Hounddog
Well-known member
I dropped by a local estate sale the other day while on my way to work. Ended up, the estate was that of an old Chief Master Sergeant, long since retired. As I meandered the property it became apparent and later confirmed (via neighbors and friends) that he was deemed the neighborhoods Mr. Fix-it. I pause and think to myself, 'that figures'...for a Chief making things work was something of a requisite in achieving the highest enlisted rank. One of the sales agents mentions the basement workshop and I descend to the basement. Now before me, the workshop appears as a partially picked-over testament of past skills and interests. And, who would have anticipated a basement this close to the coast; this 60's era ranch....3mi from the water....is an interesting anomaly for the area.
His shop took up two little rooms that most probably had initially aspired to be little more than a poorly lit, cool, albeit musty storage space of canned goods and the like. The Chief's basement workshop was just below the kitchen...and equally important workcenter If I do say so myself! While missing in that days workshop 'formation', I'd have guessed that the Chief had some old but sturdy radio down there mumbling a steady stream of local news or maybe NPR. Hours would slip by as projects begin and end setting atop that old green stool. I'd have expected him to have an affinity for staying informed but for no better reason to have been able to hold his own when conversing on the state of things.
I do enjoy attending sales like this as well as the opportune barn 'pick' that sometimes results from my awkward request for permission to look around for shop stuff, or early auto related items (my hobbie). I find that a shop can tell you stories about it caretaker as does works in progress and those awaiting another days attention. I soak it in, staring across the room, my eyes moving quickly along the workbench. I focus my attention under, over, around, and inside...wherever the stashed good stuff may have been placed. But alas, the those orchestrating the sale,... having toiled many days pricing and preparing the boot for public pawing has destroyed any previous semblance of the Chiefs organization method or mayhem whatever the case...(my personal mode of operndi(sp) being of the latter). The Chief's possessions, having been orphaned now look for new homes in the gaze of strangers like me... there caretaker has moved on and will not need their services anymore. They are now price marked by ladies dedicated to the complete dissolution of this collection of worldly goods.
On my second and last day of the sale, (I had to go back)... I began to take a wider look at things in the Chief's Shop. Most probably because I'm thinking I may miss something if I don't slow down. I notice a simply framed piece of artwork trimmed in pine. A little cartoon with a short message... "THINK". Its composition is that of a pencil sketched caricature of a sign painter who has arrantly placed one of his feet in his paint bucket.
I immediately recognize the importance in the placement of this cartoon; above the primary workbench and eyelevel if perched on the old green stool now banished to the corner of the room. That little cartoon above the bench was there to remind the Chief to slow down or as my dad use to say, 'stop while your ahead'. So it was on my last day that I decided this little reminder is something that I could use in my workshop to remind me to..."THINK". Maybe this little cartoon could serve me as well as it did him thru the years. I'd like to think that the Chief was watching us those days and that he knows that one of the many strangers at his sale...'Got it' and was appreciative of the Chief's items they adopted.
And HEY,... for a buck, how can I go wrong?
"THINK"
His shop took up two little rooms that most probably had initially aspired to be little more than a poorly lit, cool, albeit musty storage space of canned goods and the like. The Chief's basement workshop was just below the kitchen...and equally important workcenter If I do say so myself! While missing in that days workshop 'formation', I'd have guessed that the Chief had some old but sturdy radio down there mumbling a steady stream of local news or maybe NPR. Hours would slip by as projects begin and end setting atop that old green stool. I'd have expected him to have an affinity for staying informed but for no better reason to have been able to hold his own when conversing on the state of things.
I do enjoy attending sales like this as well as the opportune barn 'pick' that sometimes results from my awkward request for permission to look around for shop stuff, or early auto related items (my hobbie). I find that a shop can tell you stories about it caretaker as does works in progress and those awaiting another days attention. I soak it in, staring across the room, my eyes moving quickly along the workbench. I focus my attention under, over, around, and inside...wherever the stashed good stuff may have been placed. But alas, the those orchestrating the sale,... having toiled many days pricing and preparing the boot for public pawing has destroyed any previous semblance of the Chiefs organization method or mayhem whatever the case...(my personal mode of operndi(sp) being of the latter). The Chief's possessions, having been orphaned now look for new homes in the gaze of strangers like me... there caretaker has moved on and will not need their services anymore. They are now price marked by ladies dedicated to the complete dissolution of this collection of worldly goods.
On my second and last day of the sale, (I had to go back)... I began to take a wider look at things in the Chief's Shop. Most probably because I'm thinking I may miss something if I don't slow down. I notice a simply framed piece of artwork trimmed in pine. A little cartoon with a short message... "THINK". Its composition is that of a pencil sketched caricature of a sign painter who has arrantly placed one of his feet in his paint bucket.
I immediately recognize the importance in the placement of this cartoon; above the primary workbench and eyelevel if perched on the old green stool now banished to the corner of the room. That little cartoon above the bench was there to remind the Chief to slow down or as my dad use to say, 'stop while your ahead'. So it was on my last day that I decided this little reminder is something that I could use in my workshop to remind me to..."THINK". Maybe this little cartoon could serve me as well as it did him thru the years. I'd like to think that the Chief was watching us those days and that he knows that one of the many strangers at his sale...'Got it' and was appreciative of the Chief's items they adopted.
And HEY,... for a buck, how can I go wrong?
"THINK"
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