The Accidental Collector

     "Uno, dos, one, two, tres, quatro..."
         -Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs




     Riddle me this:  If one finds oneself with an agglomeration of similar items that one did not plan to agglomerate, is one a collector, a consumer with poor impulse control, or a hoarder-in-training?


    Here's what prompted this unsettling ponderment-

     Today is Battery Day at stately Jones manor.  Once a year I collect up all of the battery powered items that I can locate  in the house, the vehicles and the boats and replace the batteries. Smoke detectors, TV remotes, Wii remotes and flashlights all get new life.   The flashlights are what got this train of thought out of the station.  Do the math with me, and see what I mean.

     How many flashlights should one have?
I figure each car should have a light, (there's two), there should be a light in the house, each boat should have a light, (there's two more), and there should be one in the toolbox in the garage.  So, call it a half dozen in total.  Sounds reasonable, right?

     Yeah I thought so, too.  And I was pretty sure that was all I had., about a half dozen flashlights.  Maybe less, because it seems like I can never find one anywhere around the damn house when I need one.

     So I was a little chagrined by this:

  Not a half dozen lights, not a full dozen, but fourteen of the damn things!  I know that there are at least two more hiding on "Whiskeyjack" along with a headlamp and a battery powered lantern.   If I include those and the disposable lights in the kitchen junk drawer, the total is probably over twenty.

I am not sure whether to be proud or embarrassed.
The kicker is that I can only recall buying two or three of the total.  The rest just sorta showed up.

I don't even want to think about how many utility knives lurk in my workshop, vehicles and boat toolbags.

And don't even get me started on floaty keychains.

Anybody else have an accidental collection they wish to share?  Please??!!??






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