The Shed Purge
With my attic clean out complete, I set my sights on the shed. I had realized the necessity for this a few months prior when I opened the shed door and stuff literally began spilling out. It took me about 10 minutes just to get to the lawnmower and then wedge it out through all of the junk. Getting it back in was even worse. When I was done, I actually had trouble shutting the door. It was time to act.
There was no putting it off. The situation has gone from bad to worse. If all of that floor to ceiling disarray wasn’t bad enough, I began to suspect that a few rodents may have set up shop in there. I was hearing some creepy noises that I couldn’t identify. In truth, I preferred not to identify them. I felt I was better off not knowing. I was creeped out enough as it was.
You might be thinking by now that my shed couldn’t possibly get any worse, but no, there was another issue, and it was a big one. Bugs. Insects of all varieties inhabited that shed. They scurried around like they owned the place. Every time I went in there I had to swipe away spiderwebs to keep them out of my hair. It had gotten completely out of hand.
Eliminating the insects was going to be tough. It was a long-standing problem that went as far back as the time when my children used the shed to store their bikes. At the age of five my daughter came running in the house one day and asked me to get her bike out for her. I told her no, she could do that herself. She refused saying she was scared because there were bugs in there. I rolled my eyes and told her to buck up and go do it. Just then she glanced out of the side door and noticed a little boy who was in her kindergarten class heading in our direction. As he grew close, she quickly pulled the storm door shut and flipped the lock. Then she looked at him through the glass and told him that she was not going to play with him until he got her bike out of the shed. He dutifully turned in that direction and reappeared a few minutes later smiling broadly as he parked her bike. She smiled sweetly back at him, unlocked the door, and went out to join him.
I may have veered off a bit with that story, but it serves to illustrate my point. I had my work cut out for me. There was much to do and many issues to tackle. The time had come, so one fall day I jumped in and got started. I dragged everything out of that shed and threw away at least 3/4 of it. I then cleaned each and every last inch of it from top to bottom. When that was done, I made a trip to the hardware store and purchased the supplies necessary to handle the extermination issue myself. I finished up by moving the few things I wanted to keep back in, and the job was complete.
Just before I locked the shed at the end of the day, I stood inside and marveled at what a magnificent sight it was to behold – squeaky clean and organized. What a rush! I’m thinking about posting pictures. Not interested? OK, but you’re missing out.