2024, Mysteries, pets

Hardware Mystery

32 Comments

Normally when Guinevere and I are out walking, we wait until we are at a corner to cross the street.  A few days ago though, we crossed Lyndale in front of our neighbors’ houses, two doors down.  As we were just about across the street, I noticed a whole slew of washers on the street in front of their driveway.

As you can see from the photo, they are all different sizes and a few of them even have different finishes.  I was tempted to stop and pick up a bunch of them.  You can always use a washer – I had to buy one at the hardware store just a couple of weeks back.  But with the traffic and the dog on the leash I decided to take a pass on them.  Maybe the next time I need a washer, I’ll check to see if any of these are still lying about!

Any thoughts on how all these washers ended up on the street?

32 thoughts on “Hardware Mystery”

    2. To the point as always but why would somebody have such an odd assortment of washers to start with? What were they doing in the street that caused them to drop them? Why didn’t they pick them up?

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      1. I have a drawer in my hardware cabinet where I keep washers of various sizes. Conjecture as to why they spilled on the street is indeterminant. Perhaps they didn’t pick them up for the same reason you didn’t.

        Or maybe they put them out there as bait.

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  2. I think those washers were placed there on the pavement in that particular pattern to encourage someone to connect the circles with colored chalk. You may need to set up a couple of traffic cones to do so safely.

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  5. Rise and Shine, Baboons, from JacAnon,

    Several scenarios:

    The Jolly Green Giant did a marketing run to the Cities and used these as confetti;

    or

    Some guy (like Lou) carries these around in his pocket. They all fell out when the guy pulled out his handkerchief to use because his allergies are causing trouble.

    At the end of the day we will be back home with Ben’s eggs.

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  7. I find washers and miscellaneous hardware in the street a lot. I’ve often wondered about it. One theory I came up with is that there are quite a few auto repair shops around the neighborhood. I suspect that if someone is working in an engine compartment and they drop a washer, it’s easier to just get another one, rather than try to find the lost one. At some point the lost one falls out.

    That doesn’t explain this incident, though – someone might accidentally drop a quantity of washers in a situation like that, but it’s unlikely they would all fall out at once.

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    1. I actually made holiday ornaments that look quite a lot like these a few years ago. Mine were singles – I didn’t make them as windchimes, but I put pretty paper on large washers. Modge podged them and then added some beads and strings. They were cute, but they were heavy.

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  10. One of those repair vehicles withe boxes on the side. Repair person opened a door, they fell out and the person decided not to bother bending over.
    OR

    There was a big fight between the nuts and bolts and the washer got caught in the middle.

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  11. Because they started me on a rather potent drug, I was supposed to have a big deal test at 2:30 today related to the drug. I was sitting out in the lobby and just as my ride pulled up, they called to say the system that runs it is down. The next available slot is in September. But I have to have the test in the next few days. They are scrambling.

    The best laid plans of mice and doctors . . .

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  12. Well done, Baboons! It could be that someone who just went to the hardward store for these specific washers had them in a paper bag, which then got soaked somehow (rain, spill in the car…). The washers finally broke through the bag at this spot as s/he was walking across the street. Now they have to go back to the hardware store, UNLESS they happen to walk right there again…

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  13. They were in a tin can that had a loose-fitting lid. The can with the washers in it was being used for a low-cost shaker or rhythm instrument for kids. They dropped it on their way to band practice.

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