Traps for the Biggest Booby

I have noticed more and more as I age that booby traps abound all around me. These are not traps designed and executed by nefarious players intent on causing me harm or distress, no, these traps are ones I have created myself. The subject I am addressing here may be due to several factors, mainly personal habits and my aging mind, and involves multi-tasking and doing things as quickly as possible. I could also include the idea that nothing we use daily was designed for our convenience but for the convenience of the manufacturer, however, that is another subject for another thread.

I have noticed that the way things have developed in how my home is set up has created situations ripe for disaster. Throw rugs to trip on, items precariously placed on hard-to-reach selves, along with other things like placing the pet dishes right beneath the shelf that the microwave is on. Yeah, a lot of it is obvious when you consider how many times I have been caught in these booby traps and I do change things on occasion to neutralize them. However, due to habit (my own and my GF's), haste, and trying to multitask every activity, I still get zapped by the booby traps.

Using both hands, something that should help speed things up can be a problem too when that is not necessary and even asking for trouble in some cases. Also, not paying close attention can be a problem like reaching for something just out of view. Doing too much too fast and not paying attention along with the way things are set up is probably the main contributor to the creation of these personal booby traps.

I know I have lived with these booby traps all my life, but now that I'm older and it's a pain in the backside to have to bend down and pick things up or clean the mess I just made, it has become a real consideration. I imagine I will need to redesign most of my home as I age to prevent these booby traps from taking me down and out for good. Many times when I hear about seniors found dead during a welfare check I think of these personal booby traps.

Please contribute if you have noticed these personal booby traps as I have. Thanks in advance.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

Great idea for a thread! I’m sorry I don’t have anything to add to it but I’m curious what happens with the microwave and the dog bowls?

a reply to: Notabot12345666

Ah, you see, when I'd cook something and got something from the shelves, like salt or pepper, and dropped it, it would land right in the water dish, EVERY TIME! The dish is still there, waiting to get me again.

OMG. I have to wonder how old you are.

Because my husband has started on this same kick! Only, have you bought a used wheel chair, supposedly for fun in the garage, only to then use it to make sure the doorways are wide enough yet? Because he did.

I tend to set stuff in the hallway, totes and whatever. Done it since we moved in. Now he freaks out!
He isn't even 60 yet.

I learned from a close older friend about ten years ago to set up things in your environment so you can easily get at them when you get older. Another thing he mentioned is that when you get old and move things, you cannot find them in their new place even if it is efficient. I was always organized...a little OCD...but the wife just stuck things anywhere...then she could not find them and bought new items and donated the old better built item to vinnies when she found them. She was hiding her problems and trying to trick me into believing she preferred the new thing she bought but later the truth came out as she was looking for a replacement item that she had given away.

She is coming around, everything in the kitchen has a spot and although I did have a problem originally convincing her that kitchen wears we use maybe once every two years can be stored in the basement on nice shelving units, she does still like to complain about them being down there even though I do haul them up when needed for her. She says she needs me to go shopping...I know she needs something from the basement.

My friend I talked about in the beginning tripped on a throw run in the kitchen and broke his hip. Many times he stumbled on that rug but his wife said she wanted it there....three months of being miserable and about three grand worth of hospital bills the insurance did not cover and she finally took it out after the accident. I had mentioned to him and his wife that maybe they should get rid of the two throw rugs in the kitchen after seeing him and her stumble on them occasionally and she said no, she likes those rugs. She did mention that the rug in front of the fridge he tripped on did save lots of broken bottles over the years, their fridge was packed to the brim and when you took something out other things came out occasionally. She would not let Steve throw out anything, but she did let me go through things, throwing out a full thirty gallon bag of food minimum every time I cleaned it out. That was a third of what was in the fridge, half used boxes of velvita stuffed in the back, containers of yogurt expired two months before and celery and other veggies that were all brown. Seems she just left the old in there and stuffed new ones in front.

They were good cooks, but he was not allowed to throw anything out of the fridge.

I learned from the two of them, from things they did right and things they did wrong. Every week on Wednesday I would go over and give him a hand in his shop or help him make wood, and he and she made great soups for lunch, most times out of fresh garden veggies and I would give them some organic beef from our half head to make stuff too...they liked liver and onions and beef soups a lot. I also gave them pork some years from a pig I would buy from another friend of mine, grown the old fashioned way naturally. They were great people but everyone does have some flaws, just as I do.

One of the most important things I learned from him is that when you get old, moving your stuff to a new more efficient place can cause problems...he told me to do it now before I got old, so I started this about fifteen years ago and it was a good thing I did, I first look for it where it was originally, then I remember I moved it, now if I move things out of the original or the moved to place, I cannot find them even if I look right at them when going through the cabinets. Putting something new in a spot, no problem, it is moving something from it's long found place to another that causes a problem.

Hope this helps some people that are getting older. It is not my creation, it is a creation of others before me, this has been passed on for generations, and kids mess us older people up by trying to change things to help us but it actually makes things worse. I have told this story to both my girls and their husbands and you know what....their husbands quickly grasped what I was saying, but both daughters had to learn it the hard way even though they are around forty....they would not admit it as true till they experienced it personally and are finally learning to do this in their own homes now. How come it is easier most times to get a guy to listen than to get a woman to listen to passed down experience when it is a guy saying it. I am an organization OCD person, Everything has it's place. The wife is finally starting to realize I may be on to something...something I learned from others and sideways applied it to everything in my life. My wife is finally getting better than I am at some of this....slaps myself in the face for admitting it...but only on things she considers important to her. I have way more stuff to keep account of than her, I have over two hundred pounds of copper and brass fittings in stock for plumbing and supplies of much things other than wood in stock to build a house. The spare windows I already gave to friends or relatives. in hindsight, maybe I should have kept one of those exterior thirty six inch door frames. I hate running to the store every time I do a little project.

Now this got a little long winded again. Just remember that to set things up before you are forty five, it is much harder to change when you get older.

Chiefsmom, give me another year and it's the dreaded 60.

Ricky, you covered a lot of ground there. The fridge, that one that is always full of booby traps. The door flings open as it tilts a little, so I hold the door with one hand and grab things with the other. I could just slow the door down, let it gently hit the wall, then use both hands, but that will cost me about three extra seconds to get what I'm after. Haste makes waste.

One truly bad habit is washing dishes in the sink by hand and putting sharp knives in the soapy water. I learned that lesson 30-some years ago when a friend of mine cut his hand pretty good that way. As you pointed out, I've warned my GF many times about this, yet she does it every time. I guess some people never learn until it happens to them so she'll need a good gash and some stitches to learn I guess.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

Reminded me of this:

originally posted by: chiefsmom
OMG. I have to wonder how old you are.

Because my husband has started on this same kick! Only, have you bought a used wheel chair, supposedly for fun in the garage, only to then use it to make sure the doorways are wide enough yet? Because he did.

I tend to set stuff in the hallway, totes and whatever. Done it since we moved in. Now he freaks out!
He isn't even 60 yet.

I built a wheel chair ramp up to our front open porch when my mother stayed with us years ago. My wife wanted me to take it down when she died and I told her why, we may need it in the future. It takes a little work every other year to maintain, but it has 2x12 joists, it is not going to collapse on us. We usually put our tomato plants up against the railing and tie off the plants to it. but the chippies have it easier to get tomatoes off the ramp, they do not have to climb up the stocks or circular wire cage that holds the plants higher. The side porch has the steps inside of it and a strong rail. Should make one of those elevator rail chairs, but we stuck a cabinet at the top for ice cold pop in the winter and to put big pots of stew on when I make it in the winter...stays at about thirty five degrees in there in the winter.

Ok I got a great one that I dont think can be beaten. I've drank from my ashtray, and ashed in my drink(more than once. Yikes). So I certainly changed ashtray shapes. Gross. I've also accidently drank from my "'water bubbler'' ''tobacco'' purifier. So Dont hold a drink while smoking. Public service announcement.....Just say no kids, because smoking and drinking are bad for your health. hahha

originally posted by: AnrkE
Ok I got a great one that I dont think can be beaten. I've drank from my ashtray, and ashed in my drink(more than once. Yikes). So I certainly changed ashtray shapes. Gross. I've also accidently drank from my "'water bubbler'' ''tobacco'' purifier. So Don't hold a drink while smoking. Public service announcement.....Just say no kids, because smoking and drinking are bad for your health. hahha

Holy Smoke! Bong water is nasty (if that is what you refer to). A buddy of mine was drinking beers in a park with some friends one summer when he grabbed a half-full beer can that was used as an ashtray and that had dead yellow jacket hornets in it. He took a swig and puked his guts out (he was dry heaving when he told me the story).

originally posted by: chiefsmom
OMG. I have to wonder how old you are.

Because my husband has started on this same kick! Only, have you bought a used wheel chair, supposedly for fun in the garage, only to then use it to make sure the doorways are wide enough yet? Because he did.

I tend to set stuff in the hallway, totes and whatever. Done it since we moved in. Now he freaks out!
He isn't even 60 yet.

I have to say, I've read this post like four times and I laugh every time. Thanks CM.

Also, putting things in the way in hallways or on stairs is a really bad habit IMO. Think of how bad you'll feel knowing you caused an accident to yourself or someone else.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck
I think our generations can be split up into people that grew up watching the Final Destination film series and those who didn't.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I saw at least the first couple so normal things always look like booby traps to me. 😉
I will never look at a log truck or tanning bed the same again.

a reply to: Martin75

Totally unfamiliar with that series of films, although the Wikipedia article described it well and it seems to fit. Pretty extreme compared to the everyday traps and follies we set ourselves up for, but it fits.

originally posted by: rickymouse

originally posted by: chiefsmom
OMG. I have to wonder how old you are.

Because my husband has started on this same kick! Only, have you bought a used wheel chair, supposedly for fun in the garage, only to then use it to make sure the doorways are wide enough yet? Because he did.

I tend to set stuff in the hallway, totes and whatever. Done it since we moved in. Now he freaks out!
He isn't even 60 yet.

I built a wheel chair ramp up to our front open porch when my mother stayed with us years ago. My wife wanted me to take it down when she died and I told her why, we may need it in the future. It takes a little work every other year to maintain, but it has 2x12 joists, it is not going to collapse on us. We usually put our tomato plants up against the railing and tie off the plants to it. but the chippies have it easier to get tomatoes off the ramp, they do not have to climb up the stocks or circular wire cage that holds the plants higher. The side porch has the steps inside of it and a strong rail. Should make one of those elevator rail chairs, but we stuck a cabinet at the top for ice cold pop in the winter and to put big pots of stew on when I make it in the winter...stays at about thirty five degrees in there in the winter.

My GF had need of a ramp for a while after a "procedure". So with the help of some friends I built one, then extended it as it was too steep. After it was no longer needed I tore it down and used the wood to rebuild the front porch, however, if I need a ramp again, I will build it differently and make it permanent. Nothing like a practice run for our later years as I expect she will need one sooner than I will considering her poor health.

We had the local fire brigade round today fitting up free smoke detectors. Just a sentence heh. Naah. My wife is a serious serial hoarder and every corridor has stuff (yeah, stuff everything) and the officers lambasted me for blocking easy escape routes. Fell on my wife's deaf ears. So I'll probably die in a fire. UNLESS. If there was a nuclear holocaust tomorrow we have enough food for 5 years. Now I could get killed (had a couple of narrow escapes) by an avalanche of frozen food when I open the Fridge/freezer door. Wouldn't change for the world as that's life, boring as well as exciting.