord kit, so I looked on Amazon and all I could find was a kit that was about $20.00 and didn't look like it would work with our lamp anyways.
Curiosity got the better of me and I started taking the lamp apart. How hard could it be anyways? After messing with it for 10 minutes I narrowed the problem down to a bad switch. It meant a little crimping and prying with a screwdriver, sprinkled with some colorful language and a dropped screw. (What project doesn't have a dropped screw the seeking of which doubles the length of the project?) When I got the part out I took it to the hardware store to see if they had such a thing. They did. It was $2.99. I put the lamp back together and, viola, it worked.
My wife and I had a laugh about how that is our life. Why do we wait two years to do things like this? After I told a few people the story, they all said the same thing. They have exactly the same nature.
It seems we all have those "later" projects.
The second project was my wheelbarrow tire. We are working on a project to put new steps and a walk in front of our house which requires a wheelbarrow. This project is one of those "later" projects of it's own, but I digress.
Anyways, the last time I used my wheelbarrow, it had a flat, so I took it to Tires Plus and they pumped it up. At the time, I thought the tire was tubeless, so they were the only ones who could pump it up, as every attempt I made, the air came out between the cracks faster than it stayed in the tire.
So this time, I tried a few tricks on advice from friends to pump it up myself. ("Put a cinc strap on it," they said. "Use a compressor, not a hand pump," they said. I've concluded they don't know.) I took it to two different air compressors using the cinch strap and labored to no avail.(Stops #1 and #2)
Well, I figured, Tires Plus fixed it once, they could fix it again. This meant Stop #3 on my tired quest.
I took it to them and they determined that it was indeed NOT tubeless and that I should get a tube across the street at Farm and Fleet and bring it over and they would put it in,
Off to stop #4 on the wheelbarrow tire time suck.
Of course Farm and Fleet didn't have a tube that size. They did have a tire that looked like it might work, though was more for a 4 wheel vehicle. I bought it anyway just in case. It was $15.
Off to stop #5, Home Depot "just to see" what they had. They had a tire that was the right size and made specifically for wheelbarrows. It was an appreciably more costly $25 tire, but it held promise
 |
| I'm a tire hoarder. |
Off to stop #6, Farm and Fleet to return the questionable tire for a refund now that I had a highly probable one in my possession.
I got home and, after a couple more dropped screws and colorful language, I had a working wheelbarrow. Again a great sense of accomplishment despite the two hours of my life that I would never get back and have to explain to God that, "Well, I needed a tire see...and well, you know it was a project that went south." I'm sure He'd understand.
So if you've got those projects that are waiting to be done, my advice is, wait until it's time, then attack them with a vengeance. It will feel so good. But don't do them before it's time. These things are best left to age and weigh on one's conscience.
Blogging off...
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