It's Like Herding Cats

When working with roses, or working in the garden in general, it is important to have a good pair of sturdy gloves that fit well and feel comfortable.  My favorites are goatskin or deerskin, but I will wear any kind that fit my freakishly long fingers.  I like to have a pair or two in reserve, in case I destroy a pair and need a replacement right away.  If I don't have extras on hand, with my weird fingers, there's no guarantee that I can go to the store and find a pair that fits ... even gloves within a brand or style can vary enough to not fit.

Because of my habit of buying gloves when I find ones that fit, I have this situation:

There are 64 gloves in this pile.

This heap of gloves is the result of gathering every glove I could find yesterday from various locations around the property ... the house garage, the detached garage, the basement workroom, the greenhouse, and my car and truck.  It seemed necessary to do this because was in a hurry and I needed a pair of gloves on Tuesday morning, and I couldn't find an intact pair that matched.  I fumed and fussed and I put together a relatively-serviceable pair of mismatched gloves that morning, and vowed right then to put an end to the madness, by gathering up every glove on the property and matching them up.

I kept thinking that this was a lot like playing one of those 'matching' card games.  Pick two that match, and put them aside.

When I finished assembling all the matching gloves, there were 24 pairs in this crate ... each held together with a clothespin.  Just because I had a match didn't mean that I had a serviceable pair of gloves, however.  Sometimes, one glove in the pair was good and the other one was worn out ... like these.

There are cases where I actually remember what happened to the mate for a specific glove.  This one was part of my very favorite pair of gloves.  I carelessly left them outside, they ended up on the ground in the grass, and its mate met an untimely end underneath the lawnmower.  I kept this glove so I would remember what type to buy when I replaced them.

After all of this, there are still WAY too many single, unmatched gloves.  The top row contains the right-hand gloves, and the lefts are on the bottom.

I have no idea where the mates for these are. Were they worn out or damaged and thrown away at some time? Are they sitting somewhere in a pile in a place that I haven't looked.  Wherever they are, I still feel as if I should hold onto these singles, in case the mate ever shows up.  At least I'll put them somewhere that's accessible and labeled so we don't end up with the situation we had on Tuesday.

The weather here is supposed to be mild this weekend, and I know that I will need a good pair of gloves for the work I have planned outside.  Now, I can find them easily.