A small loss deeply felt; or how I lost my new kilt pin

**artificer** · 6th June 10, 02:07 PM

My wife, son and I decided to go up to the Port Washington Pirate Festival today. Of course I went kilted. Nothing to do with pirates, but it isn't a party if you have to wear pants

The weather was nice, 70*f, a bit of a breeze, grey clouds off in the distance- but nothing to worry about.

After enjoying the activities, some food and a wonderful stroll down the pier to see the sailing vessel, my little boy had to 'spend a penny'. The closest lav was a port-o-potty

I had to help him out of his pirate belt and waist pouch (which I made as a scaled down test for my first Rob Roy) which meant the two of us were jammed into the potty. As I was helping him back into his kit, I heard it. Clink, thunk...

I stopped. "What dropped" I wondered. I had my sporran on. My son had his gear. Then I noticed. My kilt pin was gone. I got him out of there and searched the area, nothing. Ground around outside, nothing. Under, nothing.

Finally, I had to accept that the worst had happened. My pin dropped in the potty. Officially gone.

As a tragedy, it's pretty low on the scale. Nobody was hurt. Life will go on, but I just got it this week and really liked it. It was only the second time I even got to wear it. Compared to the story of the kilt chopped with scissors by a child- tiny. Still, what a dismal turn to an otherwise wonderful day.

So, anyone have any funny stories about kit they've lost?

**cessna152towser** · 6th June 10, 02:25 PM

Sorry to hear this.
My kilt belt snapped this morning when I was putting it on. I didn't believe I was that strong, I guess the leather must have had a weakness. I did not think it was physically possible to snap a belt. However there was a punch hole in the leather where a metal stud attached to the buckle went through the leather to attach the leather to the buckle. The leather had ripped along its full distance from the punch hole to the inside end of the leather belt, which was only around a third of an inch, so the rip was lengthwise rather than across, but it did cause the leather belt to permanently detach from its buckle. Luckily I have three other kilt belts.

**Jordan** · 6th June 10, 02:29 PM

I saw my kilt pin fall off once fortunately it was as I hoped onto a bar stool after returning from a trip to the toilet and I was able to retrieve it before it was trampled. Not a funny story but its all I have

Jordan

**Santa Kona** · 6th June 10, 02:30 PM

What an undignified end to what I am sure was a fine kilt pin.

**Riverkilt** · 6th June 10, 03:00 PM

After having a standard sword and crest kilt pin come unpinned while riding in a car the kilt moved so the pin was sticking straight up and I almost lowered the palm of my hand onto it.

Luckily I caught the situation and was able to repin. Ever since then I've followed the advice of this board and run the pin through a bit of wide rubber band on the backside of the apron. The few times they come unpinned they at least are not going to slip away and be lost. Simple and effective.

Sad though.

**Nighthawk** · 6th June 10, 03:09 PM

I have a method similar to Ron's- I like to use a pencil eraser instead of a rubber band. It works perfectly! So having gotten not one, but two new kilt pins this week, I empathize. That sucks. I'm extremely picky about my kilt pins, so two this week is more than I usually average in a whole year.

**Michael Flemming** · 6th June 10, 03:17 PM

Could be worse..... I know someone who lost a wallet at a picnic that way. It was a "dry" outhouse, so he was able to recover it with a couple of long sticks and retrieve his driver's license, credit cards and cash. The wallet was then then ceremonially thrown back while the duty piper played "The Mucking of Geordie's Byre".

**Tiny** · 6th June 10, 04:02 PM

Originally Posted by Michael Flemming

Could be worse..... I know someone who lost a wallet at a picnic that way. It was a "dry" outhouse, so he was able to recover it with a couple of long sticks and retrieve his driver's license, credit cards and cash. The wallet was then then ceremonially thrown back while the duty piper played "The Mucking of Geordie's Byre".

I know of no better example of why you should always wash your hands after handling money ID's or credit cards.

**Jerry** · 6th June 10, 04:23 PM

We have a hand dug outhouse at my club's backwoods hunting cabin. One of our older members lost his hand held radio while "taking care of business" . The way the potty part is designed, there is a ledge inside, and the radio landed there instead of going down into the hole all of the way. He retrieved his radio and washed it off. The guy is hard of hearing and uses a hearing aid, so on occasion after that, he missed hearing a few things on the radio. Of course everyone said it was because he had a "crappy radio". I don't know if the ribbing he was getting was the reason, but a couple of weeks later in the season he showed up with a new radio.

**Whidbey78** · 6th June 10, 07:08 PM

About five years ago I was skipping rocks on a lake on Whidbey Island, WA and my wedding ring came off. I saw 2 trails of skipping objects and was beffudled for a couple of minutes until I figured out what happened. I think my ring skipped better than the rock!! It got at least 12 hops.

The only consolation was a divorce a few months later. My new wife kicks a$$, so I can't complain.

Wish I had the ring though. I could sell it and get another kilt.

Oh, and GO BLACKHAWKS!! (Had to get that in somewhere today.)