Cleaned up the work shop yesterday. Took all day. Screws in the nail containers, tools in the wrong spot. Things out of place. Dirt everywhere. Sal has really been letting things slip!

“Shouldn’t you be a bit more diligent in tidying up around here, Sal?”

“What are you talking about? It is your workshop!”

“I thought everything was ours? That is what you say about the dishes. Doesn’t that mean these are our tools and that you own your share of the mess just as I own some of the dirty dishes?”

“Ooh……you are soooo bad! You are the worst, you are!”

Funny how much pleasure I get from such exchanges. Makes the work go better. For me, anyway.

It took us a day to clean up a workshop that is only 12 feet long and four feet wide. You’d wonder how that was possible. I certainly do. ‘Course, the dogs had to be played with. We had a couple of tea-and-muffin breaks and Sal went down to check the boats and tie up a loose log. That cut into the work somewhat.

Plus, I confess, I like to sharpen things as I find them before I put them away. So, every once in a while all cleaning stops while I fire up the grinder and ruin the edge of some tool. And add to the dust and mess, of course. One step forward, two steps back.

(Learning to sharpen is really quite an art, ya know? I got a book on it. But it is really hard to do it right. And not cut yourself when it works out – which it rarely seems to do. More than a few blood stains around my grinder, though, I can tell ya! Tip: Never take out a book on sharpening without also checking out a book on First-Aid!)

The worst part of cleaning up is the ‘catch-all’ box. It is the place where I put small things like extra nails, screws or parts left over from repairing something. It is temporary storage, before I put them away properly. Later. Like, today. Then I am faced with the daunting challenge of sorting through hundreds, if not thousands, of bits and pieces – none of which are valuable or are needed at the time – but that I have learned are essential to keep for later on. Like, when I am repairing that same thing again. So I am sorting through pounds of bits. What a crazy-making but necessary thing to do!

Then there’s the part or something that you don’t recognize but you know it belongs…some….where…? And so the search begins to find the ‘right’ spot which, of course, means nothing because fifteen minutes later you haven’t a clue where it is.

“Hey, did you see that little bronze thing with the hook and adjustable lever attached? Where is it?”

“Geez, I put it somewhere. Ya know? Somewhere where I won’t forget. Sheesh! Where is it?! I had it just a second ago.”

And so time passes as you both search for the thing you didn’t know you had until you found it and now you lost it.

“I must have had a series of mini-strokes or something. I can’t remember a bloody thing!”

“Ooh, yeah! That reminds me…….what was it that I asked you to remind me of?”

“Can’t remember. Was it getting out the dog food? Phoning someone. Putting something on the to-buy list?”

“No……………………..Oh yeah! …………………………. I remember now!”

“What? What was it?”

“Uh, it was to remember to clean up the workshop.”