Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Reason Eleven: Constant Power

I doubt that there are many homes in America that have the "right" amount of extension cords. Most that I have seen either have too many or not enough or they don't have the right ones that they need. There are not many times that you really need an extension cord. Christmas lights, indoor and out. The occasional need to use a power tool. The odd thing that you need power to in the middle of the room.



Our house is the home to way too many cords. This is just a small assortment of the cords that we have. I have had to dig into it exactly once. Yes, this mess of cords irritates me. Yet, there is something even more irritating about the electrical nightmare.



If someone had to guess where this pile was, they might say a closet, an extra bedroom, the shed. If only I could say that any of these was the location. Instead, our extension cords live in the dining room. Now, even the dining room might make sense if we had a formal one which we never used. Instead, our living room and dining room are one great room. So, I am lucky enough to see extension cord island from just about 50% of vantage points in my house. I am one lucky woman.

A fairly constant theme in this blog is that of complete disconcern for the appearance of anything. And, you guessed it, this is another. I find it hard to comprehend whether this lack of concern is simply an HH thing or if it is secretly an attempt to gain and/or maintain power within the household. Is the constant complaining about needing more space a residual genetic effect of some ancestral homesteader or is it just something to do to avoid going through the 20 boxes he hasn't unpacked since we moved in? Is HH a hoarder or is keeping all of this stuff his way of asserting his identity in the relationship?

I doubt that I will ever know the answer to these questions. But what I do know is that if you need an extension cord, I have plenty.