Collateral damage?

Damage to equiptment and media by children, pets etc. Yesterday I came home and found one of my nice lttle wireless speakers on the floor, with the front control panel punched in. I had it sitting on an entertainment stand that had the speakers on the middle shelves and a cat bed with a window seat on the top shelf. It's not only a window view, but also is near a heating vent so the cats fight over it and they knocked the speaker down in the process. It still works, but I have to adjust the input using a vise-grip now, the knob is broken.
I also had a rabbit that chewed records sleeves, cardboard digi-paks, and headphone wires all the time.
Also once my ex-wife was throwing the dog's ball in the house, and the dog got too much momentum going and punched his nose through a woofer (no pun intended).
I'm wise enough to take the covers off my floor speakers (obvious scratching posts); but I could have avoided some of these mishaps otherwise. Now I put my little speakers on the bottom shelf so at least if they get knocked over again they won't have far to fall.

My kids (toddlers) are systematically destroying everything in their path. They're like 2 little hurricanes. And anything they aren't trying to break, they are giving it a nice sticky coating of cookie, juice and spittle. Someday I'll look back on this time and laugh. Someday.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

My kids (toddlers) are systematically destroying everything in their path. They're like 2 little hurricanes. And anything they aren't trying to break, they are giving it a nice sticky coating of cookie, juice and spittle. Someday I'll look back on this time and laugh. Someday.

Sounds like they're in the same phase as my youngest. He'll be 2 in July and has started the "terrible two's" a bit early. We call him "Mr. Grabby Fingers" because he just tears around the house, grabbing anything and everything that's within reach, whether it belongs to him or not. He's spilled drinks, broken stuff, ripped up important papers, thrown things in the garbage that weren't supposed to go in the garbage, etc, etc.

Thankfully my CDs are still safe for the moment because they're in a cabinet with doors on it and he's not tall enough to reach the door handles ... yet.

Fat Freddy wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

My kids (toddlers) are systematically destroying everything in their path. They're like 2 little hurricanes. And anything they aren't trying to break, they are giving it a nice sticky coating of cookie, juice and spittle. Someday I'll look back on this time and laugh. Someday.

Sounds like they're in the same phase as my youngest. He'll be 2 in July and has started the "terrible two's" a bit early. We call him "Mr. Grabby Fingers" because he just tears around the house, grabbing anything and everything that's within reach, whether it belongs to him or not. He's spilled drinks, broken stuff, ripped up important papers, thrown things in the garbage that weren't supposed to go in the garbage, etc, etc.

Thankfully my CDs are still safe for the moment because they're in a cabinet with doors on it and he's not tall enough to reach the door handles ... yet.

The cd collection is in the basement and the kids don't go down there yet. So that stuff is safe for awhile. And yea, the boy is putting everything in the trash or the diaper pail. The girl chews through paper faster than my shredder.

It's always easy to tell if someone has kids or not...if you walk into their house and everything they own is 6 feet off the ground...they've got kids.

I had to move my CD shelves to the hallway and upstairs due to my 21 month old boys taking them off the shelf etc, also had to move magazines, newspapers, any other objects that these destructive boys can get their hands on. Unfortuntley my vinyl albums have not been moved and everyday I find a Raven or Ramones album on the floor with the corners chewed and covered with sticky crap on the front cover, oh well maybe one day I will look back and laugh.

I have my collection and electronics boobytrapped. Access is only gained through retinal scans and fingerprint traces. Otherwise....KA BOOM! I once forgot I had a band-aid on and blew off three of my fingers.

SAXON1500 wrote:

I have my collection and electronics boobytrapped. Access is only gained through retinal scans and fingerprint traces. Otherwise....KA BOOM! I once forgot I had a band-aid on and blew off three of my fingers.

He forgot to mention the sperm sample dispenser that unlocks his box sets....

Over the summer, I bought a new living rooms set that included (stupidly) a lamp made of blown glass. One month later, Tux knocked the lamp over and shattered it. $250 down the drain.

I recently upgraded my homeowners insurance to cover "mishaps" because I'm going to get a flat panel TV. My agent said if it falls off the wall or I knock it off, I'm covered. If one of the cats does it, I'm supposed to say I did it.

SAXON1500 wrote:

I have my collection and electronics boobytrapped. Access is only gained through retinal scans and fingerprint traces. Otherwise....KA BOOM! I once forgot I had a band-aid on and blew off three of my fingers.

Sounds like this bit from "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"


"But Mr Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months."

"Oh yes, well as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn't exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them, had you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything."

"But the plans were on display ..."

"On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them."

"That's the display department."

"With a flashlight."

"Ah, well the lights had probably gone."

"So had the stairs."

"But look, you found the notice didn't you?"

"Yes," said Arthur, "yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'."