Cleaning the Garage

 

We got our dumpster today, which is super exciting. Also, they delivered a 30yd instead of a 20yd, which I guess is an added bonus.

It turned out well, because the crap in the garage took up a lot of space…

I didn’t remember my resolve to take a before picture, as I was super excited to start. Didn’t remember until I was halfway done, so it was moot. However, let me put it this way: a) I’ve made a good dent in a 30 cubic yard dumpster; b) before when you opened the door, all you saw was a sea of trash, couldn’t even walk in.

Here’s some highlights:

• Old glass storm windows
• The extra pieces for the ‘new’ gutters, including a ton of connectors
• The old gutters. And their connectors.
• 3 lawnmowers and a snowblower.
• Old TV.
• LP gas heater.
• An entire wok set, still in the packaging (I kept that).
• Many hockey sticks.
• Clothes hangers. This guy had a problem. We find them everywhere. In this case, even attached to the spring for the garage door.
• Lots of lumber, the good stuff I’m keeping.
• 1.5 rear spoilers to an unknown car.
• An old windshield wiper, in the new wiper’s box.
• A crate that seemed to be purpose built to hold his old paint can lids.
• The old garage (?) window.
• Empty packaging, empty boxes.
• An ice-hole drill thingy for ice fishing.
• Lots of little bits of things: tiny pieces of foam insulation (less than 1 sqft), 6inch long pieces of downspout, 1ft long pieces of lumber. What did he expect to do with these things?
• 6ft long, 1/4”ish thick, 6” wide piece of aluminum. To the scrappers!
• Some sort of large pavilion-y tent thing.
• And.. a kitchen sink. No joke.

It seems like whoever it was that packed the majority of this shit in there saved the old broken whatever whenever he replaced something. When we first moved in we got rid of an old dishwasher that was in there, and the dishwasher in the kitchen when we moved in was already from the 80s or 90s. That means the ‘old dishwasher’ sat in that garage for probably 25 years, through at least 2 subsequent owners before we got rid of it.

The Right of the People

 

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Today, the Wisconsin Senate illegally voted through a bill that removes fundamental rights of the working people.

Today, in Michigan, the Senate passed a bill that allows the governor to declare a state of fiscal emergency (state of emergency law? sound familiar?) that allows the state government to dissolve contracts, dissolve unions, even dissolve town governments, and replace them with a unilateral dictator who can be paid an unlimited salary.

Today, unions (human rights) are under attack in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Idaho, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, Illinois, Tennessee, the list goes on.

Today, the fundamental rights of people in this country are under attack.

Today, we must exercise the right of the people to alter or abolish the government. We must do whatever we can, peacefully, to stop what the GOP and their cronies are trying to do. They have shown quite clearly that they will not obey the law. They held their votes tonight illegally. They have violated the state constitution to lock (and weld!) entrances to the capitol, denying constituents entrance.

Today, we must work to recall the republicans that are eligible. We must get out the vote in upcoming elections. We must challenge the illegal actions of the current government in courts of law.

Tomorrow, or the next day, when the Governor signs this bill into law, the public workers of the state of Wisconsin must stage a general strike, and all unions that are able must strike in solidarity, and the people must take to the streets, and we must take our government back.