Over two hours to clean less than 150 ft2 of a wooden deck. But, boy did I learn a lot! I can always learn a lot if I just pay attention, if I am simply present and curious. It really doesn’t matter what the activity is and it really doesn’t even matter what the lessons are. The interconnected suchness all around us is just yearning to hold us and teach us and give our lives meaning.
I was reminded that nature is unceremoniously relentless. New is just future old. Solid is pre-rickety. The small gaps between boards are much more than that. They can be an entire world to a little caterpillar or worm. The gaps are just the right size for pine needles (so many needles!) to gather and form a perfect little bed for those guys until someone like me abruptly and relentlessly digs all that out! Should I feel bad? Should I be proud? Does the lion think anything beyond yummy when it eats some poor baby gazelle? Don’t get mad at the needles or the rain or the worms for attacking my beautiful somewhat expensive deck, they are just being their true selves. We must take the good with the bad. The Yin always has a seed of Yang. Clarification, that is if good and bad actually existed anyway!
I learned (again) that I should always space out boards an extra 1/8th of an inch or so to make future maintenance easier, at least here in the fertile Pacific Northwest. As a side note, having lived a decade or so in each of Texas, California, and Seattle-metro, people from each of these three regions cannot imagine living anywhere else, especially not specifically in places like those other two! For different reasons I enjoyed all three! I’m a flexible little caterpillar in some ways I guess.
I (re)learned that my best intentions, my smartest designs often trade one problem for another (looking at you slightly too-deeply countersunk end-board screw holes!) I relearned that spending a little extra on the best components (good deck screws) is wise for so many reasons. I can be an oblivious walking breathing advertisement of pennywise pound-foolish.
I re-re-confirmed that I love cleaning and organizing and purging. I am not sure if it mostly scratches my OCD itch or my ego’s insatiable need to feel useful or my relentless search for safety. Trifecta! Of course, properly maintaining my deck means I will spend less time every decade or two replacing it as the PNW eats it so as to keep the economy humming and the little worms happy. I will spend less time vacuuming the needles and dirt from the floors (oh the vacuuming!) I will save time in the long run, maybe I am actually pound-wise! I wonder if 133 minutes of cleaning will extend my life by more than 133 minutes, like a perpetual time machine! Maybe if I just get up every day and clean my porch I can live forever! Would I really want to? Am I that naive? Probably.
