For a Mensan, sometimes I just ain’t too bright.  You might think that thinking would come easily.  But, man, sometimes my thinking needs to be better thought out.

This sad episode took place on a recent Sunday afternoon, when I decided to clean the residual dirt from a trashcan.  I took it outside and rinsed it off, using an old hose and a crappy nozzle that I inherited from the previous homeowner.  One of my very first "home improvement" projects was to buy a reel so the hose wouldn't be lying in the driveway in a tangled mess. 

As I’m rinsing out the trashcan with the old hose and the crappy nozzle, I think, "Hey!  I still have money left on a gift card.  I'll buy a new hose and a new nozzle.  Then, I'll put them on the reel, and get rid of the old hose and the old nozzle."  That was Plan A, and it was a good plan.  I thought.

So, off I went.  When I got back, I unhooked the old hose from the reel and piled it in the driveway.  Then, I hooked up the new hose and started to wind it onto the reel.  Then, I had a problem.

The new hose is 150 feet long (because you never know, right?).  But, as I discovered when I actually bothered to look at the label on the reel, the reel is only big enough to hold a 100 foot hose.  Yes, I know, maybe I should have looked at the label BEFORE I bought the new hose.  I'll remember that for next time.

Back to my problem.  My first thought was to coil the rest of the hose and set it on top of the reel.  That was Plan B.  Then, I turned on the spigot and discovered a leak, probably from the point where the hose was hooked to the reel.  I decided that, for aesthetic and practical reasons, I didn't like Plan B.

Hence, Plan C:  Return the 150' hose and exchange it for a shorter hose which would fit on the reel.  But, would the store accept a hose that had already been used and would probably be returned in somewhat of a tangled mess?  Confidence was not high, so I came up with Plan D.

Plan D was go to the store and buy a reel big enough for a 150' hose.  Of course, if I did that, I'd have two perfectly good reels.  And, there's really nothing wrong with the old hose except that it's old and grungy.  My real issue was with the crappy old nozzle.  So, I'd buy another new nozzle, too.

And, that's what I did.  I bought a new reel for the new hose and a new nozzle for the old hose.  Now I have two hoses, two reels, two nozzles and one outside spigot.

What I wish I had was some common sense.  Then, I'd have planned to just buy a new nozzle.

                                   (June 2007)