The OCD woodsman
Every now and then I realize I've got a touch of obsessive-compulsive disorder. I always check the door locks twice (home and car), and I often have to turn around at the end of our street to make sure I put the garage door down, even though I know I did. It's not that I'm afraid of a break-in, we live in a pretty quiet neighborhood and I routinely go to bed with only the screen door closed, or the windows down in the car, etc... It's more that somehow my brain thinks making sure things are locked when I leave them is really, really important.
It comes out in other ways, too. When I wash my son's bottles and food containers, I always organize the cleaned items by type and color. If I had the time, the CD's and books would be alphabetized (aforementioned son removed the time necessary for this sort of distraction). I can't remember if I was always this way, or if it is an unintended consequence of my scientific training. Mild OCD is certainly an asset in the lab - it tends to prevent stupid mistakes.
The most amusing manifestation was this past weekend when I was working in the woods behind our house. I took down a few dead trees, including one giant oak (My new Craftsman chainsaw got quite a workout. It is so much better than the cheap Homelite I had beat into the ground - sometimes literally ;) After felling and bucking the trees, I found myself incapable of relaxing until I had stacked the wood at the edge of the yard and picked up all the small branches and debris. I was organizing the woods!
It's not the first time, either. All the big deadfall in the woods around our house has or will pass through our fireplace, and the small stuff is now organised into parallel rows that outline a walking path. Our road has a wooded stretch that's owned by the state, and they haven't maintained it since God was a boy. There is so much deadfall and debris that my hands itch to get in there and clean it up every time I drive by. Something deep in me is offended by the sight of messy woodlots. I know the deadfall provides vital habitat for a wide variety of animals and plants, but even that doesn't stop me from wanting to organize it. It must be that New England pragmatism coming out in me - wood on the ground is wasted wood, and that's just wrong. Strangely, the natural chaos of the deep woods doesn't bother me; it's appropriate there. But in disused former New England farmland in the pine vs. hardwood stage of succession, it's annoying. Don't ask me why.
It comes out in other ways, too. When I wash my son's bottles and food containers, I always organize the cleaned items by type and color. If I had the time, the CD's and books would be alphabetized (aforementioned son removed the time necessary for this sort of distraction). I can't remember if I was always this way, or if it is an unintended consequence of my scientific training. Mild OCD is certainly an asset in the lab - it tends to prevent stupid mistakes.
The most amusing manifestation was this past weekend when I was working in the woods behind our house. I took down a few dead trees, including one giant oak (My new Craftsman chainsaw got quite a workout. It is so much better than the cheap Homelite I had beat into the ground - sometimes literally ;) After felling and bucking the trees, I found myself incapable of relaxing until I had stacked the wood at the edge of the yard and picked up all the small branches and debris. I was organizing the woods!
It's not the first time, either. All the big deadfall in the woods around our house has or will pass through our fireplace, and the small stuff is now organised into parallel rows that outline a walking path. Our road has a wooded stretch that's owned by the state, and they haven't maintained it since God was a boy. There is so much deadfall and debris that my hands itch to get in there and clean it up every time I drive by. Something deep in me is offended by the sight of messy woodlots. I know the deadfall provides vital habitat for a wide variety of animals and plants, but even that doesn't stop me from wanting to organize it. It must be that New England pragmatism coming out in me - wood on the ground is wasted wood, and that's just wrong. Strangely, the natural chaos of the deep woods doesn't bother me; it's appropriate there. But in disused former New England farmland in the pine vs. hardwood stage of succession, it's annoying. Don't ask me why.
posted by Charlie at 5/07/2006 06:59:00 PM
1 Comments:
Hmm, the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.
Maybe there is a genetic component. I do the same thing(s). I have even annoyed girlfriends and other friends by "neating up" their living space. When visiting in soemone's home or yard, I have to remind myself not to straighten things up a little.
On the other hand, Pat appreciates any straightening up that I do.
Dad
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