Temperature goes up!

First it was walls and sheets of wind swept fog rolling around the neighbourhood blocking out sight at about four meters of visibility, then the temperature doubled again and we had rivers of snow melt swelling the creeks, rivers, and drainage ditches to overflowing. It flooded the road in a number of places. I bet the DVP was nearly under water in stretches downtown yesterday, close by the lake. If it wasn’t then, it will be today! All this downhill rolling water has to end up somewhere, and that somewhere is typically lake Ontario.

A good lesson to learn is to not just drive headlong at full speed into a giant puddle, because you don’t know if the road underneath the surface is still there in the same shape you expect it to be. Sink holes, upheavals, and breaks are common with these wild temperature fluctuations. You could end up driving into an eight foot deep sink hole at full speed, killing yourself and any passengers you might have. Best to traverse it at its shallowest point (if you can even identify one), or find an alternate route.

It is the Monday morning immediately preceding the time change, so the roads are going to be extra dangerous this week with over tired drivers. So take care out there! Doesn’t help that the mornings are going to be dark for a few weeks now, and that the sun will still be up at bedtime. Just more ammo for the kids to fight going to sleep. I do like that the kids afternoon programming will end and we will still have an hour or two left of sunlight to enjoy. It’ll be a few weeks yet before I break out the patio furniture, deck chairs, and lawn ornamentation, and extra lighting. I do not have faith in this weather lasting more than a couple of days before dipping back down onto frigid territory. But I will take what I can get at this point. I’ve been a shut in, a recluse since November! Let me out of this house!

It was so warm yesterday I took a load of wood junk down to the burn barrel and just about filled it to the brim with cut offs and such. Oh it was great. I was ruthless! I got rid of a bucket full of tiny hard wood cut offs I’d been hoarding for no real reason other than it was hardwood. Too small to do much of anything with. So POOF! gone to the flames now. Bye-bye. I did not, however, get rid of the train table, I think my wife might want to set it back up again to build Lego on, instead of the right seater dining room table that is down there for just that purpose. I don’t know why. Sentimental value maybe? Either way it is stored away safely where it isn’t in my direct path when wood working, so I’m fine with that. All good. I took so much stuff down to the barrel it was very satisfying. I would still like to get those three doors stripped of their hardware and taken away, but it’s not of vital importance. I just think, if I passed suddenly, how much crap would my wife & kids have to sort through that wasn’t worth anything, except to waste their time having to deal with it after I’m gone, so I’m trying to deal with it all now. Or now-ish. Now adjacent. In a timely manner, let’s put it that way. Books, tools, toys and junk. Same with excess clothes and papers etc… I don’t want to have nothing around the house that is mine, but all of the extraneous stuff can go. Why waste time, and valuable space devoted to junk, mess, or refuse. As it is almost Spring, I feel like another round of purging coming on. More outgrown clothes gone, more boots, coats, gloves, and MIT’s donated, more of what we’ve kept in excess pared down to essentials with a back up. Reclaim your spaces! Conquer your closets. Empty those attics, crawl spaces, sheds, garages, and cold storage rooms. Purge! Purge like you mean it! Unburden yourselves from these “things” we cling to! Feel the relief.

Also work slowly over a year or two, as it can be a big shock to the system if you’re one of those burdened by sentimental attachments to “things“. I prefer to work in layers. First it’s cardboard boxes, cling film wrappings, tissue papers, gift bags, and envelopes. Things of that nature. Inconsequential. Then a layer down, if it was unopened for year(s) maybe it can be donated, or use it now. If anything has dried out, gone bad, spoiled, or is so far out of date it’s unsafe, that goes next. Then afterwards I try to figure out what has value to me, versus what can be given away, sold off, or donated. And then I go back month after month to slim it all down more. Eventually you get as far as you can get, and it’s safe to stop there. Imagine you have to downsize from your family home to a condo. You can’t keep everything. So keep whatever is most important, and work your way outwards from there. How far out is up to you. But you want to end up with less clutter by the end, not triggered piles of the same amount of stuff. You want more floor space, more empty closets, more clutter free floors under beds etc… it’s cathartic. I encourage it. Unless you are broke or destitute, then you keep what keeps you going.

Happy Monday.