In the garden, and RAIN!!! (2)
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Friday, September 11, 2026 15:29
VIEWED: 338648
PAGE 715 of 834
Trying not to lose my mind looking for that leather pouch anymore and went back to figuring out what I'm keeping and getting rid of. Seriously wasted maybe 2 hours today just looking around all over the place for that thing, getting to the point where I'm looking in stupid places that I know it couldn't possibly be unless I was sleepwalking.
Wasting that daylight. Gotta get back on track.
Got about half a bag of trash now. Thats just wires and stuff. I'm going to have to call the city about throwing some of this stuff out. I'm saving only 3 of the plugs and have the rest of them ready to toss. I'm going to leave them there for now though until I have an opportunity to get all this mess cleaned up and go through a few more boxes to see if anything is missing its plug. Aside from a few old game systems I know I would have kept the plugs with, I don't think I've kept anything else that would require one. I didn't keep any home phones that I wasn't using. On the off chance I even saved any of my old cell phones they probably wouldn't ever have a chance of working today even if I wanted to get a plan again. I've checked all of my various backup monitors and small TV screens and they all have their plugs. That should probably only require me to look at the outside of the boxes to see what's in them to make that decision.
I found a nice plug adapter I still had unopened with 2 usb slots on it as well as an outlet. It will fit in the wall outlet with the plug for the home phone in the big bedroom, but super tightly, so I don't want to leave it there all the time. I used that with 3 different Amazon branded cords for phone/device charging, and used these cool little velcro cable ties I got for free years ago to wrap them up in several places together nicely. Once I had it set up, I just pulled it from the wall and it's sitting inside the cabinet of the bedside table, ready to pull out and use whenever anybody is staying over. It's got USB-C, Micro-A and whatever Apple calls theirs.
Gotta look at my two existing charging stations and see what I can upgrade and add. I don't think I'll be making any more of them for now, so just make sure I have the best cables out, and that I don't have super long ones anywhere they're not needed if I have better sizes for the task.
Looks like most of the newest stuff I have is USB-C now, so I'll have more of those out than anything. I think I should probably have a USB Micro-A on each station too. I don't think I need any of the other ones. I'm looking forward to a time where the industry decides on a standard with these and we don't keep getting new versions. Just pick the best one and stick with it already, right?
I'm hoping that USB pouch shows up soon though. I just have to get it out of my mind for now so I don't spend all day with my wheels spinning again like I was earlier.
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Dummy.... 
I knew I'd run into it if I just kept cleaning things up.
I brought it with me to my friends a few months ago, back before I got sick, when I was trying to help him out with his digital hoard, but he really wasn't ready for any of that. It was in with the universal kit for hooking up old hard drives and getting the data off them before destruction.
I also found a missing empty external case I could have sworn I had in there too.
Glad I found this before I bought stuff yesterday. I'm going to buy two external cases for my friend. I'm going to give him one of the small laptop harddrives I'm keeping so he's got the ability to move things around when I show him. I'm going to use the 2nd one to show him how much more valuable the hard drive in his own ancient laptop is when it's not in the laptop anymore, and the laptop ends up in the trash.
I'm going to try installing the Lite version of Linux Mint on there first just to see if it's even usable that way anymore, but I kind of doubt it. Somebody installed Win10 on there and they never should have. I was trying to rip stuff off of it the other day for him, but it took the computer 5 minutes to even recognize a USB had been plugged in. When I tried restarting it, it wanted to update Windows and then it just sat in that state, telling you not to turn off the computer, for another 3 hours before I left for the night.
At least I can get all the data ripped off of it with the external first, then give it a shot. Worst case scenario he's got a 2nd external drive for moving things around and getting rid of his crap. Best case, he might have an extra laptop that could read emails or watch low quality youtube videos... For me, something like that would only be valuable if all of my other devices failed and I needed to trouble shoot with it. I'm sure I can talk him into making something cooler out of it if it's still got life left in it. But I've never seen a newer laptop over there, so I might have to talk him into finally upgrading if he even needs a laptop, or just going without one.
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Hey, Brenda.
There was a reason I didn't do that curio cabinet a few weeks back and saved that for last. At least until my dad had visited for sure...
I thought something like this might happen, but not on this level.
Just gotta keep telling myself it will be worth it when it's done. Yeah... I had a lot of visible stuff all looking nice and clean and straightened out, but that's only because I have a lot of rooms and places to throw things and forget about them.
It's mostly better stuff than I was getting rid of last time though, and since I have a lot of things almost set up the way I'd like them now, I can take this time to get things working for me to the max before throwing out extra stuff I don't need anymore.
I remember now why we usually put things like this off. 
It'll be worth it... it'll be worth it...
Maybe an extra day or two to get through it than I thought, but it will be worth it...
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Oh... and I found the actual plug to that soundbar. It looks like it came in two separate times, and was probably in the bag with a lot of wires from my brother. I don't know how I didn't see it until a few hours ago.
All that ado about nothing, really. The unit is obviously much higher quality than anything I've got and works well, but without the remote I can't do anything besides turn it on/of or change the volume. There's literally no bass coming out of it, and I don't know if that's because it was relying entirely on the missing subwoofer for the bass or if there is a way to turn the bass up with the remote, but I'm not going to pay $15 for a new remote just to find out.
I stole the optical cable from it and put it on my sound bar. When I heard how much better mine sounded with the bass after switching it back I knew I had to get rid of it. Shame. Bet that subwoofer was fine but somebody didn't know what it was and just threw it in the trash at some point.
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I forgot my old man was charging things in the kitchen with the outlet for the air fryer when he was here, so I went ahead and made a charging station over there too. 3 on the first floor and one in the master bedroom should do. If I ever do anything with the small bedroom I can worry about that then, but it was just empty before I filled it with non-furniture things. I made sure all the chargers I'm using worked. I actually don't have a lot of them left now that I've set so many of them up this way. I wouldn't have done any of it if I didn't have those velcro straps.
I was worried that little bank was not up to the task of holding the plugs, but then I ended up using about 6 or 7 of them making these charging stations and it's all good.
I've got a bunch of stuff moving around on computers in the background at the same time, so it's not bad bouncing around like this. I tend to knock myself off focus on what I was doing with one thing when I go to the other though, so it's probably not as efficient as it could be.
From what I'm looking at, I think I've probably either used or thrown out about half of the stuff so far. I need to do a lot better than 50% though.
I'm going to have to get some higher quality "decorative" boxes than the stuff I got at the dollar store a few years back for stuff up on the curio cabinet. Although they probably wouldn't be all jacked up right now if I weren't overloading them all with crap.
I'm going to have to also figure out a "dumping ground" for anything new coming into the house. Not in the living room. I'll make one place for it there, and then it will end up invading other spaces if I do. This is all taking a lot of effort and planning and I just don't want to ever have to do it again. It's crazy how disorganized things can become when you just let it happen for a year or three.
I may use it all the time, but it's the first room people see when they come in the house... or the second. New stuff doesn't need to be mixed up with the useful stuff that's all set up in the living room and other finished rooms. If it goes in the small bedroom and I don't do anything with it for a year, it goes in the trash. That sounds like a plan to me... at least after I clear it out this time.
I should be painting. I shouldn't still have 200 things on my living room floor.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Yeah... Heh. We'll make great pets.
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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.
Yeah, it's just a cute riff on everyone's line from Star Trek. "Beam me up Scotty."
The other one I saved that I find funny is, "No matter how subtle a wizard might be. A knife between the shoulders will definitely cramp his style."
Yes, in regard to that one it is twisted but I like it.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Hey, Brenda.
There was a reason I didn't do that curio cabinet a few weeks back and saved that for last. At least until my dad had visited for sure...
I thought something like this might happen, but not on this level.
Just gotta keep telling myself it will be worth it when it's done. Yeah... I had a lot of visible stuff all looking nice and clean and straightened out, but that's only because I have a lot of rooms and places to throw things and forget about them.
It's mostly better stuff than I was getting rid of last time though, and since I have a lot of things almost set up the way I'd like them now, I can take this time to get things working for me to the max before throwing out extra stuff I don't need anymore.
I remember now why we usually put things like this off.
It'll be worth it... it'll be worth it...
Maybe an extra day or two to get through it than I thought, but it will be worth it...
--------------------------------------------------
Be Nice. Don't be a dick.
I'm sure it will be worth it. But I think we all do that.
The pins I put into a container is now sitting on a shelf of a bookcase. I will find it another home. One of these other days.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Yeah... Heh. We'll make great pets.
--------------------------------------------------
Be Nice. Don't be a dick.
Yeah, it's just a cute riff on everyone's line from Star Trek. "Beam me up Scotty."
Hehe... yeah. I knew it. Just agreein', was all.
Quote:
The other one I saved that I find funny is, "No matter how subtle a wizard might be. A knife between the shoulders will definitely cramp his style."
Yes, in regard to that one it is twisted but I like it.
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Quote:
.... (he's lucky there's an ally for businesses behind him, and also that his father had planted arborvitaes in front of that entire fence, so the braces can all easily be camouflaged with some paint. But we were dancing around those trees and all the ivy on the bed too. I didn't see any poison Ivy while I was out there, but I know he got hit with it doing work back there once, so I made sure to wash everything that was exposed several times during the day.
Well, I didn't step in poison ivy but I did step in a pile of dog poop. Fortunately she's a small dog!
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
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Finally getting most of the stuff up off the floor...
I've got 6 Kindles and 7 Fire TV sticks, and only 2 of them I ever paid for. I know my dad brought most of that over to me at some point. One of those kindles has basically his entire history of sci-fi downloads, so I have to make sure I put that one aside safely.
I think I'm going to keep that one and whatever the newest/best one is.
Then I'm going to give one to my aunt and one to my buddy. I'll load up a few books I know that they would like first. I'm sure a few of those are ancient. Maybe I'll drop them off at Goodwill, but I'll probably just trash the oldest two. If I've got any extra Fire Sticks that aren't ancient after I keep 3 of them for myself, I'll give them one each too.
All of the remaining cables will fit in a small box going into the attic. I have some of the most used ones still on hand in the curio cabinet like HDMI cords, an extra 6ft network cable and a 6ft USB extender, but I made good use of sturdy boxes and I've got dividers in there now to keep everything organized. Nothing is on top of anything else, and I actually have some free space for other things.
Two full trash bags are going out. I'm also getting rid of the sound bar, a small computer monitor that doesn't have a plug, those two laptops with broken screens, and a ton of old markers and highlighters and other junk that have been down in the cabinet so long most of them don't even work anymore.
I already tested any good sharpies and other black, blue and red markers and have a solid handful of those since they're useful. I've got about 100 pens down there that are all really good quality ones that my folks had at their business. I'm going to pare that down quite a bit and make sure I've got about 20 good ones and toss the rest.
I've got a box of speaker wire going out to the garage, and I'm going to dig out that home theater system and the Denon reciever. I found them upstairs, I just haven't brought them down yet. That will be a project for me on a rainy day when I don't have anything to paint inside. Just want to do most of that before it gets super hot outside, otherwise you bake in that garage when you're up on a ladder.
I've got a few other things planned to slowly get the crap out of the attic down the road, but I need to finish cleaning up all of this. I forgot to take the trash out last week, so I'm already full up and this stuff will have to be staged in the garage until I've got room to throw it all out. Nothing new has gone up there since I packed it all away, but I'm realizing now that I can probably get rid of a lot more of it. I may be able to make use of more of it now too, but I won't know as long as it's buried up there and out of mind.
I should probably start going through all those bags of clothes this week too. Go through all my clothes in my dressers and the closet too while I'm at it. I probably only wear about 20% of the clothes I own. I think it's time to start letting go of most of that. There's no reason why putting clothes away should be a chore I just avoid because there's never any room to fit everything and I'm cramming stuff in places where it shouldn't be crammed.
I've got 60 hangers in that closet and never a free one. I've got a tall dresser that is 80% full of really nice towels that rarely ever get into the rotation, and then another small dresser that has a bunch of crappy towels I don't mind getting beat up. I don't see any reason why I need to have about 40 towels in this house.
At least with the clothes, choices should be quick and easy and I won't have everything scattered about the living room and making me trip all over the place. Once I'm doing that part of the dehoard it should be no problem doing that in between coats of paint and monitoring my network re-org all at once.
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