Now that I seem to have shaken my chimney fire phobia, maybe I can work on my winter coat hoarding problem.
Like the phobia, I came by it honestly. Spent the winter of ’08-’09 as if in training for the Olympic shivering event, and since then I can’t turn down a free coat. Having only one torso, this quickly just became compulsive hoarding. Trouble is, I have only so much storage space and right now I’m preparing to shuffle it all around as the weather warms. Maybe half my winter coats migrated into the Lair over the winter, and it’s time to get them back into the powershed…
…which is a bit of a mess at the moment, to be honest. And so I needed to straighten up the powershed. And as I started to do that, I found this Marmot waterproof wadded up down off the rack.
I reacted the way I always do: Nice coat! A little stained and mistreated, but it didn’t appear to be fundamentally worn out. Almost certainly a cast-off from Former Neighbor J, who (frankly) didn’t treat his stuff with much respect.
Unfortunately I couldn’t talk, because if this thing was wadded up on the shelf under the pole you know it had spent the winter as a bed for rats. Right? Which meant it was filthy. Really disgusting.
But I couldn’t see anything else wrong with it. So yesterday – a really pretty day, unlike today – after the fuel/water run I gave it the washing of its life, and hung it out to dry.
This morning I brought it in off the line, put it on, and remembered why it wasn’t on the rack: The zipper was FUBAR. And I thought the same thing I probably thought last autumn, “Damn. Nice coat. Shame to throw it away.” Only last autumn I put it down on the shelf and forgot all about it.
This time I took a closer look, and the zipper slide was all bent open so it couldn’t squeeze the teeth correctly. A little quick work with a pair of pliers fixed it, apparently as good as new.
And now it can go back on the rack to join all those other coats for which I really have no use…
Not hoarding, merely a good start (he said of Joel, while looking at his own bulging closet).
one is none; two is one……so it is not hoarding.
I have noticed, over the years, women tend to collect shoes-n-purses and men collect coats.
one is none, two is one, three is then a pair, four is a couple, five is a tribe…no wait that is baboons.
Who…Me? says: “…five is a tribe…no wait that is baboons.”
So if you had five baboons, and they were all wearing coats;
What would that be?
Your not the only one. I have managed to lose 80 lbs this past year but refuse to part with any of my clothes. I know I cannot allow myself to regain the weight because of diabetes but the clothes are all in good shape.
“I have noticed, over the years, women tend to collect shoes-n-purses and men collect coats.”
Some women. I have two pairs of shoes and a couple pairs of sandals or slippers. I have zero purses. But every time I see a good coat at a thrift store (good meaning lots of pockets (esp. those that snap, zip, or velcro closed), a hood, warm liner (preferably zip-out), and many little extra fixtures for making the thing more snug), I either have to have it or have to have a long argument with myself about how many coats and jackets I already have in my closet.
So Joel, I truly identify.
Heh, I have so many coats (freebies, mostly) that the lost and found at work called to say they had my jacket. I hadn’t missed it since last spring… That said, my boy recently inherited that goose down jacket I rescued from the dumpster outside the hangar back in 1992… 8 years before he was born…