The Old Coot loses it!
By Merlin Lessler
This is what I call, Old
Coot Survival Tip # 27: NEVER REARRANGE! Don’t move stuff to a new location!
When I do, I might just as well throw it away. It would be less aggravating.
Once you relocate something, you never see it again. At least not when you want
it. You might stumble on it at a later date, but for all practical purposes,
it’s lost.
Last summer I couldn’t
find our pool skimmer. Our pool is only 10 X 20 and 5 foot deep in the so
called, “deep” end. It’s a great place for an old coot to do laps and then brag
that I did 25 laps. Sounds good! But it’s equivalent to doing 7 laps in a
school pool.
All summer long, I looked
for that telescoping pole with a net on the end. I use it to skim leaves out of
the pool, but also to wash down the house, replacing the net with a brush. It
lets me reach the high points on our 216 year old clapboards, to clean off the
grime from the previous winter. I wouldn’t dare go at it with a pressure
washer, too aggressive for the old gal.
All summer, I searched the
garage, the hallway where we keep the rakes and other lawn and garden items and
the back yard. I’d always kept it in the corner of the garage but moved it
because it got in the way when I opened the door. It drove me nuts, not being
able to find it.
Every other week I
searched, to no avail! Then one day when I was in the garden-tool hallway and
happened to look up, there it was, resting horizontally on two hooks, near the
ceiling. The light bulb, in my head, came on. Oh yeah, I remembered the “genius”
relocation idea I’d had last fall.
I wish that was a one-time
thing, but I have stuff scattered all over the place, totally lost to me when I
need it, because it’s been relocated. Even this article was lost for six months;
I moved the notebook I wrote it in to a new location. Seemed like a good idea
at the time. I should have known better since it made the argument to never
rearrange. I didn’t follow my own advice. Another example of “Do as I say, not
as I do.” Maybe that should be Tip #28.
Comments? Send to – mlessler7@gmail.com
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