Guest Column - Susan Coons

April 1, 2022

Most of you know that I wrote a weekly column for the Pennysaver and Vermont New Guide. I was also the editor of those papers. I have been away from my work for about nine years so I'm a little intimidated taking on the responsibility of "The Windmill". I was going to write something regarding the crisis in Ukraine but decided to use the story below so that for a few moments, we can all think about something else. I'm in the process of trying to downsize. Not my house but what's in it. Like, I'm starting with my junk drawer in the kitchen. The rule of thumb is "toss it out if you haven't seen it or used it for a year." OMG! The only thing I've seen in this drawer for the past 37 years would probably be the last thing I tossed into it. It's so much easier to open the junk drawer, slide something in, and make the decision to toss it out later. But, now is later.

I found five or six screwdrivers, several wrenches, a couple of fuses, two cassette tapes from 1977, a couple of toothbrushes, a paint mixer, shoestring, electrical tape, several flower seed packets, picture hanging wire, lots of wood screws, machine screws and bolts, package of tail lights, small tube of Fixodent (ha ha), Christmas night light, two pairs of pliers, small brass hammer, tube of caulking, paint spatula (which I use to clean off the barbecue grill and it goes back in the drawer) couple of Bobbi pins, a few clothes pins, four dead ball-point pens, a couple of dried up markers, two broken pencils, dirty golf ball, and about 3/4 cup of crumbs, dust and dirt. That's only about half of what I found! It wasn't easy but I did it.

Author: Susan Coons
Windmill