Sunday, September 28, 2025

In the mean time


I am slowly learning to expand my boundaries. I am an early early morning person. So just before sunrise, I decided to go look at a different place than our ridge to watch the sun come up. It wasn't really going to be a fantastic brilliant dawn.
But I thought, let's just drive around the countryside a bit and take a look.

This is a gravel road called Brookville Road, I drove down this road years ago when I took it to get over to the highway during bow hunting season to get some donuts at the bakery in town.

In September and October, this road at dawn has so much to offer in fall light and fog.


The shot above was at the end of September 2017. The camera was a point and shoot camera that had a pretty cool zoom on it. [I wore that camera out by 2019]

Saturday morning I thought I'd go back to the ponds to see if the Swans were still there. I grabbed the big lens and brought a smaller one. By the time I got into the river valley, I realized I wouldn't be able to see across the pond because of the fog. 

So, Charlie and I took our time and drove through the hills and valleys looking for something amazing and interesting. We found that and spent about an hour finding valleys, fog, trees, rays of light through the fog, and whatnot.

But I'll share that later. 
When I got back home, I got to work on my storage project. For all of our years, hubby insisted on having a large trunk in the house. It was a huge ugly shipping sort of trunk. It took up too much room in our tiny house and served no purpose other than to hold some of his Highschool books and an old Teddy Bear that was his when he was something like 6 years old.

Let me tell you, it smelled inside of it. Musty and icky. I rarely opened it other than to confirm that nothing in it was something I needed. This had been a bone of contention ever since I'd first lived there. A behemoth of a trunk that was not useful. 

I did later learn that Rich had stored this in his barn for years where he and his first wife had lived. [ewww, explains the musty smell]

These are photos that include a portion of the trunk from before our house remodel. To hide the trunk, I often put a table cloth over it. The TV sat on it.



Well, we no longer have Morris [the dog] or the bricks, or that heater.

Here is the living room now. The blanket on the couch is for the little dog how likes to hop up there. With the trunk gone, the room has opened up so much!


This was in the kitchen area for ever. This shot is from when I was trying to decorate for Christmas. I used the trunk to display my polar bears doing things. In the summer, it was a place to drop mail, keys, and junk. By the time we added several bottles of 02, the walker, and other items this summer, the space on and around the trunk became a disaster area. The little table on the left is an old farmhouse entry way table.

I've kept that. I'm going to find a nice spot for it somewhere and add the old water pitcher and washing bowl to it along with towels.



So to make a long story short.
I decided to order this....

After all, I've built really hard Lego Builds, so how hard could this be?

I sure learned a lot about cabinets, hinges. and drawers while making mistakes and doing it over again.

I learned how to fix and replace the hinges on the Lazy Susan by studying the hinges on this thing.







And finally, I got it all cleaned up and put together.

Tah Dah!


Done. Finished.
I'm getting another one to go around the corner from this one and replace where the trunk was. The storage really helps me with things that were just stacked around the place. Now the house/kitchen area looks very tidy. 

In another week, Ill be building again. I guess I do like 3D puzzles.

I wouldn't have taken on this task at another point in my life. But I thought this would be a good thing. Yes, it isn't top quality, but it is useful and I like it.

15 comments:

  1. This is a great idea and it looks good in the space. You've definitely got this.

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  2. You are adapting well while no doubt keeping many memories intact.

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  3. What a nice cabinet! All that lego building came in handy! It really does look very sharp.

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  4. Anonymous12:13 PM

    Useful. Attractive. Feel good vibes. Winner winner. Good job, Val! Kris in Ohio

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  5. Anonymous7:07 PM

    Brilliant! Is there anything you can't do? Lori

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    Replies
    1. Yes I can't figure out motors at all. They don't make sense to me.

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  6. It looks great! That was a good project for you! Sell that old trunk on Facebook marketplace! You had a nice outing with Charlie. How is he adjusting?

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    1. I got rid of the trunk too nasty inside. I suppose I could have sold it on Marketplace. But what a hassle that is.
      Charlie, misses all the company we had for the past 6 months and misses his naps with 'the boss'. Some days he is fine, others he is reserved. He'll adjust.

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  7. Sometimes it’s good reorganize and get rid of old stuff that has become clutter. Sounds like that’s exactly what you did.

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  8. I also like it! You and Charlie are expanding your adventures. I know you both enjoy this. Having productive tasks helps a lot.

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  9. Whoa! I love that rolling road!! Some times it is not so much about what you find and more about just getting out. At least for me. I can't tell you how many times I've hopped in my truck in search of XYZ and found nothing, or something else.

    Great storage project! Dare I say it looks Martha Stewart-ish ala Val :))

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    1. Learning to just be able to get out is one of the harder things I am having to learn over again. I used to drive around back roads all the time many years ago!
      Oh gosh, not Martha Stewart...that's funny. It will be full of toys playing there soon enough!

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  10. That 1st photo reminds me of the hard ribbon candy we were subjected to at Christmas as a kid. (I much preferred chocolate...)
    Love the wash stand, it will look nice with the proper accoutrements on it.
    Those cabinet kits are enough to make you wanna tear your hair out- good job on getting it done, it looks great.

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  11. Val! That is absolutely beautiful! Wow! I totally LOVE it!

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  12. Anonymous5:01 PM

    LD...It looks so great. I like to order furniture like that and sometimes putting it together is a pain. I have a flower stand and an end table that I put together.

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