Saturday, November 3, 2018
Posted here February 17, 2022
On October 29, among the things Joe and Elizabeth brought down to our house, there was a large wooden cabinet (75″ tall, 31″ wide, and 20½″ deep) that would be used to store food. Somewhat worn and missing one leg, it had belonged to Elizabeth’s parents. Presently it was sitting on our porch outside; Joe rented a dolly so we could bring it in, for it was terribly heavy.
The day’s main project was bringing the huge wooden cabinet into the living room to replace the metal shelving unit, then using that shelving unit to replace the small rolling cart near the kitchen door, effectively doubling (or more) our pantry space. But this proved to be an enormous job! First, I had to move a lot of stuff out from in front of the shelving unit. Some of it was Wendi’s craft stuff; there was an old boombox of Kenny’s that didn’t work (I threw it away). The hat rack went into the master bedroom and is still there (along with two boxes of crafts etc.) as I write this on Sunday evening.
Next, I had to pull everything off of the shelving unit and sort it. Non-foods went into the kitchen, into the dish drainer. Boxes and stuff went into a large box and was temporarily stored on our bed. Cans were sorted and went on the dining room floor. There was a lot of old, expired stuff; anything within a year or so that was likely still wholesome, I kept, but some of the dates were ridiculous, representing every single year back to 2009!
I moved the stuff by the dining room exit door (Wendi’s forearm crutches, a very dusty Swiffer, a yardstick, cat litter, distilled water, and more), and everything that was on the rolling cart (food items which also went into the master bedroom), then moved the rolling cart and shelving unit outside.
After dinner tonight, Joe and I struggled to get the huge cabinet onto the dolly and bring it in; the hardest part was getting it in the side door and just turning it around so it could get through the second door to the dining room. But this presented another problem: Spock, the largest cat, decided to bolt and run outdoors just then. Joe yelled for help, and Elizabeth came down and went out the front door to get Spock. Fortunately the cat didn’t venture far due to the rain, so she was able to bring him inside. The cabinet, once into the dining room, scooted into place literally in seconds. Joe helped me steady the broken leg with some tiny wooden boards, and all was well. I brought the shelving unit back inside and put it into its new position.
I began stocking the huge cabinet with the cans from the floor. Joe soon joined me and started unpacking the food he and Elizabeth had brought down from River Falls. Wendi grabbed a chair and began sorting stuff. Joe found stuff of theirs that was old and no good, and Wendi found more of ours that was bad, so we threw quite a bit away. One thing led to another, and soon it was past midnight. Joe stocked nearly all of the metal shelving unit. Somehow we finished the task! The wooden cabinet is practically full, but the metal shelving unit has the bottom shelf and a half still empty.