December 4, 2020
Dear Everyone:
After due consideration, I’ve decided that
keeping my Emergency Supply Box (ESB) out on the patio is not really
working all that well for me.
First, it’s not really a “box”; it’s more a
collection of boxes sitting on shelves of a unit that I had decided to
keep, even though there’s really no place to put it except out on the
patio. So two “medium” sized
plastic boxes sitting out on the patio, containing various items that
may well come in handy in an emergency.
Technically speaking, we’re in the middle of an
emergency right now, one called “Coronavirus” or “Covid-19”.
Fortunately, this particular emergency has not required that I
crack open any of the thermal blankets, or chemical “light sticks”, that
I have squirreled away in one of the aforementioned boxes.
So far.
Having an ESB means checking on it at regular
intervals, like monthly or quarterly.
And that means going out onto the patio and wrestling with the
boxes. So far, we’ve had dry
weather; but checking the ESB out in the cold is a less than appealing
chore every few months.
Plus, they get really dusty out there.
I decided to try moving the boxes into the
front closet, commonly referred to as a “coat closet”.
This is a small closet just inside the front door.
It is an ideal place to store coats as one can grab a coat on the
way out.
But I honestly don’t have that many coats.
I find that I really don’t like wearing a coat.
They’re bulky and get in the way a lot of the time.
For example, when I get into the car, while wearing a coat, the
back of the coat gets under me, thus pinning the sleeves down so that I
can’t even reach the steering wheel, much less fasten the seatbelt.
The remedy requires a great deal of
sitting-in-place-calisthenics.
Wearing a coat, for me, is more trouble than
it’s worth. Besides, here in
California, it seldom gets cold enough to warrant wearing a real coat.
For the most part, jackets will do just fine.
Ultimately, I gave all the old coats that I’ve tried to live with
over the years to the “One Warm Coat” drive.
I’m just hoping they could find suitable recipients, ones with a
broad girth and really short arms.
Back to the ESB in the coat closet.
The only problem I found was that the boxes, typically about 14
inches wide, didn’t fit through the closet doorway, which is less than
12 inches across. So that
wouldn’t work.
Never mind thinking about the regular closets
in the two bedrooms. They
are completely occupied.
This reminds me of a co-worker I knew years ago who had decided to move
in with his girlfriend. When
he asked where to hang his clothes, she replied:
“Gee, honey, I don’t know.
All the closets are full.”
He ended up using a spring tension rod precariously balanced in
the pantry.
I do have a rolling three-drawer plastic cart,
which I use as a “sewing kit”.
It’s less than 12 inches wide and, when I tested it, fit through
the doorway just fine. I
even know where I bought it many years ago.
Nevertheless, I tried looking online at the Big
Office Supply Warehouse Store and found the exact same plastic cart,
plus another small set of stacking plastic bins, which also came with
wheels. So I now have a
stack of bins and a plastic cart, which both fit inside the coat closet
and take up the floor space underneath what jackets I still have.
The last few days have been spent transferring
multiple emergency supplies into the drawers and bins.
Then the bins were rolled into the closet and back against the
wall. Followed by the
three-drawer cart which has the added advantage that I can just drop a
hat and gloves on top of the cart instead of trying to “toss” them up
onto the overhead shelf, which is significantly high over my
head.
So far, it’s a win-win for everyone.
Love, as always,
Pete
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