It’s the time of year for saving money!
Last night, or perhaps it was this morning, a bear got into my
garage. I forgot to lock the main car door and the bear was clever enough to
lift it up and stroll on in. At first, I didn’t think a bear the culprit because
it was such a neat job – empty equipment boxes were strewn about outside the
garage. A couple of the boxes were actually STACKED. Now that is one neat bear…but
the bear scat sorta sealed the deal as far as positive IDs go.
Like many suburbanites, I have a two-car garage. One half is
lined with shelves filled with audio gear boxes, the other half is filled with
my wife’s stuff. I have to keep boxes because whatever new gear comes in must
eventually go home. Even for the stuff I own, I keep the boxes. That’s a lot of
boxes.
In my last house I built a tough shed specifically for all my
audio boxes. The mice really appreciated that. When I moved after nearly ten
years, many of the boxes, even plywood boxes, had become mouse hotels. Half the
cases were infested. A facemask was imperative for that moving/disposal job. Even
in my current attached garage mice are a constant problem. Cats don’t help.
Traps only help a little. And those ultra-sonic rodent repellers are totally
useless.
My question to you is simple – Do you keep your equipment
boxes? Where and how? And you urban dwellers in studio apartments, how do you
decide which boxes to keep and which to recycle?
Welcome to the world of audiophilia, where every component has
a box and you get to figure out what to do with them all, unless of course, a
bear or rodent does it for you…
