Sunday, December 1, 2019

HeWho Shreds Paper

Life has been extremely busy and exhausting lately. The remodel of the store/office is nowhere near complete. The bulk of the heavy lifting is over, though. This means that I can manage the remaining work alone.

More about that in a later post. Today is all about the man in my life ……. HeWho manages to destroy major appliances. While moving all the desk stuff to the other side of the store, I decided it would be a good idea to purge the file cabinets. I just don't think we need to hold onto our 1998 tax returns, complete with a financial statement (a booklet) prepared by our accountant. All the years until now are there, as well. Every instruction manual to every thing ever bought, too. Suffice it to say that most of those items have been long gone.

HeWho likes to "collect" things. I finally tossed the Sears craftsman drill box that once held a drill. He purchased that drill before he wed me, so I can say it was easily over 45 years old. We moved that stupid box and others all over the country. The tools or appliances they held have since died or been lost. We had the boxes, just no contents. He was adamant that we keep them just in case we located the contents and needed to "take it back".

I managed to make 4 drawers of files fit in just one. There were some things that HeWho whined about, so I placed stack after stack of paper next to his chair for him to go through. After all he was just sitting there in front of the TV watching Live PD and the History channel. He was suddenly struck by inspiration when faced with the mound of documents and off to Walmart he went to purchase a paper shredder ……..

Now we have been the proud owners of many a shredder. They don't last long when HeWho gets to shredding. If the box brags about shredding 12 pages, you better believe that HeWho will keep adding pages just to see how far he can go. If you have already guessed that the first shredder did not meet his expectations, you are right. The keeper of boxes shoved that shredder right back in the box and took off to replace it. I am certain there are details that I don't even want to know.

Yesterday was a fairly mild day and we were out of cat food. That having been brought to my attention by the yowls of Martha, the boy cat. I suggested that we go together to the big city to gather food and other necessities of life. But, he was grumpy and could not be persuaded to leave his seat and the TV. I reminded him that he needed a new pair of shoes and boots (you might recall that the mud in the hole sucked one of his boots off his foot and it was never recovered). He chose to stay home.

He was shredding like a crazed person for a couple of hours today. You realize we could have destroyed those documents by other means. A fire barrel, or by burying them. But we all know HeWho loves the noise of a motor. I was busy in the kitchen when I heard the vacuum running. I watched as he went over the rug picking up all the stray bits of paper that were not captured in the three plastic bags adorning the floor space.

I saw him wind the cord around the handle (not the designated hooks on the machine) and he pulled the other vacuum out. Now this machine had long since stopped sucking and HeWho was going to "take it apart and find the problem". He tried that one and it was not successful. 

He sort of put both machines up and next time I looked up he had his coat on. Headed to get those shoes that were suddenly of the utmost importance. I am pretty sure he thinks I will take the vacuum apart and find the clog and clean up his mess in his absence. I have to admit that I tried. I took all the components apart that did not require tools and cleaned ever thing up, but there is still a blockage I will address tomorrow.

Other than not having as much energy as he used to, he is recovering from his recent heart attack. He starts cardio rehab next week. Only three days a week. I feel like a mother with a preschooler again, looking forward to a little time alone!

7 comments:

dkzody said...

My husband, who had open heart surgery a year ago, still attends cardio rehab 2x a week. He loves it. It's good for him to be doing the exercises as well as being checked by the medical staff onsite. I bet your husband will find it quite worthwhile.

Joanne Noragon said...

Reminds me of my boss having a heart attack and a triple bypass, and cardio three days a week. That was in 1980. He's a retired golfer in FL, now.

Catsngrams said...

Oh my I thought I was reading a post about my hubby. I can relate and have been there done that and still doing it. Great post. Thanks
Carla

Val said...

I'm glad to hear that HeWho is on the mend. I hope he didn't try to shred the leftover boot!

River said...

I've burned out the motors on a few shredders. Usually right after I move into a new place, I shred all the paperwork from the old place, all the old bills and receipts etc. I'm the one who clears the vacuum cleaner blockages too. My own cleaner is fine, but I know the kids vacuum is clogged when I go there and the carpet looks like the tail end of a party. so I take apart their machine, clear it out and put it back together. Just as I finish, the boy says, I was just about to do that...
I hope the rehab therapy goes well.

Linda O'Connell said...

My guy is a piddler, likes motor noise, too, and he prefers a ship shape work bench space, but you should see the end table next to his chair! Glad He Who is doing better. I know what you mean about preschooler. Every time I pick up a book, he starts making commentary about any and everything on TV. Close my book, he closes his trap. Open my book...you guessed it.

ellen abbott said...

shredded paper makes good packing material. surely there's someplace nearby all that shredded paper can be recycled. my father often bragged that they didn't make tools to fit his hand. he was not a fixer. unfortunately I married a version of that.