Backpacks redux (a.k.a. "Busted!")

So, I'm at work and I get a call a few minutes ago from the wife (i.e., SWMBO) that goes something like this:

ME: [seeing the callerID on my mobile phone] "Hi, honey."

SHE: "Why the hell do you have so many backpacks!?!?"

ME: [long pause]

SHE: "Are you there?"

ME: [hopefully] "Um...'cause I have a lot of crap to carry?"


BACKSTORY: Two weeks ago, my daughter managed to clog the upstairs toilet and it ended up running all night long. The subsequent flood came down through the dining room ceiling (directly below the U/S bath), down through the dining room floor, throught the basement ceiling and into the finished basement carpeting. Ugh.

Everything got dried out last week (long story in and of itself) and now we're clearing out stuff to do the restoration work: insulation, new drywall, new flooring. As part of moving stuff around, the missus evidently came upon the B.P.O.P. (Big Pile Of Packs) that I had tucked away in a corner. Not hidden, per se, but not blatantly splayed about in plain sight...




So the question for the group is: has your spouse/significant other/POSSLQ ever busted you on your gearwhoredom and/or cost thereof? Has he or she come storming into the room waving the credit card bill accusatorily, or does everybody go to REI armed with a stack of Jacksons...?

Discuss...

This is funny! I occassionally hear stuff from my wife when there is something I tell her she can't buy/doesn't need, etc. I feel that I do not have all that much stuff and compared to some of you, I don't. But, she does like to remind me of the fact that I have all kinds of camping/hiking equipment and I told her that this was a cheap hobby.....yeah right!

I've found over 34 years of marriage there are three strategies to keeping peace in the valley.

First, "yes dear" is the easiest answer to SWMBO.

Second, agree to get used to one another's idiosyncracies, which I think is a nice contraction of idiots 'n crazies.

Third, when you buy youself something, buy her something, too. For example, you buy a new backpack, buy her a hiking guide to somewhere she hasn't hiked before. I bought a new kayak, bought her a new car.

Peace in the valley.

... if this doesn't work, try explaining all the different possible kinds of hikes, conditions etc. that you must adequately and safely prepare for ... explain all the permutations ... as soon as you get permutations in the same discussion as outdoor gear or activities, she'll change the subject.

Yep, I have had the same conversation.

ME: I just saw a backpack I might buy.

HER: Don't you have a backpack.

ME: Actually I think I have two. One for winter camping and one for summer camping. This is a hiking backpack, not a camping backpack.

Yep, a bald face lie. And my wife isn't stupid. She knows. Last count I think I have around 10-15 backpacks/buttpacks of various types. Hell I never counted them but even I am surprised when I collect them in a pile.

I keep collecting them and I keep using them but they all seem to fit a specific niche so I can't ever get rid of any of them.


Keith

Have separate bank accounts.

Also helps to have a spouse with his/her own mad obsession involving strange and difficult-to-justify purchases. It's hard to pick on me for another back pack when he's got 5 guitars, one bass, three amps, multiple effects pedals and is frequently ordering vacuum tubes, resistor and capacitors to modify the amps. Which he does in the middle of the living room. Opposite from the drum set. Plus his own internet site that looks just like this one but is dedicated to modifying guitar/amp electronics.

Hard for him to get worked up about some hiking gear in a closet when the living room looks like a guitar store due to his hobby. Hobbies make life less boring...we should embrace and encourage each other's hobbies! (as long as they aren't bankrupting the family)

ME: [hopefully] "Um...'cause I have a lot of crap to carry?"

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Good come back!

It goes the other way for me. We're in a store, and my wife sees a packpack (or some other piece of gear).

"That's nice, you should get it."

"I don't need it. The one I have is 'good enough'"

"It's old. Throw it out and get a new one."

"No. I don't want to waste something that is still functional."

Toe Cozy said:

Also helps to have a spouse with his/her own mad obsession involving strange and difficult-to-justify purchases. It's hard to pick on me for another back pack when he's got 5 guitars, one bass, three amps, multiple effects pedals and is frequently ordering vacuum tubes, resistor and capacitors to modify the amps. Which he does in the middle of the living room. Opposite from the drum set.

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I hear what yer sayin'...but in this particular case that argument is hard to make since, in addition to the six or so aforementioned backpacks...AND mucho other hiking gear...AND rock climbing gear...AND ice climbing gear...I *also* have three guitars, two basses, two amps, several stomp boxes and, soon, my own little music space in the basement. (Woo-hoo!)

To my credit, I don't hot-rod my amps, so I'm not ordering toobs and resistors...though I do love the smell of solder in the morning.

But my drum set lives at my friend Al's house...

Toe Cozy said:

Plus his own internet site that looks just like this one but is dedicated to modifying guitar/amp electronics.

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Would that be The Lab, Gearslutz or some other?

Toe Cozy said:

Have separate bank accounts.

Also helps to have a spouse with his/her own mad obsession involving strange and difficult-to-justify purchases.

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Bingo on both counts.

My wife says nothing about my backpacking gear since she has at least 10x what I have in her cycling gear.

J.Dub said:

soon, my own little music space in the basement. (Woo-hoo!)

To my credit, I don't hot-rod my amps, so I'm not ordering toobs and resistors...though I do love the smell of solder in the morning.

But my drum set lives at my friend Al's house...

Would that be The Lab, Gearslutz or some other?

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Sounds like maybe it's for you to start an amp hot-rod hobby, eh? What with a whole basement space just for you! Just a matter of time....

I know he's been "hanging out" at the Boogie Board. Can't remember the name of the other one....we just refer to each other's preferred web forums as "crazy boards"...his amp crazy boards...my hiking crazy board...

This has nothing to do with hiking. Sorry. Back on hiking topic!

J.Dub said:

Not hidden, per se, but not blatantly splayed about in plain sight...

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Yea, right !

My strategy has been a rolling 17 year upgrade, so the overall amount of stuff hasn't really changed that much. Plus the family does car and boat camping, so there's a certain overlap (not much, but...) there and I have 2 boys and they have friends and they "might" need some gear too...

Or, blame it on the kids. We have four boys so between us we have some where in the neighborhood of 25 different packs. Everyone started with an external frame then moved into a good internal, then there are day packs and canoe packs and dry bags, the possibilities are endless. So when a new one comes in I claim it is for one of the boys. And don’t get her started on sleeping bags and tents. In truth she is very supportive and even has a pack or two of her own now.

ok, first thing: SWMBO? (she who may be online?) That is a new one for me...

I used to get a lot of grief from my sisters in law about my house. It drove them crazy that I decorated with an 'Early American Yard Sale' theme and didn't have matching towels/curtains/sheets or whatever it is that is supposed to match in a happy home.

Whenever this started up, which was whenever they would visit, I would simply say 'yeah, I don't spend a lot of $$ on the house stuff, but I have really nice camping gear, which is where I prefer to spend my time!'. I would get a lot of blank stares from the 'wasbands' family...

It is pretty hard to be a recovering gearaholic when you have worked in the outdoor gear and clothing industry for 25 years... Sure, I usually maintain a closet with about 150 pullovers, coats, jackets and so on. But in my defense this is a revolving wardrobe, and I donate lots of them every year. The vast majority are prototypes or samples, so they are not exactly perfect. And sometimes the colors are a little, well, unusual. But I can say it is all part of my job!

My boss is now really encouraging me to take up rockclimbing, which will involve a whole new wardrobe and footwear. Oh, yeah, footwear.

I own one pair of heels, which I have worn all of one time, to a rock climbing fundraiser of all things, but have over 25 pair of hiking/climbing/trail running boots and shoes. They all get worn for their specific jobs.

Geneva just got her first backpack, but I still have 3 or 4 that I made for my Husky, just can't seem to part with them... So even my dogs have more packs than some people!

Hum, maybe I really do have a gear problem...

chinooktrail said:

ok, first thing: SWMBO? (she who may be online?) That is a new one for me...

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SWMBO (URL only gets me a "message too short" complaint).

chinooktrail said:

ok, first thing: SWMBO? (she who may be online?) That is a new one for me...

...

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Apparently it's 'She Who Must Be Obeyed', but "she who may be online" is a great guess and could be an equal, or greater concern, since we're fessing up here.

A story along the lines of 'She Who Must Be Obeyed' and "she who may be online": A year after we got married we bought a house and eventually got preggers. We were getting ready for the baby, or maybe had just brought him home, anyway, me and my father were upstairs finishing the baby's room, assembling crib and furniture and such (which naturally my wife wanted arranged in a certain way). My father made the point that it made more sense to do things a bit differently, which I agreed with and responded "I know it makes no sense, it's ridiculous, but she'll just make me rearrange it later." Right after which we heard from my wife downstairs "I HEARD THAT ! The Baby Monitor is ON !!!"

Got rid of the spouse - won't take on an SO who isn't ok with my "gearwhoredom"

Chip said:

Apparently it's 'She Who Must Be Obeyed', but "she who may be online" is a great guess and could be an equal, or greater concern, since we're fessing up here.

A story along the lines of 'She Who Must Be Obeyed' and "she who may be online": A year after we got married we bought a house and eventually got preggers. We were getting ready for the baby, or maybe had just brought him home, anyway, me and my father were upstairs finishing the baby's room, assembling crib and furniture and such (which naturally my wife wanted arranged in a certain way). My father made the point that it made more sense to do things a bit differently, which I agreed with and responded "I know it makes no sense, it's ridiculous, but she'll just make me rearrange it later." Right after which we heard from my wife downstairs "I HEARD THAT ! The Baby Monitor is ON !!!"

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D'OH!

I haven't had any problems, but a friend once had to explain about his $200 pair of pants from Wild Things.

Pete_Hickey said:

"It's old. Throw it out and get a new one."

"No. I don't want to waste something that is still functional."

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So I tell my wife, "You're old, should I replace you with a new on?"

Actually I have some raggedly stuff but it's comfortable. My wife generally ask me how long I going to leave my crap sitting around. After some time she puts someplace and I go crazy looking for it because it's not where I left it last.

I love her very much,

I travel for work, quite a bit! As it turns out - the times I order stuff on line (usually the weeks I'm home) it all shows up at the house during the weeks I'm away - so yes, I get the same phone calls "What did you order this time?"

Boots are my main issue & then packs. (i've compared notes with some others here too, including one moderator)

One solution, I keep a couple packs & pairs of boots in my car so I'm always ready to go if a trip takes me near a trail. (just swap them out when summer hiking turns to winter hiking)

Don't ask what my wife thinks of the car smell, she won't ride in it, but that's not a bad thing & other hikers don't notice or they are too happy for the ride.

My wife is a sneaker collector, amongst other things that clutter the house, as a PE teacher she has sneakers to match the stripes on her pants. If I get any flack, I mention her sneakers & other things & we opt to take care of our own things.

In hindsight, after spending every dime I made + a bunch more in the 3+ years I worked for the local outdoor retailer, a few purchases a year is a modest pace of buying. (I still have some socks, shirts & maybe a pair of shorts with the tag on them from 1998 or 1999 + a knife & a few other things that have not seen a trailhead in 10+ years)