It’s around here someplace

This was a saying in my wife’s family about lost objects, and we still use it.

In April I went to our cabin by myself.  I unlocked the cable across the drive and hung the lock from my pants pocket.  I forgot all about it until I was ready to leave.  I couldn’t find it.

I looked every where I had been.  In the the car, in the cabin, in the grass on all the paths I had been on.  Nada!  So, I used a lock from one of the sheds.

Each time I’ve visited since then I’ve taken another look.

I had resigned my self to buying another lock, but just hadn’t been to my favorite hardware store.  When I did, I would have to send a new key to the guy that plows our drive.

I was mowing the grass near the road yesterday and a neighbor stopped to chat.  After several minutes my wife came to investigate why she didn’t hear the trimmer.  As she came near the cable post she exclaimed “Mel!”  I wondered if she had fallen.

No, she had found the missing lock.  It was partially buried where I had run over it after it had fallen off my pocket.  Several passes over it with the car had buried even more.  She was attracted to it because the hasp did not look like any natural object.

The lock was full  of soil and sand.  We had to soak it and swish it in water several times.  By the time we were ready to leave, we could open and close the lock without a problem.

Sometimes he who hesitates finds stuff, around here someplace.

I found “around here someplace”.

Whenever my wife or I can’t find something that we know should be in plain sight she often says “It will turn up” or “It’s around here someplace”.

A few weeks ago while we were at our cabin, my carabiner of keys attached to a belt loop was no longer on my belt loop.  Fortunately, I was at our cabin with my wife who also had a set of keys.  I searched all the obvious places, including aiming a flashlight down the outhouse.  At the time we had about eight inches of snow on the ground, and so the keys could have dropped anywhere.

So we had a new set of keys made and I bought another carabiner to hold them.

Yesterday, I was heating up the sauna to wash up later.  As I walked out the door, I scanned the area for my missing keys.  Lo and behold, there in the snow was a metallic orange device; it was my missing carabiner and keys.  The snow had melted enough to unhide them.

So, now I know “around here someplace” is just outside our sauna:)