100 Things (or so)

[melannen]

I spent the afternoon working on cleaning out the attic (this is an ongoing process subject to weather conditions, but the section I did today really needed it). Our attic is very small - it's over the whole house, but the area between the downstairs ceiling and the current roof (which was added post-purchase by Dad) is pretty low, about 4' at the highest and rapidly sloping down to both edges, so you have to crawl. Also the floor is slanted because it's the original roof, and the sharp ends of nails from the roofing poke out of the ceiling every six inches or so.

In short, it's the most fun place in the house!

I did maybe 1/8 of the whole attic today, and was inspired to do an inventory while I was at it. So for pure anthropological interest, here is the current contents of Mom's attic :

Attic contents: area straight ahead from trapdoor (counterclockwise from left):

old phones and answering machines
violet wand
antenna control box
tv digital converter
2 ceramic turkeys
3 boxes christmas cards stuff
old small wall hanging pictures from kids' rooms
clip-on lamp

1910 Harvard Classics
Sweet Pickles books
Berenstain Bears books
assorted v. old kids' books
bright & early books/beginner books
small bookshelf
mysterious square brown flat thing on the floor

picture frames
easel
folding lap tray
small computer/printer shelves
attic ventilation fan (not installed)
soapmaking trays
motorcycle helmet
window fans
bowtie antenna
old mailbox
carpet & carpet underlayer scraps
box of random toy stuff
4 boxes of dad's puzzles
2 boxes of wind-up toys
box of building blocks
box of articulated dinosaur bones
box of spare corelle dishware
small rubber mats
trunk cover for subaru
box of cookie tins
box of asst'd jars and tupperware
box of antique wool cards
box of smoked glasses
box of fondue pots

2 boxes empty bags
spare sunhats
box of rainbow brite comforters
box of globe mugs, other mugs & kids' dishes
folding wheeled cart


Taken down to go through and either get rid of or integrate into downstairs life:
pile of buckets and colanders
bag labeled "fleas"
box labeled "fleas"
kids' games and puzzles to get rid of
box of baskets and ass't'd packing material
bag of dad's old shirts
box of disposable aluminum cookware
leaf for kitchen table
big box o' perler beads
weaving loops and frames
Spirographs, map puzzles, paperdoll set, Memory, trivial trivia cards.

I say "anthropological interest" because home inventories are some of the most fascinating documents I ever got to look at while doing research.¹ And in general I find the stuff we surround ourselves with, and the emotional capital we invest in it, fascinating! There's a reason I have a hoard-brooding tag on my journal.

I actually thought about doing the "100 Things" meme when it was first going around, about 100 Things - or to put it in BBC terms, A Personal History in 100 Objects - but I decided it's not like I needed *more* ideas for journal entries.

But hey, anyone want to do a variation on that? Several things that would have been on my 100 Things list are in that inventory anyway. If anybody leave a comment asking about something on that inventory, I will tell them a story about it! (Either in a comment or a new post, depending on how much I have to say.)

¹And also learning the term "provisionally discarded" in an archeology class has actually helped me a lot in the ongoing 'don't turn into a hoarder' battle - I can "provisionally discard" things without having to decide now, and then if a year later they're still in the 'provisionally discarded' storage - either because I didn't want them or I forgot I still had them - they go.)

Comments

[melannen]

Well, yes, that is also part of Mom's job as Person In Charge Of Donated Junk: to very politely tell people, "sorry, I don't think anybody would want that, you should probably just take it to the recycle center." (Also to be the familiar face who talks to the contacts at other places and makes sure they know they're allowed to say no to offers.)

Although frankly I don't know if I've ever known an inkjet printer that wasn't buggy and demi-functional right out of the box. :P (When we cleaned out the church's storage areas last fall we found four of them, all in at least some state of functional-ness. Two of them sold at the rummage sale - with warnings; one is being used, and the other got put back into storage for when that one hits complete nonfunctional-ness.)

[sara]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure inkjet printers are more or less physical evidence that the downfall of western civilization is upon us. They are just vile. The only reason I didn't light the one at work on fire is that it probably would emit toxic smoke. Or eldritch horrors. Maybe both.

[melannen]

Although tbh even broken inkjets don't get sent straight to the dump anymore because we know the people at the local maker space who have a corner of their warehouse designated for "misc. broken electronic parts for scavenging" and haven't learnt yet that it's possible to have too many misc. broken electronic parts. :D Perhaps they will become a robot! And literally destroy civilization!

...okay that needs to be a movie.

[sara]

Yeah, see, our local electronics reuse place has been around long enough that the misc. broken electronics parts joined together into a massive plastic behemoth, flooded their workspace, and tried to crush their budget.

They went to Salem and lobbied for the e-cycling law that's now rendering inkjet printers into their constituent parts. Much more effective than warehousing. ;>

[melannen]

I suspect ours will get there eventually, but at the moment they're still dazzled enough at having an actual industrial space to work in that when we go "hey, we'e going to take this stuff to recycle at the dump, but we thought we'd ask if you wanted it first" half the time they still say, "ooh, yeah, we want that!"

And hey, giving them the stuff they ask for is probably the best way to teach them to show more discrimination. :P