Closeup day, tools, and workspaces.

The geekitude quotient is low this weekend, at least in the realm of oo-shiny bits that blinken and wiggle. It’s fall closeup time for our house in Maine, and my brother in law and I drove the just-over-two hours up to the house yesterday and did all the little things necessary to idle a house for 8 months through a Maine winter. Primarily this had to do with draining and prepping the plumbing so the pipes wouldn’t freeze and splode. Fortunately, the weather was magnificent, with the leaves just changing colors and a crisp high-50’s temperature and clear blue skies.
“But where’s the geekery? There’s supposed to be a an earth shattering whee!”
Okay, there’s a little bit.
I’m getting myself organized with my tools and workspaces. There’s a bunch of Chez Geek projects in the pipeline that really do require a well assembled toolbox, plus enough power tools so that I’m not doing things like trying to bore a 1 7/8″ wide hole with a 3/4″ masonry bit. This process has been ongoing for some time (I mentioned my Ryobi 18v rechargeable tools when hottubs were flying), and things have steadily been ‘filling out’ since then.
The problem I was starting to hit is where to put all the stuff. My workbench is wonderful (a tech adjustable height bench with drawers, power outlets, and overhead lighting), but there was really no place for ‘tools’ other than some shelving and my toolbox.
Solved! On the way back from Maine, my BIL and I stopped by his mothers place, and we removed a 5 drawer rolling Craftsman toolbox that was my FIL’s (now unused). It still had a handful of tools in it (some new sockets which I desperately needed, as well as a very good craftsman screwdriver set). That toolbox is now happily ensconced next to my workbench, and I’ll be migrating all my smaller tools into it in the next week. Finally, I have a place to store all my drill and power bits!
Tools are fun.