Tag: storage

September 27th Crush A Can Day

September Holidays

There are numerous reasons to crush cans, some are better than others but you have to decide which is best for you. It can make you feel like you have power that you really don’t, that you are being good steward of the land which you really aren’t or like you are just taking that can and putting it in a logic sequence of returning it to usefulness. What ever reason you choose is fine because yes, that can will probably be crushed and reused at some point. Which kinda makes yo wonder if elements of that can you are stacking in your house for suture use might have been created first hundreds of years ago.

How to celebrate – Crush any empty can you find. (Full ones might be a bit messy) Find new uses for cans beside just recycling them. Remember the Canned Heat.

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May 17th Pack Rat Day

May Holidays

I admit it, I am a pack rat. I keep some many things that I hope to use some day, but never seem to get to That I no longer have any idea what I’ve kept and what I haven’t. So much of the stuff I had good intentions for is now buried under other stuff I had good intentions for that I can no longer have any more good intentions! My wife is always telling me if I haven’t used it in a year, get rid of it. My logic just doesn’t go there. I am a, if I keep it for twenty years it will become an antique, person. Enjoy your pack rattedness. (Yes I made that up)

How to celebrate – Go admire all those things you have pack ratted away. Make a list of what you have put away so you know at least that you did save it. Every time you use something from you pile of junk, note it so you can be proud of using it.

May 10th Clean Up Your Room Day

May Holidays

You know it’s a mess, it’s always a mess and it’s time to clean it up! Today is clean up your room day and it should be a prime target for your attention today. Every house I have ever known has had at least one day that is like a collection point for everything you don’t know what to do with but don’t want to throw out. As I have been repeatedly told, “if you haven’t used it for a year, get rid of it”. To some degree I agree, but I don’t play some of my guitars every year so does that mean I should get rid of them!?! I don’t think so! So in short, if that still applies, clean up the room so no one can complain to your about how messy it is.

How to celebrate – Clean up your room. Find someplace to keep those things you don’t quite know what to do with. Just buy a new house and start over.

May 17th Pack Rat Day

May Holidays

Most of us are at least a part a pack rat. If we collect things, we are at least somewhat a pack rat. If you walk into a room and stuff starts to fall on your head because it’s been stacked up there, then you are probably on the wrong end of being a pack rat. The idea that “I may use that sometime” or “I can fix that” generally lead to being on the wrong end of being a pack rat. I am very guilty of doing that, being a part of theater and video, I tend to think I can use anything for some reason. Of course when I do break down and throw something away, well… that’s when I need it! And the pack rat in me comes back out.

How to celebrate – Be proud of what you have saved. If you can’t get in a room anymore, look what you might finally get rid of. Make a record of what you are keeping and where you’ve put it so you can find it!

January 19th National Tin Can Day

January holidays

Can you imagine the world without tin cans? I’ll bet you think they have been around forever, I did, but it was not until the early 1800’s that the idea was even thought about. Now England is given credit for creating the tin can but it was French born Philipee Henri de Girard that actually invented the tin can.

The idea of canning food came from Nicholas Appertin, another Frenchman, in 1809. I am assuming both men were in the UK at the time, or maybe their work was being funded through someone from the UK. Hard to tell now. The first patent, though, did go to Englishman Peter Durand in 1810.

The United States soon followed Europe, or maybe not that soon, in 1825 when Ezra Daggett and Thomas Kinsett claimed the American patent on the tin can. Since  then, the tin can has been advanced in it’s quality and safety. The original cans were sealing with lead that surely led to lead poisoning.

In fact, I had a distant relative that began serving the British troops in South Africa with meat canned by companies in the UK. He poisoned thousands of troops, many of whom died. He quickly moved to the US and I actually have some of his furniture in my home. I am sure, at least I hope, that he did not do it on purpose.

The first can opener was invented in 1858 by Ezra Warner which makes me wonder… did they just not open the can before that!?! That could explain how the soldiers in South Africa got poisoned if they were served meat that had been sealed in lead for 33 years!

How to celebrate – Admire the advanced manufacturing of the tin can. Count how many tin cans you have in your home. Learn how to can your own food.

May 17th National Pack Rat Day

May Holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

Okay, I admit it, I am a pack rat! Or at least a recovering pack rat. It’s just all that stuff you never know where, or when, you might need! And to have to go out and buy what you have already had just seems wrong!

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Alright, never mind that you can’t find what you know you’ve saved because it’s under a pile of other junk that you don’t really need either. That means you still have to go buy whatever it is because it will take you a months worth of Sundays to find it. But that’s okay too cause at least you’ll have a spare for the next time you need it!

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And it’s sort of fun to go searching for what you are pretty sure you kept, but can;t honestly remember. Look at all the cool stuff you uncover that you had forgotten you had, or didn’t know you ever had.

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In theory, if you haven’t used something in a year it’s time to get rid of it. Unless, of course, you think that you might use it once again. I haven’t really used my mind in over two years but I don’t think I’ll get rid of it! Aside from all that have you ever really check out a rat?

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They really can’t carry all that much!

How to celebrate – Clean out that closet today (And put it all back in tomorrow). Determine those items you really won’t ever use again and give them to someone who will. Tell your wife, husband, children (Whoever) that being a pack rat is your hobby and tell them you don’t interfere in what they do, they should leave you alone with all your junk!