I collect small parts.  Nuts, bolts, screws, washers, nails, bushings, fasteners, fittings, plastic odds and ends, you name it – chances are I’ve got something like it.  But why?  Why keep that little protective plastic cover that came on that tube of epoxy I just bought??

Growing up, we had a neighbor, Bob.  Bob was a war vet.  Not just a war vet, but a POW vet.  During WWII his plane collided with another American plane killing all but Bob and one other Army Air Corpsman.  He was captured by the Nazis and went on to spend 18 months in Stalag 17B as a POW.  Bob was a consummate American bad-ass serving in WWII, Korea, and Nam before retiring in 1973.  Sadly, we lost Bob in 2004, but his legacy lives on.

I just installed some new heavy-duty steel garage cabinets that I got at Home Depot.  My old garage cabinets were worn, tired, and didn’t match my black tool cabinet and lockers.  They were really more suited as cheap cabinets for a laundry room.  The humidity fluctuations in my garage caused the shelving to warp slightly.  No bueno.  I needed something strong that would last the test of time.

We’re in process of switching around our kids’ rooms, and our oldest has moved into his own room.  One of the projects to tackle was getting him a desk to go under his new lofted bed.  When I was kid I had an old mid-century steel tanker desk painted a lovely 80’s beige.  It wasn’t much to look at, but it could and did take all the abuse a boy could throw at it.  They don’t call them tanker desks for nothing.  For YEARS it sat mostly unused in my parents’ basement.  Thankfully, they kept it!  Here’s the before: