Medical issues necessitated getting an IV pump and pole. When they were no longer needed, the company sent a box for the pump. I called and was told they don’t want the pole back. Well, you all know MR’ers never throw anything out. I thought it could be used for something. I tried to use it as a light-stand for photo taking. The pole was too slippery for the clamp-on lights to grip without slipping. I attached a couple of pieces of 1/4" wood blocks to the upright with Gorilla Glue. I then glued some 60 grit sandpaper to the blocks. Because of its telescoping construction, the IV pole’s height can be adjusted. It also comes with casters, so it can be easily positioned right where I want it (even under the layout).
Yesterday I retieved the cap from a deodorant can from the trash. One’s got code 83 ties. Another has code 100 ties. There’s one for paper clips, and another for rail joiners.
What I need now is a big container to keep my extra deodorant can caps in, though.
I have numerous junk drawers, boxes, etc. just for keeping things that I just might need someday. Not just for my MR stuff but also household junk. Experience has taught me that even if I have had something in the junk drawer for 20 years, within a week of throwing it out, I will come across something that it would have been perfect for. Yes, I’m a packrat and with good reason.
Another good use for that type of pole – jewelers who use Fordham/Dremel type motor tools hang them from IV drip type poles near the workbench – particularly the kind that have flexible shafts for hand held work.
Here are links to my NMRA Midwest Region waybill articles - these were on using plastic containers from the medicine cabinet to make fabricated shapes
Neat, I would have drilled two holes for nuts and bolts to hold the mounting plates on. add a hook bolt so you can hang your Dremel with a flex-shaft on it. LOL
I come from a long line of family who doesn’t throw anything out.
I try to be better than my mother {or my father for that matter}. I bought a new bag to carry my valuables in to replace one with a broken zipper but stuck the broken zipper one up in the closet anyway as it may have other use. Besides, only one zipper of 5 is broken. SHould really throw it out, but you never know…I go on sprees around here of just throwing stuff out.
Living in a trailer helps to keep clutter down SOMEWHAT . My other half compalins about me but is just about as bad as I.
Gee, does the word “hoarding” mean anything to anyone? I watch the show “Hoarding: Buried ALive” sometimes just to see that I ain’t so bad after all cuz there are those who never throw out real trashy stuff, or who can’t get thorugh their rooms…
I have for a long time been saying I need to clean out the “catchall room” - which just happens to have my layout set up in it but I can’'t find the layout at the moment…LOL Can’t even get into the room anymore. Gotta get in there and throw stuff out. I don’t even know what is in the closet anymore and If I don’t know what is in there then I don’t need it as I haven’t gotten into it in 8 years, so most of it can be thrown out, I am sure.
Planned to have a huge {and cheaply priced} yard sale just to get rid of stuff that someone else may be able to use… but then my back went out and has been giving me grief since I thought about the yard sale idea…maybe next summer…if I don;t just start throwing things out on a rant…
It is amazing that we have become such a “throw away” society that there is actually a temporary IV pole designed to be used once by a patient and thrown out when IV treatments are over called the “Pitch-it {TM} IV Pole by SHARPS”
No wonder the CHinese like to do business with us. We throw everything out and buy new ones. {except those of us who keep everything for “other uses”}.
I have an extensive collection of extruded foam pieces down to about 1" x1" because you never know when your going to need a little block here or there for scenery construction or filler pieces along with a pile of assorted lumber under my bench work, a plastic shoe box full of assorted bottle caps because they make great roof vents, Numerous piece of shirt cardboard because you can use it for making roads, a 50lb bag of vermiculite out in my shed because I may have to make a few 5 gallon buckets of ground goop (truth is it’s real cheap when you buy the big bags and we use some of it for the wife’s square foot gardening)
Numerous rolls of wire, zip ties, electrical connectors and the list goes on and on and on, but it’s all good stuff I swear.
I am waiting to see that new show they have out on A&E called “Hording” I swear on one of those shows there going to find a guy in the middle of one of those messes with a model train layout.
They’ve already done one where the guy was a former railroader and he had tons of railroadania in his clutter. Even had new stuff delivered why he was int he middle of supposedly cleaning it up. I was alittle disappointed as most of what they showed as his cluttered horde was actual garbage and not railroad related, although they made a big deal about the railroad aspect in the teasers.
Try gluing them side by side to make a grouping for holding things, like those desktoppers they sell at the office supply stores. You can make the grouping any shape you want. Epoxy works well for this. Also good for paper clips, rubber bands, stamps, tacks, etc. on your desk. You could use a group of them to hold tracklaying supplies–rail joiners in one, insulated joiners in another, spare ties in another, and so on. I’ve made a few from hair spray caps and cooking spray caps.
Another thing I save is large pill bottles from the drug store. Depending on the size of the pills and the quantity, prescriptions sometimes come in really fat or really tall plastic bottles. They’re great for storing tiny little parts in. I’ve got a lot of little detail parts from structures in those containers. I have a collection of tall fat containers so I made a little wood shelf to hold them. The base of the shelf has indentations the diameter of the containers and another shelf a couple of inches up with through holes in it. I drop the container through the upper hole into the indentation. It’s great for storing cutoff pieces of styrene rod, brass rod, etc. The caps aren’t used because the contents stick up past the top of the containers.
As for keeping my collection of pill bottles, plastic food containers from the dollar store, and anything else that might possibly be used to store stuff in, I’ve got a big cardboard box about two cubic feet in size sitting on the floor and it’s full!
Back when we used bacon bits on our food, before it was declared a no-n
Try gluing them side by side to make a grouping for holding things, like those desktoppers they sell at the office supply stores. You can make the grouping any shape you want. Epoxy works well for this. Also good for paper clips, rubber bands, stamps, tacks, etc. on your desk. You could use a group of them to hold tracklaying supplies–rail joiners in one, insulated joiners in another, spare ties in another, and so on. I’ve made a few from hair spray caps and cooking spray caps.
Another thing I save is large pill bottles from the drug store. Depending on the size of the pills and the quantity, prescriptions sometimes come in really fat or really tall plastic bottles. They’re great for storing tiny little parts in. I’ve got a lot of little detail parts from structures in those containers. I have a collection of tall fat containers so I made a little wood shelf to hold them. The base of the shelf has indentations the diameter of the containers and another shelf a couple of inches up with through holes in it. I drop the container through the upper hole into the indentation. It’s great for storing cutoff pieces of styrene rod, brass rod, etc. The caps aren’t used because the contents stick up past the top of the containers.
As for keeping my collection of pill bottles, plastic food containers from the dollar store, and anything else that might possibly be used to store stuff in, I’ve got a big cardboard box about two cubic feet in size sitting on the floor and it’s full!
Back when we used bacon bits on our food, before it was declared a no-n
