I am going to use this term instead of the usual term, which is absent mindedness, because it sounds more purposeful. Absent mindedness implies cognitive impairment with no real reason. Sensory overload implies cognitive impairment with an actual cause – too much input.

My parents were both absent minded – I don’t think there was an actual reason for their high degree of forgetfulness. My mother was always misplacing things, and this made my usually patient sister impatient. Neither my sister nor I took care of my father in his later years, so we didn’t have to deal.

My sister has a great story about our father. She said that once he went outside, started up the grill, then came inside and forgot about it. I think that he decided instead to eat a peanut butter sandwich. She reminded him that the coals were hot – he made a joke about this and then went and tended to them.

I inherited the genes for cognitive impairment, both sides of the family. My problem is made worse by the fact that Pete is aware of this, and is hyper vigilant. Quite often, he will come up behind me and turn off a light or pick up something I forgot. I should be more gracious about this, but his actions seem to make the situation worse. His last name, Praetorius, means keeper of the gates – and he has on more than one occasion lived up to this moniker.

Today was a particularly tough day on the self-cognitive impairment front. It began with me putting Sassy in the tack room for just a minute, while I tended to the other goats, who wanted treats and therefore were being pushy.

I finished feeding the horses and then started back up to the cabin. I did a head count – Ranger and Swampy were right behind me. I said to Pete that after breakfast we could look for Sassy.

After breakfast, on the way down to the main horse enclosure, I remembered where I had left Sassy. I freed her and put her back in her pen. That I knew she was missing and remembered where I’d left her (even after the fact) made me feel less anxious.

Next, I headed to town without my backpack. Pete later came by the meeting house and gave it to me. And after that, I went with Nan to the Borough building and upon our return to the meeting house, left my backpack in her truck.

Add to this, this evening I left one of the horse pen gates open. No problem, the mares were eating ala carte, off the large hay shed.

I am going to attribute the above to cognitive impairment. I do have a lot on my mind what with things here, and with the book project. I have to keep books moving because there is so little space and so many books. I had not been to the meeting house in a few days, so I had more than usual to take care of.

We’ll see – time will tell if being overwhelmed was the problem. I am not going to allow myself to think about the other possible causes of memory loss.

Next: 283. 10/13/21: Just Build it, Damnit