Brad,
I'm saving this one to share with Greg.  He could 
probably tell the same story about our basement, 
if he were to get around to cleaning 
it.   Actually, it reminds me of some forward 
that circles around in the email about old age or 
something,.  Hmmm.  Nice recovery with the 
spiritual application at the end.  It was a fun, and practical read.
Kathy




At 09:45 PM 7/13/2007, you wrote:
>So I start off doing a bit of planning of future 
>things. I notice "Wow! I got a lot of loose ends 
>hanging around and I better get after them." 
>Here in our town they are having city wide 
>garage sales and we have some stuff to get rid 
>of, not too much and all larger stuff not being 
>used and we are paying storage to keep it dry. 
>So, I think to myself, "Self? You better get 
>that stuff organized so you can take advantage 
>of the garage shoppers roaming the streets this 
>weekend". "I agree said I". So the first thing I 
>thought of was the gas powered post hole digger 
>I bought when I had to put in the fence for the 
>day care.  "I need to get that gassed up and 
>make sure it gets started, it hasn't been run in 
>nearly two years and all the gas has dried up in 
>it... gee I hope it starts. That would be 
>embarrassing if someone wanted to see it run and 
>I couldn't get it started". Now I know that 
>piece of equipment takes a mixed gas, that is 
>2-cycle oil mixed with the gas and I just know 
>I've got a bottle somewhere in that 
>garage,  somewhere in or on that work bench. So? 
>Off I go looking for the little bottle of oil. 
>Rummage, rummage, rummage, and rummage some more 
>but it isn't there. "I know its there" said I, 
>so looking around in a box I see my electric 
>drill. "Hmmm. I better put this away  somewhere 
>huh. But the oil, I need to find the oil 
>too.  Hmm I better put this away first though. 
>Hey I know what I'll do! I'll put it in that 
>portable tool chest I got yeah, that's it!" So I 
>know that tool chest is buried somewhere among a 
>bunch of my wife's plant stuff. "Ah-ha! I found 
>it!" But you know? I can't even open it cause of 
>the stuff in front of it". So I think. " I ought 
>roll this whole tool thing someplace closer to 
>the work bench, but it would be easier to move 
>if the top part was off it, I should take 
>the  top tool chest part off first.  You know 
>that upper piece of the tool chest might look 
>and work better if it were on top the work bench 
>instead of sitting on top of the base.  Hmm but 
>I need to find that bottle of oil to get that 
>digger running. Hmmm, well. I better move this 
>tool chest first.  I'll move it over there to 
>the bench yeah!" So I grab the upper tool drawer 
>part and carry it over to the work bench. "Hmmm. 
>This bench top is a real mess isn't it"? I stood 
>there a minute and said, "Yep sho nuff is, 
>yas-suh, sho' nuff is." Looking around there is 
>a huge box of toilet tissue I bought from my 
>supplier for the house, much cheaper than store 
>bought and it is the same thing, but this box is 
>in the way. "I know" said I, "I'll put these 
>rolls somewhere in the house instead of having 
>to come out here and dig around when we need to 
>restock , too bad I didn't do that with the last 
>box, but I really do need to find that oil and 
>get that thing running. Hmm, but yeah , getting 
>this box of paper out of here makes sense 
>though  and I'll find the oil later, so yeah I'm 
>going to do that." So I put the tool chest down, 
>my arms were tired anyway, and grab on to that 
>huge box and carry it into the house saying, 
>"Honey? Where can I put this toilet paper? I 
>want to keep it in here somewhere." We had a 
>spare shelf on the top of our laundry room 
>closet, of course we did because everything that 
>use to be in it, was probably in the garage 
>right? Right. Anyway, so I get a stool and we 
>hand off relay the rolls up yonder, dusting 
>hands off and jumping down off the stool I say 
>"There that's done!" Off to the garage with a 
>large, now empty cardboard box. I think to 
>myself, "Now, that oil, where is that oil? 
>Oh  but hey. You know what? This box I got is a 
>good and sturdy one and  would be good to store 
>some stuff in! But, I got to find that 
>blasted  oil bottle, well maybe I'll find it 
>when I load up this here empty box with stuff!" 
>So off to the workbench I go and find some box 
>of electrical parts, some rolls of wire, some 
>other doodads and before you know it the box is 
>full. "Well now hmmm. Where can I put it?" I 
>asked. "Ah. I'll put it under the workbench on 
>the storage shelf way to the right. Yep that's 
>the spot, oh but wait! She's got a  15 gallon 
>storage can for bird seed under there. Well I'll 
>move it." Crunch, crunch, I hear, and I find 
>bird seed has been spilt and drizzled on the 
>floor from the weird feeder funnel thing she 
>has. "My, my, my, this won't do. I need to 
>vacuum this mess up. But that oil. It's got to 
>be around here somewhere and  if that thing 
>don't run, I'll need some time to work on it. 
>Hmmm I better clean this mess up first though." 
>I say. And so I  needed to find the shop vac. 
>"Where did I put that shop vac now? Hmm. Oh yes 
>it is right over on the other wall of the 
>garage." I got the shop vac and  think. "Sure 
>would be nice if I had the hose extensions so I 
>wouldn't have to crawl around on the ground 
>using my hand as a human shop vac shroud, oh 
>well I don't know where they are, I'll find them 
>later." I fire up the vacuum and  off I 
>go.  With the mess cleaned up, the box ready to 
>store under the bench, I see more mess is under 
>the bench and "Hey! Here's the little rack 
>thingy to hold all the shop vac attachments! Wow 
>cool! I've wondered where that went!" I think to 
>myself, "Geez if I had this hung somewhere I 
>probably wouldn't have had to crawl around on 
>the ground a minute ago. I'll hang it up on the 
>peg board. That's what I'll do alright! Ah 
>shoot. Should I do this? I need that oil to mix 
>the gas to get the digger running? Hmm. 
>Decisions, decisions, hmmm I'll hang this up, 
>and it will only take a minute." So I remembered 
>I had some peg hooks around somewhere, oh yeah I 
>remembered they were in a tool box, so I find 
>the hooks, hang the rack and smile with 
>accomplishment. "Hey. What's this on the work 
>bench right below the rack I just hung and 
>behind the florescent lights I was suppose to 
>hang up a year ago? Oh hey! Why it's the pipe 
>attachments for the shop vac I could have used a 
>minute ago when I was crawling around on the 
>floor! Well. I'll just hang them up now and find 
>the rest of the shop vac attachments too and 
>it's done then. But well, yeah, that oil, that 
>oil is beginning to grind my gears, but, no time 
>like the present so I better take a second and 
>hang up the attachments so I can find them when 
>I want them." So I find some of the shop vac 
>attachments , hang them up, rest my hands on the 
>bench top and notice, "Hey! The top of the work 
>bench? You know the part that you can actually 
>see at this point? It's pretty dirty. I'll grab 
>one of the attachments and vacuum it off, yeah 
>that's what I'll do. But Brad, the oil, it isn't 
>up here Brad, you know that Brad. Yeah 
>self?  well self, I'm vacuuming this thing off 
>first OK Self? I do hope that is alright with 
>you Self". I tend to argue with myself, it saves 
>my wife a lot of grief not arguing with her over 
>things.  So vacuuming away I go and think, "As 
>long as I'm vacuuming this part, I might as well 
>clean the rest off the bench top and vacuum it 
>too".  Needless to say, the little bottle of oil 
>was found after I had cleaned the entire garage, 
>well nearly anyway. I was so far into cleaning 
>it now I wasn't about to quit. So the first 
>thing I set out to do was the last thing I wound 
>up doing. I did mix up the gas, fired up the 
>diggger in a couple pulls and did get all the 
>stuff set out for the sale in time plus a cleaner garage.
>
>This sort of thing seems to happen in various 
>areas of lie from time to time. Even in looking 
>for something in the Word, a particular 
>scripture and before you know it I'm looking up 
>the Hebrew meaning in a dictionary and then that 
>sparks a different question and another 
>scripture look up and so on. And sooner or later 
>the rabbit trail seems  to run  full circle back 
>to the original  spot in search of the 
>destination but with a clearer view. Some times 
>these rabbit trails are a fun hunt 
>and  are  valuable in getting loose ends tied up 
>that need tying. Either that or I am  a slobbish 
>ADDH person with lack of focus. Maybe that is a 
>bad confession or something, but I  have a 
>tendency to be in the middle of performing a 
>song and find I'm thinking something like, "Hmm 
>I wonder if I ought work on the garage or maybe 
>get that office cleaned up and painted this 
>week, and… hmmm what's the next line in the song 
>I'm suppose to sing? Wait, where am I in the 
>song anyway!" lol. Perhaps I rely too much on 
>muscular memory, letting the mouth sing the song 
>while  the head is off God knows where. Speaking 
>of such,  Tomorrow is my first solo gig in a 
>secular place, just me and my portable PA I've 
>set up a total of three times now lol. So if you 
>think of it, fold the hands in memory of that, I'd appreciate that thanks.
>
>Brad