Ahhhhh-Choo!

Depending on how I count them, we got either one, two, or three very dusty projects done this weekend. If you are a regular reader, you might guess that my motivation was once again an imminent bulk trash pick up day.

My house used to have one of those ventilation systems wherein you have a airplane propeller sized attic fan strategically placed over one ice house spear fishing sized vent in the ceiling in a central location of the house. At some point, a previous owner had removed the ceiling vent and sheetrocked over it, but had left all of the associated machine parts up in the attic.

All of that stuff had to go... (1) It was just junk, taking up space; (2) At some point I want to turn my attic into living space so I want it visually cleared out (3) in a month or so it's going to be beastly hot in the attic and I won't really want to be spending any time up there.

Along with the fan was a big, built in wooden box. I presume that at some point it housed the fan over the vent. It was about 8 feet long, 4 or 5 feet tall and 4 or 5 feet wide. And on top of that, about 80 years of dust, scraps from the roof removal and new roof construction, old lightbulbs, old roach motels -- all sorts of goodies. (Blissfully nothing that skittered under its own power!)

It didn't take a great deal to dismantle the box... but it did take many trips to the attic stairs and to the curb. The fan was another story. It was REALLY heavy. The fan blades broke off on the way to the attic opening, and once to the opening Tom lowered it down to my porch with a rope. More than once I heard sounds akin to him falling through the floor into my livingroom -- but no. Whew....

Next was the TV antennae. You know, the big metal kind you had up on the roof growing up? Ubeknownst to me, all those little arms fold in to streamline the thing. We dutifully folded them all in (okay, I bent a few) and then it was pretty easy to remove (see, Burly Boyfriend) and tote to the curb.

Literally before I could get the front porch swept, scavengers were at my curb and picked up the antennae and the fan. It's magic!

In the "reuse, reclaim, renew" category, I did try to find new uses for the old fan, but my internet research turned up nothing. I was able to save the wooden frame from the wooden box -- pulled out many many nails, and that will become kindling for fires. I suspect it is VERY seasoned... lol

Even though I don't spend a lot of time in my attic, mentally it just feels good to know that it's a wide open space now. I did not take a deep cleansing breath up there to take in the lovely newly cleared space, but I did do that after my shower -- downstairs.