NYNIAGAR-FOLKS-L Archives

From: "Vee L. Housman" <>
Subject: Deep Sixing good old things
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 01:19:34 -0400

Dear Folks,

I'm still hanging in here and I guess before I go to bed I have to tell you
about the things around my house that I decided to give up today and just
plain deep six them. For those of you who aren't Navy orientated, the
expression "deep six" refers to anything that needs to be discarded and just
thrown over the ship's side. Well, because of my recent situation, I had to
face the fact that if nothing else I had to deep six my good old
"three-drawer-thing."

Back in the late 1970s I was determined to find an old beat up small filing
cabinet that I could just slap a coat of paint on and use it to good
advantage. However, all that I could find was an odd-ball dirty old oaken
three-drawer -thing that did indeed have a filing drawer at the bottom of
it. At the outrageous price of $12.00 (I bought it at an antique dealers),
I figured I could bring it home, clean it up, sand it down and then cover it
with polyurethane. And by George it looked pretty good to me under the
circumstances in spite of the fact that it's always been difficult to even
open and shut the drawers.

Nonetheless, it was still my three-drawer-thing and I made good use of it in
spite of its flaws. In fact, others also made good use of it. Their need
for a three-drawer-thing had to do with Navy personnel who had just moved
into the Buffalo area and into a low-rent apartment complex that was near
our Navy Recruiting District Headquarters. The three-drawer-thing was
passed on from one individual to the next and they all managed to make some
good use out of it. They all referred to it as the three-drawer-thing.

Well today, I knew it was time for me to deep six my three-drawer-thing.
Frankly, it has kept getting in the way of my wheelchair recently and more
than that I knew precisely what I had stored in it over the years. For the
most part I knew that I had stored old candles that the mice had whittled
away to almost nothing, a few precious old brass souvenirs from my past that
I refuse to give up and then there were various odds and ends I knew that
could just be thrown into the garbage, like it or not.

With Deb's help she sorted out everything in it and I made the big decision
as to whether it should be kept or just tossed into the garbage. In the end
she carted the three-drawer-thing over to her house if only to be used for
storing tools or such in their shed or wherever.

Although I hated to say farewell to my good old three-drawer-thing, I knew
that it was time to give it up. It had served its purpose and now it's in
the way of my wheelchair.

Goodbye, old buddy, at least you're not ending up as trash alongside the
curb.

Sigh!
vee

This thread:

• Deep Sixing good old things by "Vee L. Housman" <>