Where's My Drill?

Tonight's gonna be a three shot night.  That's right.  Soon as American Idol's over it's either three shots of good ol' Jack Daniels or a couple more pain pills.  My back is killing me.  Today I started cleaning the garage. 

For the last week or so, ever since it took all morning to put air into a flat tire, I've been planning the attack on the mess in that hellish hole.  The  nuclear option, renting a dumpster and three teens to start chucking stuff into it, was very appealing but I don't know three teenagers in this Burg.  So, that plan went into the dumpster instead of the eight tons of whatever that clutters the garage. 

Next I had the option of setting fire to it.  I looked closely at my insurance policy and the local arson laws.  Things on the insurance end would have been OK, so long as I didn't get caught with the match, but the jail time for any tiny miscalculation on my part was something I could not face.  As Tony Beretta used to say, long before he might have pulled the trigger, "If you can't do the time, then don't do the crime."  I can't do the time so another plan went into the dumpster.  I'm glad I thought about renting the thing.   

Reality started to set in.  I was actually going to have to clean up the mess. 

The first part, building the shelves to store the various treasures I've accumulated during my life time, is something I enjoy.  Too bad this project is not like a dinner away from home.  Instead of coming last, desert comes first when the garage needs straightening out.  Today was cherry pie and homemade vanilla ice cream day.  I went to Home Depot, bought a bunch of bull nose shelving and mounting brackets and set up my trusty sliding compound miter saw.  Seven hours later I had one hundred and four lineal feet of eleven inch shelving on the walls. 

Tomorrow I'll rebuild the work bench to my liking and sit down in the middle of the floor and admire my handiwork for the rest of the day.  The mess will still be piled around me but progress will have been made.  The only problem I can see is that dessert will be gone - nothing left to look forward to.  I'll just have to try real hard to eat all my vegetables.