I finally managed to get the culvert covered over the weekend, with the assistance of a fellow I know with a tractor.

It is always good to know a fellow with a tractor, but not as good as having a tractor yourself. Then again, maybe having a tractor isn't so good if people are always asking you to do work for them.

At any rate, his tractor has a bucket on the front and a small backhoe on the rear. It was custom made for helping me bury my culvert. I had already finished one 20-foot section before he arrived.

The other remaining section was the hardest ground, packed shale, and would have required me to do quite a bit of pick axe work. I don't like pick axes, let me tell you. I think I already discussed shovels, ad nauseum, last week. I had finished digging the channel for the first pipe and put in the culvert box last week, this weekend I had to remove the old culvert and install the new.

With the tractor on hand, the job was a snap. He hooked the backhoe to the old pipe and pulled it out of the ground and then I dropped in the new pipe and pointed up a little with the shovel. Compared with putting in the first section of pipe by hand, it was like an industrial revolution. So, after saying that, just let me leave it alone by noting that the pipe is now in and the culvert box is working and everything is in good condition.

In addition, I also sold my two old ‘59 Chevy trucks that I have had for a few years. I finally realized that I wouldn't have the time or money to get them back on the road anytime soon. They were far from ready to get back on the highway — one had a rotting wooden bed and no transmission, the other had no bed and no engine or transmission.

I used to have a garage where I could work on such things, but that was then and this is now, if you know what I mean. If I do end up with another garage, I might try working on old vehicles again. But for now, I am out of the junk vehicle business.

I don't even have any vehicle parts left, with the possible exception of a couple pieces of a late-70s GMC truck I used to own. Even so, I need to go through what junk I have left and sort it out, figuring out what needs to stay and what needs to go.

It isn't easy to figure. I have several buildings full of stuff that I would like to sell or give away, just to make life easier. Earlier, I sold a lot of canning jars to one of my friends in Wilkes, but I still have an entire building loft full of them that I haven't even sorted yet.

I also have several pieces of furniture, like my great-grandfather's table, an old metal office desk, a freezer, music equipment and other items that I just don't need these days.

I guess I am doing the Ecclesiastical approach to live. A time to gather junk, a time to throw the junk away. I really don't throw very much away, I just try to find it another home. Someone needs almost evesrything I have collected. It's just a matter of finding out who it is and where they are. Most of the time, whatever it is will be needed by me at some point in time.

I read an email the other day that stipulated, "Junk is something you don't need until three days after you've thrown it away."

I can say that I have had that happen to me, but more often, I can't find what I need when I need it. That's part of the reason that I get so many different projects going on at once. For instance, I am currently trying to finish painting, fix the back porch and install a new furnace before late fall on one property; and clean up brush, clear brush, fix a porch roof and remodel a room on another property; and put in a new kitchen floor and build a new building behind my sister's house.

That doesn't even count the other, smaller tasks that I have taken on, like acquiring a large stack of 2x4s with nails and screws in them for a song. Now all I have to do is sing the song as I pull out those 10,000 nails.

Everything we do takes time. It also takes time from what we could be doing. That's another reason I got rid of the old trucks and a few other things that I had lying around waiting to be used. I can't stand to watch good stuff deteriorate waiting for me to do something when I know it could be years before I even think about getting started.

That's why I am now working on prioritizing my life in a more sensible manner. I have to do my job in order to eat and pay bills, so that was high on the list. I also want as much time as I can offer for church, family and unforseen emergency needs. Lastly, I'll use what's left to fix the other little broken things around me that need attention, take on grand projects and volunteer in the community. As anyone with a life knows, there just doesn't seem to be enough time to go around. In the past, I have sometimes taken away from what really matters to give to what didn't really matter. Other times, I forgot my priorities altogether and got caught up in some tangent. So what really matters? I have decided it's the quality time I share with with family, friends and God. That was where I decided to start, trimming the excess like extra fat on an otherwise good steak. I just hope my new plan includes room for some steak sauce once in a while.

Get more tongue in cheek commentary this week's issue of the Alleghany News!

Email: allnews@ls.net