Some tasks will take longer to complete
I’m under pressure to divest. Not diversify; divest. I have dropped the hunter role of my ancestral forebears and become a gatherer, a harvester. I have filled the barns (read, basement) to a point of “get rid of the junk.”
I come from a tradition that says you can never have enough books. Sadly, those around me lack the sentiment. Their response is that I lack the gene that permits me to throw stuff away. Me, who does the garbage fifty weeks out of the year! But I digress (hoping to distract).
I’ve got a lot of books. Sadly, the majority have been blocked in by a wall of other books, somewhat reminiscent of a tale by Edgar Allen Poe. Bricks in the wall, so to speak. I don’t believe that a book should only be read once. After all, in some distant time, I’m going to start forgetting what is between the covers and will have to rediscover the content. Think of this as a laying aside for a forgetful rainy day, when dementia starts to set in and I can’t remember how a particular story ended. What if I ever need a quotation, and Google has gone offline.
The basement cleanup is akin to Hercules in the Augean Stables, or Sisyphus and the rock, or the search for a perpetual motion machine. Something that is there, as much a part of life as taxes and death. My fear is that of any landowner; if I clear the territory, someone else will squat there, and I don’t mean the dog, although she is quite competent. But, no task ever ends if one doesn’t begin…
Down to the basement I go. Happily, the others have cleared some floor space so that I can (temporarily) pile and sort. Just in time, too, because another section of bookshelves is coming off the wall (expletives deleted). After an hour or two, my allergies got the better of me, so I had no choice but to put on “Cross Country Checkup without Rex” and share a well-deserved popsicle with the dog. She/It is in post-op mood, which has changed exactly zero in her behaviour but earned the nickname “Frankenstein” from son #1.
I did find the missing inverter for the van, so this mining might prove worthwhile after all. I should be able to finish with five weeks ahead of me.
And then, back to my original role…
