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dreamshark) wrote2022-08-17 04:04 pm
Ridiculous Project underway
This is the one I've been putting off for literally years where I move this comics cupboard so I can get to the outlet hidden behind it. The power strip that was plugged in there burned out, so the only way I can plug in my iron and vacuum cleaner is via a 15-foot extension cord into the bedroom. 
Simple in concept, right? But there are SO MANY STEPS. Starting with moving 36 boxes of comics out of the cupboard so that it is possible to move it. Just touching this thing dislodged a stack of old rolled up posters cleverly stored out of sight on top, which unleashed 35 years worth of fluffy dust that had to be vacuumed up, using a vacuum cleaner plugged into that aforementioned extension cord. This cupboard is 7 feet high and solid oak, so even empty it is not easy to move. To make it even trickier, it was sitting on an isolated rectangle of ancient shag carpeting. Because, y'know, when I removed the rest of the carpeting 20 or 30 years ago I wasn't about to move this damn thing so I just cut around it. We actually managed to slide the cupboard off the carpet and onto the floor without capsizing, whereupon I could finally see whether the outlet still worked or if it blew out back when the power strip did. Along the way I had found a second dead power strip curled up on the floor, so I was a little concerned about that.
Halleluiah! The outlet works just fine! And it's closer to the edge of the cupboard than I realized - I don't need the 9 foot heavy duty extension cord with flat plug that I bought to plug in back there. So maybe I'll go to the hardware store and buy a shorter extension cord with a flat plug. But first... sigh I guess I should tear up that piece of hideous gold and brown shag carpet. That means finding gloves, a utility knife, and a nail puller...
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ETA 4 hours later. Pulling up the carpet was easier than I expected, but involved several more rounds of vacuuming, emptying the little vacuum bag, and unplugging the hose. The thin backing board was pulling loose at the bottom because a bunch of the nails had fallen out. I picked up the ones I could see and pounded them back in, and sent Richard off to find more nails. Okay, now the backing is on tight. Yay! And I found the missing shelf support that had come loose and fallen through the loose backing board. Yay again!
BUT! One of the heavy leg pieces on one side has partially caved in sideways, further endangering the stability of a cupboard that is meant to be leaning on a wall, not free standing. I had the guys hold the cabinet while I whacked it into position with a rubber mallet, but when Richard and I tried to move it, the leg started to cave in again. Well, fuck. The three of us can probably contrive to move the piece straight back so we don't dislodge the leg, but two of us can't move it without wiggling it back and forth, which turns out to be a bad idea. And of course Thorin picked this exact moment to go for a walk.
ETA: 10pm. OKAY! Cabinet is back in place, powerstrip affixed to the side, plugged in and working! Tomorrow I still have to put the shelves and comics back in, but I can do that myself. Now we're going to check out the new Sandman series.
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K.
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I hope you've picked up a HEPA filter at some point during the pandemic (or before) to reduce dust inhalation. And/or wear those N95 masks for what we used to think they were for.
Regarding the secret posters hiding on the top, I recently promised myself that I wouldn't store any posters or artwork anymore that I wasn't going to display right now. (This prompted by the recent clarity about which objects are personally mine.) I have almost managed this, unless there are more boxes I somehow haven't found yet, mostly by tossing out old rolled-up posters. In one case, I used eBay listings to convince myself that it wasn't valuable first.
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Considering your potentially unstable housing situation, cutting down on stuff you don't need makes perfect sense. But I have to say that unlike many of the things that people hoard (like books) old posters are uniquely non-replaceable. And just before I tackled this project, I reclaimed some favorite old posters by mounting them in cheap black poster frames and rehanging them. They look great! I wish I'd done that before it was too late with a couple of beautiful and irreplaceable posters that just fell to pieces on my walls and had to be tossed.
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I don't see my housing situation as *too* unstable. But also I get the opposite conclusion as you. Your housing situation (as far as I know) is extremely stable. So if you aren't going to hang something up now, when would you ever hang it? Contrariwise, if I move, maybe I'll end up with more wall space, so I could possibly justify continuing to store art on that possibility.
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Then I headed into the workroom in the back of the attic and came out with 4 pieces of newly framed art. Two of them went up under the new swag lamp. The other two I hung on one of the finished walls in the attic. There had been a small picture hanging there that didn't really fit the space, which I moved to a smaller piece of wall elsewhere in the attic. One of the bird prints that was under the swag lamp has lost its place and is waiting for a new opportunity. And that's the way stuff happens around here. One thing leads to another.
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I listened to a podcast by 3 rabid fans of the Sandman comic and they LOVED it. They not only didn't object to the changes, they unanimously asserted that the TV version is an improvement on a graphic novel series they had considered practically perfect the way it was. Their point was that Neil Gaiman (who is co-writing and producing this) has matured a lot since he wrote the original series and it shows. It's been long enough since I read the comics that I'll just have to take their word for it, but it seems like a valid point.
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