Cleaning Up and Future Plans

We have been trying to clean up around here, not just outside but inside.  The inside mostly is decluttering.  We have way too much junk that we have gathered over the years.  We are bursting at the seams.  Where did all this come from you ask?  Most of it came from two sets of Grandparents that passed, 'K's ' parents that passed and the major downsizing my parents did a couple years ago.  Some we wanted for various reasons i.e. we could use it or sentimentality (I'm the big cuprit with the sentimentality).  

The hardest thing to part with for me has been photos.  I have a lot, mostly from my Dad's parents, I don't count the 1000's I have taken.  My Grandfather was a prolific photo taker.  I have featured some of his photos here.  Mostly his time in the military in the Southwest with the Army Air Corp.  They are now almost exactly 100 years old.  My Mom and Dad have even more that will have to go somewhere.  I have looked through those and there are a lot of folks in those that I don't know or remember.  Mom and I were going to sit down and go through them and we would write names on them.  I guess now that she has her hands so full with Dad, that will never happen.  Of course they will most likely come to me, no one else is sentimental like me.  That probably goes hand in hand with my genealogy search and no one else is interested, even a little.  I don't get it.  But I have pretty much decided those old photos will get thrown out once I go through them, again.  Hopefully that is years down the line.

Both sets of my Grandparents liked to collect things. In fact, my maternal Grandfather was even a junk/antique dealer the last 15 years of his life.  He had an entire house of things he stored all of that in and we had to dispose of it after he died.  He and my Grandmother collected glassware.  Carnival glass, Milk Glass etc.  My Mom inherited that gene and has even more than they did.  My wife has that gene also and we have more than we need as she got quite a bit of from my grands.  The stuff never gets used or even looked at for that matter.  The kids?  They don't care one bit for that stuff or any type collecting.  In fact they have no interest in any of the old things.  I read an article about that a while back.  It seems a lot of today's generation (my kids) don't want any of their parent's junk and it all gets tossed.  Maybe that's a good thing.  

We tackled our food storage too and tried to relocate it to a better spot that doesn't get too hot like the place we did store it.  A lot got tossed since it had gotten past the 'best by' date.  All canned food.  We don't eat a lot of canned food.  Not much at all in fact.  That is one reason we have to toss so much.  It just doesn't get eaten enough and we don't rotate it out then.  I think a change in strategy is in order.  Having more freeze dried seems to be the answer.

We have been wanting to take a road trip.  Now that Buster has passed on, we don't have to make concessions for him.  We just need to make sure 'K's' foot is healed enough to allow her to walk more without pain.  We had two places in mind, a return to Colorado and our favorite spot there and then over to the Grand Canyon.  Neither of us has been to the Grand Canyon so it is on our list of places to see soon.  We would have had no restraints on time.  However, with Dad's failing health and us trying to help out, that road trip is in doubt as it stands now.  Our plan was to head out in early October.  Now, unless Mom decides to change how things are operating, that is now in doubt.  She is relying on us and my Brother quite a bit.  Maybe we can cut it to just one location for a shorter trip.  I would choose the Grand Canyon since I haven't been there, but the other is much closer and it would allow for less travel time.  So we are in a wait and see pattern.  We may have to put it off completely for now.  I don't want to leave Mom in the lurch or dump it all on my Brother.

It could always be worse.

Happy Trails