Almost thirty years ago I had a wonderful little Honda 9.9 horse outboard that ran like a top.

 It was the auxillary power for my sailboat.




The only thing that was wrong with it is that for some reason it would break recoil starter ropes which I took to replacing with halibut gangion line because it was a whole lot cheaper than factory ropes.



The recoil starter was held in by three each 10mm bolts and I could pull it off in a few seconds and somewhere along the line I managed to scare up another recoil starter so I could swap them out in less than a minute.



When I broke the starter rope and swapped the unit out I would take the unit with the broken rope and leave it on the deck in the galley where it would constantly get in the way and get kicked around until the rope was replaced. Only after the rope was replaced would it be put back in the drawer it was stored in until it was needed.



After the first couple of times you kicked the starter you got mad and fixed it. I had to change it out a couple of times when I had other people on board and they would see me put it on the cabin sole and put it back only to find it on the sole again and they would put it away again only to find it on the sole again.



They would complain that it was in the way and that was why they had put it away. I pointed out that it wasn't to be put away until it was fixed. Some people got it, some didn't. Some people simply sat down and fixed it to get it the hell out of the way. These people were generally invited back.



One little chickee I was seeing at the time asked me, "But Whyyyyyyyyy? It's in the wayyyyyy!"



If I remember right I told her that it was so she could cut her big toe open and give me something bloody to suck on or some damned thing. She left on the spot in a huff and when she was still within earshot, I shouted "Next!!"



The woman on the boat beside me heard it, knew what it meant and came over to my boat like she had been waiting her turn. She was my friends girlfriend but had a great twisted sense of humor. She came below and we ran quickly to the porthole to watch the rejected little chickee gape and quiver her lower lip when she saw that she had been replaced instantly. We both laughed.



I didn't see her much after that and in the long run it was certainly for the best because the last I heard she married some guy and promptly decided they needed a family vehicle and spent an ungodly amount of her new hubby's money on some monster luxury car without discussing it with him.



He was lucky, he cancelled the order and promptly proceeded to immediately divorce her because he was smart enough to know that you can't fix stupid.



I put it the starter on the sole to make damned sure that it got fixed and I would have it good to go when I needed it. When you put something like that in a drawer it is out of sight and out of mind and is often forgotten about.



It generally didn't last on the deck too long as it was aggravating as all hell, and I'd fix it inside an hour or two. Sometimes I liked to go barefoot on the boat but when I put the starter on the sole I would put on shoes at once as there were a lot of toe-cutting edges on it.



Looking back on it, I know that putting the damned thing right smack dab in the middle of the way was the way to go because I do not remember getting stuck with haning no spare starter on hand. Not once.



I do things like this even now. Right now there is a large note on the keyboard of the ship's computer reminding me to do payroll and there is a box at the top of the ladder landing that should not be there but is because it has something in it I need to remember to install.



There is also a note on the dash of my pickup reminding me to pick up a few easy to forget things next time I go out. I need bathroom tissue and a couple of cans of deodorant and also some laundry soap.



Another thing I do to make my life easier is when I buy things like bathroom tissue of depdorant I load the hell up on it so I don't run out and when I finish a roll of bathroom tissue I put the empty roll core up in the shelf above the toilet. It serves as a reminder because when I see a bunch of them I put the stuff on my list and do not throw out the roll cores until I have brought a couple of new packages home.



I work pretty good whan my list of things to do is literally in my face or underfoot.





my other blog is: http://officerpiccolo.blogspot.com/ http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/