Daily Archives: June 15, 2026

The Spoonful of Sand Effect

15 Monday Jun 2026

Posted by in Arts and Crafts, Life, Retirement, Uncategorized, Woodworking

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Imagine, if you will, a large container filled with sand. (Insert the Twilight Zone Music) You come along with a spoon and remove a single spoonful. You and I both know that you’ve removed that spoonful, but to everyone else, the container looks exactly the same.

That’s the same scenario I’m facing in my garage.

I spent all day today throwing things in the trash, moving items around in the shed so I could move other things into it, and generally trying to bring some order to the chaos. Somewhere along the way, I stepped on a few Sweetgum balls (For those that live in the South, you know what I’m talking about), rolled my ankle, and landed face-first on the ground. If there had been judges present, I doubt they would have scored the dismount very highly.

I knew when I started this project that it wasn’t going to be a one-day event. It’s going to take several days, if not weeks, to get this garage looking the way it should. Years of “I’ll put that there for now” have finally caught up with me.

I took the time to cut usable pieces from my scrap wood pile so I could minimize waste. I also found several containers filled with wood screws of various sizes. I sorted them into separate containers and even labeled them. That’s a small victory, but at least now I won’t have to dig through a coffee can full of random screws every time I need one or, God forbid, go purchase more.

This morning, I took some before pictures of the garage. In fact, I had even posted a few of them on yesterday’s blog. Later, I took them down because I was honestly a little ashamed that I had let the garage get into the condition it’s in. Maybe once everything is cleaned up and organized, I’ll share the before-and-after photos. If nothing else, they’ll serve as proof that all this effort actually accomplished something.

A lot of time and effort went into today’s work, with very little visible evidence to show for it. If someone walked into the garage tonight, they probably wouldn’t notice much difference, kind of like that missing spoonful of sand.

But progress was made. It may not be obvious to anyone else, but I know it’s there. The garage is a little better organized than it was this morning, and that’s enough for today.

Besides, the sore ankle and busted kneecap are all the proof I need that I was working.

My Garage Needs an Intervention

15 Monday Jun 2026

Posted by in Arts and Crafts, Boy Scouts, Fishing, Kayaking, Life, Retirement, Twins, Uncategorized, Weather, Woodworking

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I missed a perfectly good day to go fishing.

According to the weather forecast I saw last night, today was supposed to be cloudy with rain. As I sit here writing this, it’s cloudy all right, but there isn’t a drop of rain anywhere nearby. Apparently, the weather forecaster and I have different definitions of “rain.”

Since I can’t blame the weather anymore, I guess I’ll spend the day in my shop doing some cleaning.

The shop is in desperate need of organization. I try my best to keep it neat, but somehow it always ends up looking like the “before” picture on a home improvement show. If the folks from a hoarding television program ever drive down my road, I’m keeping the garage door closed.

My two-car garage hasn’t actually been a two-car garage since my daughters came home from college. Before they moved back in, I told my wife that the girls needed to rent a storage unit for all their furniture. I explained that once their furniture crossed the threshold of our garage, it would become a permanent resident.

I was absolutely right.

Years later, some of that furniture is still sitting there. At this point, I think it’s claimed squatters’ rights.

To be fair, I’m not completely innocent. The side of the garage where I used to park my truck has become home to my hobbies. When I bought a larger truck that wouldn’t fit in the garage, I suddenly had extra space—or at least that’s what I told myself.

That space is now occupied by a motorcycle, shelves full of Dutch ovens, camping gear, fishing equipment, ham radio supplies, woodworking tools, and a collection of items that I apparently purchased because I was convinced I would need them someday.

Someday has not yet arrived.

The side where my wife once parked is home to my daughters’ furniture, my CNC laser, a newly acquired 3D printer, and a worktable where I paint and assemble projects. Unfortunately, the worktable is currently so covered with stuff that I couldn’t work on it if I wanted to. In fact, I’m not entirely sure where the actual tabletop is anymore.

I know it’s under there somewhere.

The garage also houses my table saw, miter saw, drill press, nail guns, sanders, drills, rotary tools, clamps, and enough miscellaneous hardware to open a small branch of Home Depot.

Need a screw? I’ve got 10,000 of them.

Need the specific screw I’m looking for? Not a chance.

I’ve decided that I’m not starting another project until I make significant progress organizing the garage. This is a bold statement considering that starting new projects is one of my favorite ways to avoid finishing old ones.

The problem is that I have no idea where to begin. Every time I move one item, I discover three more things that need to be moved first. It’s like playing a life-sized game of Tetris, except none of the pieces fit, and I can’t find the instruction manual.

To make matters worse, I have a storage building in the backyard that’s almost as crowded as the garage. Before I can organize the garage, I’ll probably need to organize the storage building.

Of course, organizing the storage building will require temporarily moving things into the garage, which seems suspiciously similar to the process that got me into this mess in the first place.

Maybe I should have gone fishing after all.