The Old Coot loses it!

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 seven 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 were a one-time thing, but I have stuff scattered all over the place – totally lost to me when I need it because it has been relocated. Even this article was lost for six months; I moved the notebook I wrote it into 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.