Skating, Anyone?

 After nearly an inch of rain and a high of nearly 50 degrees in the past 24 hours, we now have bitterly cold, 15-degree weather and ice everywhere! All that wonderful melting that was going on yesterday, has turned into treacherous sheets of glare, very solid, ice. Traffic is moving along West Shore Road even though I haven't seen the town's sanding truck going by. The road looks glare, but I've noticed the pickup trucks going by (most of the morning traffic is pickups) all seem to be going at their usual speed, like there's nothing to worry about. And maybe that's the case. It could be that the snow started before the temperature dropped too much and it isn't as glare on the road as it looks. The top of my driveway looks like a sheet of glare ice, and Luke Persons will sand it later. In the meantime, I'm not planning to go anywhere, and if I do, it will be with the car, not on foot. 

I have been working in my basement, putting together a picnic table for the back yard. It all went very well and I was congratulating myself Wednesday night as I started screwing the last screw in place to hold the brace on the underside of the second bench. For some reason, the screw missed the pilot hole I'd drilled and I had to back it off; when I started it again, I got almost to the end when my drill slipped and spoiled the screw head. I tried different bits to back it off, but nothing worked. I knew there was probably a simple way of getting it out of there, but I was tired and frustrated. The very last screw was within a fraction of an inch of being in place and I got fouled up. Unbelievable. I gave up for the

night and later emailed Jamie. He got right back to me saying, "Don't worry, Mom, I can fix that." 

Long story short, he came after work last night and it took him less than five minutes to attach a vice grip wrench (why didn't I think of that?) and back it out. We found a replacement screw in the extensive collection of miscellaneous nuts, bolts and screws my father (and I) gathered over the years, and all is now good. Ready and waiting for warm weather and back yard picnics!! I'm thinking in about eight weeks I'll be wanting to move table and benches out of the basement.

Today I'm going to work in the basement again, but today I'll be organizing/cleaning my workbench. Mainly, I need to try to locate the vice-grip wrench I was reminded last night that I have somewhere, but haven't seen in a while. If I'd seen it, I might have thought to use it on that obstinate screw. In addition, the battery in my drill needs to be charged and I'm not sure what I did with the charger. Fred used to keep it on the bureau in the spare bedroom, but of course I moved it to a more logical place - only now I can't remember where. I do remember putting a bunch of chargers together last fall, and I'm pretty sure that one would have been with them; but for the moment, I have no clue where I put that collection. I really need to get organized. When I find the chargers, I'm going to put up a shelf near the workbench that will be solely dedicated to chargers. 

The best thing about losing something is that I always get some much-needed sorting and re-organizing done before I find whatever I'm looking for. Trouble is, then things end up in some new, more logical spot I'm sure will be easier to access -- but then I go to the old location next time I want the item, and can't remember where that new place was. I'd chalk it up to being an age thing, but I've been operating this way for decades. It's a Jane thing. So I'm off to rearrange the basement and make some new frustrations next time I want something down there.