Simplify, Simplify

POSTED 03/21/2018

I had a wonderful time in Tucson this past winter, living in a hotel with a minimum of belongings and a minimum of responsibilities, repeating endlessly the work-a-day schedule of waking - eating - driving - working - driving - eating - sleeping, with a bit of occasional activity thrown in for good measure (shopping for food, watching movies on tv, taking walks). It was good to be living the simple life for a time, even though it caused no end of consternation for my lovely family back in the northern climes of Michigan.

I've always been an admirer of Thoreau's Walden, or as I call it, On Walden Pond; it reminds me of the days following my return to Seattle in the late 80's which were spent wandering through the back woods of the Gifford Pinchot forest outside of Mount St. Helens, hiking through deadfalls and trying to avoid ripping the oil pan off my van. Compared to my current life, things were quite simple then, with regard to personal responsibilities. Weekdays were spent in a familiar work/read/sleep pattern, while my weekends were spent in the company of my relatives in Longview/Kelso.

Coming back from Tucson, with (most) all the kids gone from the house and far too many cars cluttering the driveway, the memories of that simple life came flooding back, and the desire to rid our lives of the clutter that has grown so steadily over the years increased.

The most blatant first step is to divest ourselves of the remaining Subarus, as they are going to require far more space and time and skill than is available at the present moment. So on one of the warm days which appeared (miraculously) near the end of February, photographs were taken of the excess vehicles in the relatively non-snowy environment for the express purpose of posting them on craigslist so that someone will come and take them away. 

Sapphire for Sale

There will be no effort made to improve them as they are. It will be a simple take-it-or-leave-it proposition. March will undoubtedly turn cold again, and the garage is not currently set up to allow any kind of serious maintenance of automobiles outside the momentary checks for oil volume and tire pressure. Both cars need serious body work; and Sapphire needs some extensive engine and differential repair. They are both driveable, at least; so the goal is to find someone willing to take them away under their own power, and benefit from the joy of having their very own project cars.

Which will hopefully leave us here with one car apiece. Until Mary is home for the summer, at which time we're going to have to find something else.

In the other areas of life, the Simplify, Simplify mantra will also need application, even to the point of possibly divesting ourselves of our far-more-room-than-we-need six-bedroom house, and moving to something far more practical and highly less demanding of our time (with regard to cleaning and maintenance). 

I'm thinking of one of those miniature houses, the ones cousin Linda keeps sharing on Facebook. They're awfully cute, if a little impractical for us due to the types of hobbies we have. Cheryl needs a craft room to house all the yarn and fabric and other things she actively works on; and I need someplace to build my computers. But the idea is still the same. We have too much house and not enough time to keep it up, so it would be a good idea to downsize a bit.

Unfortunately, before we can downsize, we need to catch up on all the house repairs and maintenance necessary to make this place attractive to potential buyers. The back deck needs to be completely rebuilt. The basement trim needs to be completed. The front porch needs to be fixed. The front of the house needs to be power-washed. Several annoying little things need to be fixed: missing paint patches on the walls and ceiling, window-cleaning and bathtub caulking, weather-stripping replacement. The list goes on.

Meanwhile, we still need to get our plans set for the trip to Germany in August.