What's the strangest thing you have in YOUR house. I have a box of socks with no mates. How about you?

[debm55]

[Ocelot II]

1. That would be me.

I also have a very large oil painting of an Atlantic puffin.

[debm55]

20. You aren;t strange but the oil painting of the puffin sure sounds unique.

[Ocelot II]

27. It is. I painted it, further proof that I am also strange.

[OldBaldy1701E]

60. Dammit! That is the first thing that I thought as well!

This is a tough one because 'strange' is in the eye of the beholder.

Well, my garage is decorated with toy swords, spears, and knives, mostly because they were used in the play I directed for the school where I used to work. So, they have sentimental value. Most people kind of do a double take when they see them, because they are not visible unless you walk all the way into the garage.

[gopiscrap]

2. an insensor that is used at Catholic High Masses

[debm55]

22. I always hated those things. and the incense they put inside. That is different. How did you get it?

[Blue_playwright]

3. A collection of my mom and aunt's late 1960s and 1970s nylon nightgowns in a plastic box.

I don't know why I can't throw them out. They both always wore those nightgowns and fancy robes until they passed.

[applegrove]

14. I kept a lipstick of my grandmother after she passed. It was bright pink and made me smile when

I'd open it and see her colour.

[debm55]

63. That is so sweet applegrove. Thank you.

[debm55]

23. Maybe you kept them to remember them.

[bbernardini]

4. Just a box? Amateur.

I have at least one laundry basket and a trash bag full. I suspect there's some mates in there, but I don't have the patience or attention span to go through them.

[debm55]

24. Same here. I know there are mates somewhere in the box. but I don't have the energy to look for them, For now, they will

remain mateless. and alone.

[LisaM]

52. I went through a huge bag of unmatched socks once.

I found over 20 usable pairs.

[debm55]

53. Wow. that's great. Thank you LisaM.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. My lower left molar that just fell out of my radiation damaged jaw bone 3 years ago. It's longer

than a quarter, didn't hurt at all, and left a hole in my gum. Gross!

[debm55]

25. Where do you keep it: I have all my son's baby teeth in a baby food jar.

[sinkingfeeling]

46. It's in my medicine cabinet.

[debm55]

65. Thank you.

[NewDayOranges]

6. I have bagswithin bags within bags...

Of plastic grocery bags!

[debm55]

28. Our store doesn;t give them out any longer. but before they shifted to cloth bags. We had tons of them. Also ,

sanitation and recycling will not take them.

[sdfernando]

7. I have a box

of mates with no socks!

[marble falls]

11. The police were just over asking me about that ........

[debm55]

30. HAHAHAHAHh. I'll give you mine, sdfernando.

[debm55]

64. HAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAH Thank you sdfernando

[marble falls]

8. That's why all my socks are black cotton ...

... my huge collection of hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil monkeys. And my collection of drafting tools. Oh, and my collection of scary fabric dolls.

Other than that, I seem fairly normal.

[debm55]

31. HAHAHAHAHAHHAH. I never thought of that. But I do have all white. just different kinds of white. I got rid of all my

fabric dolls.

[QED]

9. A very old wooden chair.

I bought when I was a teenager for $5 just to annoy my mom. It's huge - my dad always called it Old Sparky. I'm now pushing 70 so I've had it for over 50 years and it was old then.

[debm55]

33. You still have it? It might be worth something.

[QED]

42. I don't know if it's worth anything. It's ugly as hell.

[LoisB]

10. A Wang programming manual. I have no idea why I've never thrown it away.

[sdfernando]

15. Back in the 80s

I was a field service technician for Wang Laboratories. I will never forget having to align hard disk drive heads on a 10Mb disk drive, as big as desk. Insert an alignment card, connect up an oscilloscope, move the heads ever so slightly to catch the blip on the O-scope and tighten the screw...the very act of tightening the screw often threw the alignment off...so loosen and start again! I HATED doing that work!

[LoisB]

19. Holy cow. I don't blame you for hating that work.

[slumcamper]

39. Remarkable account.

The digital era, attendant with its infinite softwares, hardwares, and humanity's increasing reliance (dependence?) on it ultimately rests on human knowledge as the essential interface between it all--and across the scope of time and change.

Are we in rational control such that we will preserve the collective knowledge of humanity? Or are we racing forward in an unbridled and irrational manner with little or no concern for possible calamity? And if (when) a calamity upends the current order of things and we are plunged into another "dark age," who or what will be able to reclaim the digital record of humanity?

Concerns aside, I recently sent my floppy discs from the early 90s to the landfill.

[debm55]

34. Thank you LoisB. We have a bunch of manuals from various appliances we haven't had in years.

[LoisB]

37. You too!?! I don't know why we save them. I'm trying to sell a mini-fridge and would you believe, that is the only

manual I CAN'T find.

[slumcamper]

12. My large (150+) collection of "DO NOT DISTURB" tags from hotels around the world? n/t

[debm55]

35. Thank you slumcamper. But why?

[applegrove]

13. How does that work? I have often got one sock without

a partner when I have finished doing my laundry. Now I have a whole pile of mateless socks. CBC News once did a contest for suggestions on why some socks lose their mates in the laundry. The winning entry was "it isn't what is happening. The lint just got all together and formed a new single sock".

[debm55]

67. That is funny. Thank you applegrove.

[Jeebo]

16. A Ms. PacMan/Galaga arcade machine.

Full size, works fine. I bought it for $1200 when I retired nine-plus years ago. I am addicted to Ms. PacMan, have been since the 1980s, and yes, I'm pretty good at it. I can get all the way to the end of the game, in fact, when playing the speeded-up version. (I don't believe any mortal human being could do that on the standard-speed version, not unless there's some trick or glitch in the programming that I've never heard of.) I've only ever seen three other people who could get to the end of the game in the speeded-up game. I used to be pretty good at Galaga, too, but I have played exactly one game of Galaga since the 1980s. Yes, that was on the machine that's in my living room. I bought the machine with some of my retirement income when I retired. My machine also plays original PacMan, speeded up or standard speed, if you enter a left-right-up-down sequence with the control knob at the start of the game. I used to be really good at PacMan, too. I knew two really good ninth-key patterns. I've now forgotten more about that game than I ever knew, though.

-- Ron

[debm55]

68. That's neat. Thank you Jeebo.

[Redleg]

17. A large garbage bag filled with smaller plastic grocery bags

I collect 'em so that I can drop 'em off at Krogers for "recycling" or whatever they do with them. The problem is I always forget to take them with me when I go shopping.

[debm55]

69. Thank you Redleg. We keep the cloth bags in the trunk. We had the same problem with forgeting to take them back.

[Redleg]

82. I should be using the reusable cloth bags

My almost ex-wife offered to give me some and I think I will take her up on it.

[debm55]

87. We aren;t allowed to use the plastic bags. If we get caught there is a fine.

[Redleg]

95. We are so backwards where I live

While people living in residential homes get curbside recycling, those of us living in apartments have to drive our stuff to one of few recycling locations. I don't imagine we are anywhere near close to banning the plastic grocery bags.

[debm55]

98. Oh it has been like that for over a year.

[sorcrow]

18. About 20 unmatched shoes

My step son told his kids (17M, 13F, and 11M) to clean up their room and gather up things to pass to their younger cousins. They dutifully loaded bags and brought them to our place. My wife is the the clearinghouse for these operations.

She started sorting clothes and shoes. The shoes started to line up with an occasional pairing. We still ended up with about 20 unmatched shoes. We're holding on to them hoping the mates will show up in the next round of cleaning.

I also have a discus that I bought at a yard sale because it was brass and mahogany and very pretty.

Best regards,
Sorghum Crow

[debm55]

50. Thank you sorcrow. That is very unique. I hope you find the missing shoes. They can get lonely too.

[slumcamper]

21. OMG, rethinking this. Might be my unique collection of 250+ different coffee cup sleeves? n/t

[debm55]

49. Thank you slumcamper. But why?

[Attilatheblond]

26. A shillelagh

Have it hanging on wall next to my bed. Prowlers beware.

[debm55]

48. Thank you Attilatebond . But how did you get a shillelag. Did you go to Ireland? they are deadly.

[Attilatheblond]

55. It belonged to my late husband

His bestie gave it to him decades ago. Not sure where it came from.

Husband did manage a stopover in Ireland where he had to change planes for trans Atlantic flight back to the states. So long ago, he carried his chain saw thru the airport and no one raised an eyebrow.

[kimbutgar]

29. I have a bag of missing socks for my family and every now and then I find the matching mate!

Usually caught up in clean sheets. But now I put my dirty socks in a small zippered mesh bag and wash them in that bag and never have missing socks anymore. I got my hubby to put his socks in his own bag also!

But I also have my collection of salt and peppers shakers which I keep exclusively in my dining room and on a shelf in my kitchen of cat S&P shakers!

[debm55]

47. Thank you kimbutgar. My husband uses those mesh bags. I think I am going to use them too. and get rid on loners.

[WheelWalker]

32. My ex-wife.

Divorced, 1985. I've also got one of our two daughters, and an adult granddaughter in MY house. That's sort of a box of socks with no mates. I live in the shed.

[debm55]

41. HAHAHHAHHA. You are kind hearted to do that.

[oberle]

36. lizard stuff

I have a big box full of lizard bowls, UVB bulbs, hot rocks and light fixtures for the bulbs. I have had two iguanas, one of which was a once-in-a-lifetime pet. The other was a bitch.

[Quakerfriend]

38. One of my great grandmother's cookbooks- wriiten

In pen & ink- from 1773.

The recipes all seem to include butter, sugar & whiskey!

[debm55]

43. I would on to that. Have you made anything from the recipes?

[DaBronx]

40. Wow, I do have something strange

I went to an estate sale. The deceased was a scientist that did very complex work, some of it was obviously for the government based on the nature of the field of work. I picked up a few items. At the checkout table they put my items in a cardboard box. When I got home I unpacked my items. Wedged in the box, between the corrugated dividers, was an old memo pad with the deceased person's name on it. It was the type of old memo pad that you would keep near a phone on your desk. It still had quite a few sheets left on the pad. On the back of the pad, on the supportive cardboard side, "CALL CIA!" was written in large case block letters. Taken together, the two words, marked by an exclamation point, seemed to radiate a great sense of urgency. How many times have you grabbed something to write on in a pressing situation? I wondered why the back of the pad, not the front? It was a quick grab for sure. A desperate reach when time was of the essence.

I've wondered what it was about. I had imagined that the scientist was on the phone, and was in the midst of a conversation and a dilemma, while his wife frantically tried to get his attention - perhaps she wrote the note and shoved it in front of him. Or, he may have jotted it down himself, as he received advice from a concerned coworker or friend who was on the other end of the phone.

When I was much younger, my mother listened to Paul Harvey, host of the radio show, The Rest of the Story. It featured stories, many times about famous people, but withheld certain facts to keep things interesting until the end when those facts would be revealed. Then, he'd say the tagline, "And now you know...the rest of the story.

The only problem here is I don't know the rest of the story!

[debm55]

44. Thank you DaBronx. If you have the deceased person's name could you do a search for him? I would like to know the "rest

on the story"

[DaBronx]

45. I did some searching but there is nothing obvious.

[Nanuke]

51. My Brownie beanie and ankle socks...I am 67.

[debm55]

74. Thant is great. Thank you Nanuke.

[MiHale]

54. I keep a jar of curiosities and oddities by my garage desk...

It contains things I found that interested me. For example…a shed snake skin probably 18 inches long, weird looking rocks or stones, shells of various lake denizens, washed up wood pieces found at the bay that are polished over the years.

[debm55]

75. Than k you MiHale. That sounds very interesting.

[TlalocW]

56. Several shoeboxes of toilet paper tubes

I saw something online where those are popular things for teachers to buy on eBay - for arts and crafts. It's not going to be a side-hustle or anything since I'm going to sell them for cheap just to see if it's true. I keep adding to the collection and procrastinating on listing them.

[debm55]

62. As a teacher for 42 years , I can agree with you it was one of the things I collected and had my neighbors collecect.

for me. There are all kings of things you can do with them. I didn't know they sold of e bay.Thank you TIalocW

[duncang]

57. Dinosaur poop and fossilized animal holes. Plus..

The fossilized poop is easy. But the fossilized animal holes are made when an ancient hole gets filled in with a sediment and forms it.

A inert 75 millimeter WW1 cannon shell casing from a WW1 army camp. Found while metal detecting. The camp was closed down and almost everything buried or burned when the Spanish (which should have been called the Kansas flu) flu hit the camp. Along with several other odds and ends I’ve found.

[debm55]

58. Those are neat, Thank you duncang.

[arkielib]

59. Before replying I asked my husband what he thought was the strangest thing in our house.

He said "me."

I also have a shoe box of single socks. But I think the strangest thing is a bend wood rocker that hasn't had a seat since someone sat in it and broke it decades ago. It's still sitting upstairs waiting to be "fixed."

[debm55]

61. Don't we all something in our homes that one day will get fixed.

Last edited Tue Oct 29, 2024, 09:40 PM - Edit history (1)

[Solly Mack]

66. My death box.

Contains objects that once belonged to loved ones who have died.

Letters, photos, cards, glasses, wallets, even a pair of pajamas. All kinds of things.

[debm55]

76. Thank you Solly Mack . Very unique

[sakabatou]

70. Probably the moose-shaped hanukiah

[debm55]

77. Thank you

[pansypoo53219]

71. well, my skull collection isn't really strange. OOH i have mink faces from a estate sale. lady made fur teddy bears.

cat toys. i also got stoles to make catnip toys. i wear mismatched socks. ijust have 'different' collections. the very old bagel i had on my wall was weird til it broke in the wee hours.

[debm55]

78. thank you pansypoo53219

[ZoltarSpeaks]

72. I built this 600+lb working replica of the fortune teller from "Big"

It's not in my house anymore though. I built it from scratch in my basement shop around 2009 but couldn't find space for it upstairs. I put it on display in a friend's novelty/amusement store in downtown Minneapolis for a couple years and then sold it to a private collector.

I guess it's obvious now where my username came from.

[debm55]

79. That's neat and you are vert creative. Welcome to DU

[Doodley]

109. That looks amazing. What skill and creativity. How could you let it go?

[Emile]

73. Probably the treadmill with dust on it.

[debm55]

80. We must have the mate here,

[Zambero]

81. A very large hot pepper sauce collection

Still sealed, but well beyond any reasonable use-by date. Some appear to be fermenting and occasionally one starts frizzing and seeping out.

[debm55]

99. Thank you Zambero. should you throw them out?

[Zambero]

103. I plan to go through and toss most of them

...or, consider using them as an "organic weed killer" perhaps? And keep a few of the visually unique ones for display, in a location other than the kitchen.

[debm55]

107. That's a good idea. thank you Zambero.

[Kali]

83. oh, you probably don't want to know

[debm55]

88. HAHAHAHahH. okay.

[Elessar Zappa]

84. Early 20th century mining stuff from my great grandfather.

A lamp, pick axe, etc.

[debm55]

89. Thank you Elessar Zappa. Rich was a mining inspector for the Federal Governorment. We have a lot of that stuff here.too.

[Wicked Blue]

85. My gargoyle collection

[debm55]

90. That's neat. Thank you, Wicked Blue.

[Tree Lady]

86. A singing Cactus toy that

mimicks your voice in a cutesy voice and it moves as you do copies you.

I bought it for my hubby as a joke gift last year, he loves it, on his desk.

[debm55]

91. Thank you Tree Lady. That sounds fun.

[LudwigPastorius]

92. This thing:

It sits, on the wall in my studio, above the mixing console, in between the speakers.

I'm afraid I'm going to walk in there some day and there will be two of those things.

[debm55]

93. HAHAHAHAHAHhaha, thank you LudwigPastorius

[kairos12]

94. So that's where mine went.

[debm55]

100. HAHAHAHAHHAH. Thank you kairos12

[NNadir]

96. A small preserved shark and some animal skulls.

About 25 years ago, my brother, a strange dude if there ever was one, sent my then toddler son, some animal skulls and a preserved small shark in a jar.

It was his idea of a gift.

As it turns out, during his art education, my son did make drawings involving these objects. I believe he still has them.

I am estranged from my brother, and haven't heard from him over 20 years, by the way, but it has nothing to do with his gifts to my son.

My son found them interesting, and in fact, brought them into "show and tell" when he was in kindergarten, first or second grade.

[debm55]

101. I had the shark in the bottle given to me as a Christmas present from a student. I had it in the basement for years,

Don't have it anymore.

[Niagara]

97. I'm a few days late for this thread but I had to stop to think about

strange things that are in my house. Some of the things that I will mention may not be strange for others reading this.


There are 2 separate stereoscopes in the house along with the photo inserts.


There is 2 separate cats in their cremation wood boxes in my living room. One cat guards the one end table and the other cat guards the end table of the opposite side of the couch. This may not be strange for people that have lost their pets.


There's also a Victrola in my home. The thing is tall and does takes up some real estate inside the home.

[debm55]

102. Unique items Niagara. Thank you very much.

[Shermann]

104. I have a bag of socks with no mates

I don't find it to be strange, those make great clean-up rags that are tougher than those disposable shop towels.

I give all my white socks one last wash before they are retired, then in the bag they go.

[debm55]

106. Very good Shermann. thank you.

[Bayard]

105. Mr. Bayard

[debm55]

108. Hahahahahah, Is he cremated?

[greatauntoftriplets]

110. A Victorian undertaker's hat brush.

My paternal grandfather was an undertaker. At the time, it was protocol for undertakers to wear beaver top hats at funerals...thus the brush. The real prize would be the hat itself, but I have no idea what happened to that.

[debm55]

111. Thank you greatauntoftriplets ..Very unique.

[quaint]

112. Cold chest with blue ice for live mealworms in my guest room closet.

Keeping wild lizards and birds happy.

[debm55]

114. Very different .Thank you quaint

[Texasgal]

113. Not my house, but my Mom's.

My folks took a trip to the Holy Land in 1972 with my grandparents. My Dad was elated when he found a small bottle of Heinz Ketchup at some market there!

He brought it home, where my mother still has the bottle in the pantry. We laughed over this so much, you go to the Holy Land and all you brought back was a bottle of ketchup?

He just recently passed and this story was told at his funeral.

[debm55]

115. Texasgal , I am sorry about your dad. Was the writing in Arabic or Hebrew?

[Texasgal]

117. Nope! It was the actual Heinz

Black and white logo in a glass bottle with a metal white screw top!

Thank you for your kind words, he was a wonderful man that will be missed immeasurably.

[debm55]

118. Thank you Texasgal.

[Bev54]

116. You must not have young people in your house.

There is no such thing as no match socks anymore, my grandchildren wear no matched socks all the time (even when there is an actual match) apparently it is the thing to do now.

[debm55]

119. HAHAHAHAHAHH. That is funny. Thank you Bev54

[LiberalArkie]

120. A big box of sockets and socket wrenches and absolutely no 3/8" or 10mm socket at all

[debm55]

121. Thank you LiberalArkie. That's funny.

[Deep State Witch]

122. My Husband

And all of his old computer equipment.

[debm55]

123. HAHAHA Thank you Deep State Witch