I've had amnesia for almost 20 years.

[Hickory]

Last week I discovered that I’d been suffering from amnesia for almost 20 years.
It all started back in 1990 when I was building a new garage.

Actually, it started when I tore down the old garage. More on that in a little bit.

Getting back to the amnesia.
After lying the footer, and pouring the floor and getting the whole thing framed up. Things get a little fuzzy. Actually things are hard to remember for that month. This is what I was told later. However, it may not be true as I do not remember it.
I guess the way it all unfolded was two of my friends were working above on the truss and I was down below. One of them dropped, lost hold or threw a 2x4 to the ground that somehow hit me in the head. After waking up in the hospital, I was told that I had a bad concussion. Like thing are hard to remember during this period of my life.

Life went on and I got better and friends and neighbors built the garage while I was recovering. I noticed that the only effect of my concussion was that it was hard to recall how to spell some words, such as (if). One time I typed ef , or (of) came out ouf, which did not look right but then it did. And so on. However, over time I seemed to overcome these short comings.

But last week I realized the extent of my injury. I was rooting around in the shed by the barn and came across 4 ½- five gallon buckets of lead cast into ingots. I looked at them for a long time trying to remember where they came from or how they got there. Not being able to recall the source or the how of my good fortune, I went into the house and asked my wife about the source of the lead.

She explained to me that several months before I tore down the old garage that I’d melted down a bunch of lead I had in the old garage and put it in the shed knowing I would tear down the garage.
My guess is about 5-600 lbs of w-w cast into ingots. I will see if I can wear out some gun barrels. I hear that you can wear out gun barrels with this stuff.

[3006guns]

That's precisely why I never let anyone work under an area where we raised trusses. You were very fortunate that the injury wasn't worse. As for the memory loss, from what little I know it does come back in little segments over a long period of time. Since I never was smacked in the head, I have to fall back on the "old age" excuse............

Say, by the way.........do you remember the 100lbs of WW you were going to send me at your expense back in the early 90's?......... No?........... Dang!

[Rocky Raab]

I was going to joke that I have amnesia, too - but can't remember for how long.

Then I read your post. I do truly sympathize and wish you an eventual recovery. On the other hand, your life includes more pleasant surprises than mine!

[Suo Gan]

My grandpa had stuff buried all over. For decades and decades he would bury stuff for a time of need. When PVC pipe became widely used, he used that with the end caps. He would bury that stuff deep, and seemed to be able to recall just where he buried them too. Food, guns, ammo, knives, anything he could think of I guess. He even "buried" a pistol inside a pipe in a pond! For some unknown reason when I read your story, I thought of him, and how upset he would be that he could not remember where he cached his stuff. But he passed, and we could only recover ten of the tubes he buried. Some day, some guy is going to be fishing and "Damn it! I'm hung up on a snag Frank. Wait a minute, what the? A brand new Browning High Power with 600 rounds of ammo!" My grandpa died a few years before my grandma. To her dying day she knew grandpa had thousands buried in the yard, god that pissed her!

I am glad that you are well, and did not get kilt. We need as many of "us" as we can get!

[clintsfolly]

ha hickory don,t you remember that i had you store the lead for me please ship back will repay you for the postage thanks Clint

[Gunslinger]

My grandpa had stuff buried all over. For decades and decades he would bury stuff for a time of need. When PVC pipe became widely used, he used that with the end caps. He would bury that stuff deep, and seemed to be able to recall just where he buried them too. Food, guns, ammo, knives, anything he could think of I guess. He even "buried" a pistol inside a pipe in a pond! For some unknown reason when I read your story, I thought of him, and how upset he would be that he could not remember where he cached his stuff. But he passed, and we could only recover ten of the tubes he buried. Some day, some guy is going to be fishing and "Damn it! I'm hung up on a snag Frank. Wait a minute, what the? A brand new Browning High Power with 600 rounds of ammo!" My grandpa died a few years before my grandma. To her dying day she knew grandpa had thousands buried in the yard, god that pissed her!

I am glad that you are well, and did not get kilt. We need as many of "us" as we can get!

I see why your grandma was not pleased with your grandpa buriyng treasure all over the yard. But from this end that's a pretty funny story

[Shiloh]

Do you remember me helping you smelt??
Geez, amnesia must be spooky

Shiloh

[Hickory]

Sorry about your luck as I do not recall oweing anyone.
It could be that you owe me? But then who really knows.

[Bret4207]

I've got that same type of amnesia. About once every 2 or 3 years I'll run onto the 880 rounds of surplus 8mm ammo I bought ages ago, or that box of 500 32 S+W Long brass, or that Weaver scope I bought for my 22-250. I move the stuff to an area where I can make use of it and then the amnesia strikes and I forget where I hid it THIS TIME!

Now let me ask you, the stuff I never forget is things like- that time (TIMES) i said something stupid and royally embarrassed myself, people who owe ME money, old grudges from childhood, anyone who ever wronged me, girls who shot me down, terrible things I've seen on the job and elsewhere....things like that. If my memory stinks, couldn't it at least have the decency to help me forget the bad stuff?

Maybe iof I went out and smacked myself a good one in the head? Naw, I'll forget what I was going to do it for anyway....

[Rocky Raab]

Somewhere around here, I have the prototype set of RCBS moulds for the 9 Mak. They sent it to me when I was doing the original load data research for the round, back in 1990. I have bullets that I cast from it, so it has to be here ... somewhere.

[Ricochet]

I can't remember whether I have amnesia or not.

[mold maker]

The things I loose or can't find, are always the ones I put up in a safe place. I tried writing my self notes, that wouldn't mean anything, to anybody else. Turns out, they don't make sense to me either.
I once had a mind like a safe, but it seems the combination is stuck.
My lack of memory isn't because of a bump to the head, it's because my mind (small hard drive) is old and it's plumb full. In order to remember something new, I have to erase something old.
That's my story, and I'm stuck with it.

[Stick_man]

Hickory,
Glad to hear you were not hurt any worse than you were. You were lucky.

The nice thing about amnesia (and Alzheimers for that matter) is that there are lots of new surprises that present themselves. Isn't it nice to find a great little stash of lead ingots? Isn' t it even better you can remember what they are used for? Especially, you are lucky your wife supports your activities enough to have not gotten rid of it while you couldn't remember anything about it.

I had to hide mine just so it was still there when I wanted to use it. If it wasn't my wife giving it away, it was my son "borrowing" it for his own usage. We did finally work a good compromise for it, though. Just in time too, it was getting more and more difficult to hide close to 1,000 pounds of nice little 2 - 2 1/2 lb ingots of lead alloy.

[Marlin Hunter]

Last week I discovered that I’d been suffering from amnesia for almost 20 years.

You couldn't remember you had amnesia????

[Bret4207]

That's my story, and I'm stuck with it.

HAR! Now that's a good one!

[Rocky Raab]

Your memory is stored in your gray matter. Over the years, it simply fills up, much like the drive in a computer. So your brain has to find "external storage" That's why hair turns gray - it's being used for memory storage and becomes add-on gray matter.

There are two problems with this: One, you need more time to access this external memory. The stuff you have stored in the brain gets retrieved instantly (you can remember your childhood perfectly) but the memory stored in your external gray matter/hair takes a while to find and retrieve (you can't remember what you had for breakfast).

Two, there's the problem of lost storage area. That last haircut, those strands in your brush, and the hair in your sink trap are full of recent memories - now gone forever.

You balding guys aren't immune. When you lack one external drive, you grow another. You think your nose, ears and back are coincidence? Nope. Your beard turning gray? Yup.

I rest my case. Or would, if I can remember where I put it ...

[Hickory]

Stick man;
A friend of mine has the beginning stages of Alzheimers,
and he accepts it and jokes about it, saying that "all his books and movies are new again.
But I know its hard for his wife and him also.
Life is hell sometimes. But it's good too.

[Hamish]

This one is too good not to resurface,,,,,,,

[castalott]

I am to the point I can hide my own Easter Eggs and have real joy when I find them....Dale

[JimB..]

Funny, I’ve been looking for my brand new spare Dillon low primer alarm for a week. It’s in a special place where I wouldn’t lose it.