At the dairy, there are so many intricate parts that it’s easy to have this law entangle your life. What am I talking about? Surely you have read about this before. You have either read about this or experienced it firsthand. You may remember this law, which states that any object can become entangled with another object without any rhyme or reason.
The only exception is when you want an object to be entangled, such as you want the knotter on the baler to work properly and get the twine to attach itself to an actual bale, so they become one. Yet, somehow, they refuse to be as one despite your protestations. However, you can put the same spool of twine in the bed of the pickup, and instantly hammers, tools, 5-gallon buckets, dollops of manure, baby calves, etc. during the course of 24 hours become hopelessly entangled and what is now a rat’s nest. Keys are another source of unending wonder. How can keys get stuck together hopelessly while in your pocket or on your external key ring?
You know entanglement happens. It probably happened just last week, didn’t it? Let me give you an example from my life. It happens at the most unusual times. While stopping at a favorite lunchtime establishment, an almost impossible thing happened. My keys – including those for the house, barn, lawnmower, padlocks, etc. – fell down in the crack of the booth at the restaurant. Thirty minutes later, they were finally retrieved, after practically dismantling the booth. The law of entanglement.
Another common one is the wash hose in the milkhouse. This one could be the worst. Even when you think you’ve removed every bit of debris, you need 50 feet, and at 45 feet you snag it on that old bolt underneath the new bulk tank that you vowed you would grind down – as you are trying desperately to get everything ready for the afternoon milking. Or, that mysterious piece of concrete that materializes out of thin air. My favorite – how did that hose get an improbable knot? Of course, the other issue that arises is that the hose will now unkink, and the odds of you getting sprayed directly in the face increase exponentially, especially should friends be there to witness such face spraying! The universe has a sense of humor, does it not?
Another example regarding the law of entanglement deals with the ability of objects to get entangled when it should be physically impossible to get tangled up. Drive chains on the combine that have no earthly way of getting jammed like they do. And, you now have to remove three other chains just to get said tangled chain out of this ridiculous mess. The whole time you exclaim, “No way, no way” for three hours!
Yet another way this law comes into play is when you are rebuilding something on the tailgate of the pick-up truck. Then a bolt gets lost, and it’s such a special bolt, no one has one like it. You know the kind – “There’s only four of those in the country since 1965.” You ask yourself, “Why did I choose this spot, where the grass and the weeds is too high?” No fear, a month later you find it – at the tire repair shop where that flat tire on the F350 has yielded your lost bolt!
Quite similar to that is when objects put on shelves will fall off and crash onto my head or other small items falling and ending up in some other world, never to be seen again. What’s next? Of course, I get down on all fours with my eye about 1-1/2 inches from the floor, exclaiming, “That washer has got to be here somewhere – I just know it.” Then my wife walks in and asks, “What in the world are you doing?” I say something like, “I’m conducting a science experiment here,” and she turns away, shaking her head. The item? Seriously, where is it?
Into some void of space and time where objects are never seen again – some kind of fifth dimension, I tell you. Seriously gone. Forever. It didn’t bounce somewhere – or did it, because a year later you move that cabinet for some reason and lo and behold, your washer – which you were sure some transporter beam had sent to the 24th century – appears.
The law of entanglement. Next time relatives and friends drop by for some social engagement, discuss this law. I’m sure they will come up with more “You’ve got to be kidding me” examples of keys, twine, bolts, screwdrivers, etc. Things that could not have happened according to the laws of the known field of physics. The law of entanglement – where the universe keeps you humble and gives you a sense of humor at the same time.
