After a month of moving, we are now in our new house. Denton, Nebraska - population 190 according to the 2010 census. This now cuts my commute to work to Lincoln in half from 24 miles one way to just 12 miles. Denton is a quiet little town southwest of Lincoln known for its Keno bar that brings many from Lincoln every day to spend their money and make this unincorporated village rich with income.
I was at the old place 17 years. When I moved there I brought along a two-drawer file cabinet. To the new house I moved five four-drawer steel file cabinets packed with research folders, a large ten-drawer map cabinet, a huge survey monument collection including every cast iron marker produced by the Harrison Marker Company. I now have three PC's, a Notebook, and a laptop in my office at home. I had a huge garage sale last weekend and got rid of hundreds of things and probably 98% of the things I had for sale. The funnest part was taking the 25-cent items to the curb and putting up the "Free" sign. People will not pay 25-cents for something, but will fight someone to get it for free.
Still, I find myself overwhelmed with boxes and boxes of books ranging from 1850's to 1880's U.S. patents, USGS hardbound annual reports from the 1890's to 1910's, maps of various places including nearly every highway map ever made for the states of Nebraska and South Dakota. I could not part with my barbed wire collection because many of the 300+ strands were found while surveying. My railroad and pole date nail collection numbers over 6,000. I have deer antlers, .50 caliber shells, WWII items, four large boxes of fossils, arrowheads, railroad stuff, glass insulators, and old bottles I never had 17 years ago. Each has a specific memory attached to it.
Am I a hoarder? Some would say "Yes", but once I start showing people this cool stuff they then seem envious. I often wonder if I would have amassed all this stuff if I had never been a surveyor? The journey continues, but a bit more cautiously as to the stuff I will pick up and bring home to the new house.
Envious!
DDSM:good:
I used to have a bunch of old bottles. Several boxes full. I have no idea what ever happened to them. Some were actually worth some money [to collectors of course].
>Am I a hoarder?
You are a Collector. You have purpose and organization and make use of your collections.
I am an Accumulator. I have purpose but no visible organization and make too little use of the stuff.
Some people are hoarders. Their only purpose is to save EVERYTHING.
>would have amassed all this stuff if I had never been a surveyor?
Yes. It's part of you, not your profession.
You and I need to visit each other and peruse each other's collections!
Considering all of the research you must do for your books and periodicals I’m surprised you don’t need an outbuilding just for storage! B-)
J..
Did you get 5 acres with the home? You can never have enough stuff 😉
Pablo B-)
My next move will be to the cemetery. If they send all of my STUFF with me they'll have to buy a thousand plots instead of one.
We moved 22 years ago. There are still "important" boxes of stuff on the garage shelves that I have yet to open and sort. Really valuable stuff that I really needed to save because I would need them someday. Ya, right. Mostly stuff that I just brought home because... well, just because.
So my wife put her foot down. "NO MORE JUNK! You can bring home collectibles, but NO MORE JUNK!"
Everything I bring home now is a collectible... 🙂
My wife nags me when she sees me dragging in something that I want and she doesn't. She complains and says what am I going to do with all this stuff when you die. I'm thirteen years older that my wife, so I suppose she thinks I will pass first. I tell he do anything you want with the stuff, it isn't my problem after I die it is your problem. I tell her to pile it in the middle of the street and burn it if she wants. She can stack it on the curb and put up a sign saying Free and by sunset it will all be gone.
I think maybe I'll start telling her that I have hid some money among my treasures. That way she will keep the stuff looking for the money.
> I am an Accumulator. I have purpose but no visible organization and make too little use of the stuff.
I always wondered what I was, and now I know. At least I'm not a hoarder!
I think that since bottle digging and collecting isn't as common as it was earlier, the prices of bottles has either remained flat or gone downward.
The "M" word
I would rather have a thousand paper cuts and swim in a lemon juice pool than move any more than I already have. I despise it. I would rather shave my head with a cheese grader. etc. etc. etc.
The "M" word
Sounds like we need a convention where everyone brings and shows off stuff they have dug up.
Free Stuff
My brother and his wife bought a vacation house last year that came fully furnished.
Long story short - there were a lot of things that had to go. We were prepared to haul it 2 hours to the nearest landfill. Someone had the bright idea to set it along the road with a "free" sign and see what would happen. We debated if it would be an insult (because a lot of it was junk), but ended up doing it anyway.
Keep in mind, there is only 2 county roads within 1.5 hours of this place and lets just say it is VERY sparsely populated.
People came out of the wood work. Most of the stuff was gone within 30 minutes!
Makes you think about the different levels of excess and need.
Now all those farmers know who cut their fence
"Joys of Moving" is in and amongst itself a living breathing oxymoron.
Take the joy part out. Seek the misery part. It's pending. But moving is ok, just don't think it is full of joy. Not matter how you pack things, it will be wrong.
Hope you have a good dolly to haul your boxes. Or a couple big ole strong kids to lift them. Better yet - both. Oh yea, lots of duct tape, paper towels, and some vodka.
You'll be fine in the morning
jerry, I can think of a few people who would take vacation to go thru your "stuff". Tell her to give me a call!
I have never found "JOYs" in moving.
Where are they and will they pack it, load it, move it and arrange in new location?
😉
Ditto! Too funny...
