# Where have all my extension cords gone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 23, 2017, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116 "2017-12-23T04:52:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/1 "2017-12-23T04:52:56Z")
Arctic cold front coming in tonight, so I went hunting for an extension cord to plug the car in overnight. Can’t find any of my heavy duty, Canadian Tire outdoor-winter-certified cords. It’s almost as if they’ve all been ripped apart, their prongs mangled, and lost on the street. Oh wait, I think that’s what happened last winter … 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/2 "2017-12-23T05:53:31Z")
I got mine out earlier this week. The car is plugged in, and ready to go. Looks like we’re in for some cold over the next week or so, so best to keep it plugged in. Now, I just have to remember to unplug it the next time I go somewhere. I’ve forgotten before. :o ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/3 "2017-12-23T06:05:10Z")
I like the new cords with the little LEDs in the plug-in part. If I’m going to work before the sun is up, the little red light reminds me. I’m also trying to get in the habit of walking across the front of the Pipermobile, instead of the back, in hopes I trip over the cord and remember to unplug it. ---
**Author:** ![Sveltington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ab097/32.png) [@Sveltington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sveltington)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/4 "2017-12-23T15:16:21Z")
They are with the flowers and the girls? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/5 "2017-12-23T18:45:30Z")
Better than going off to war, I guess. I had to cannibalise the cord for the blow-up Snoopy on the lawn to keep the car warm. Off to Canadian Tire to fight the crowds. Extension cords are a hot stocking-stuffer up here! ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/6 "2017-12-23T19:41:06Z")
You and extension cords just don’t get along, do you? We need to wire up some contraption that will sound a klaxon in your car if you start the engine with the block heater powered up. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2017, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/7 "2017-12-24T02:22:37Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Can’t find any of my heavy duty, Canadian Tire outdoor-winter-certified cords. Do you keep them coiled up with the two ends plugged into each other so they won’t uncoil? You shouldn’t do that. They tend to consume themselves when you do that. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2017, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/8 "2017-12-24T04:10:43Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Better than going off to war, I guess. > > I had to cannibalise the cord for the **blow-up** Snoopy on the lawn to keep the car warm. > > Off to Canadian Tire to fight the crowds. Extension cords are a hot stocking-stuffer up here! “inflatable” :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2017, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/9 "2017-12-24T06:07:05Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I had to cannibalise the cord for the blow-up Snoopy on the lawn… Snoopy? None of him in my neighbourhood, though we do have more inflatable Minions than ever appeared in the movies. I do like the house on the corner that has an inflatable Santa on a motorcycle though. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/10 "2017-12-24T14:23:07Z")
I haven’t seen a single inflatable Xmas figure anywhere in the area this year. Either somebody has been stealing a lot of people’s extension cords or this is hope for this country yet. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2017, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/11 "2017-12-24T14:44:03Z")
inflatables everywhere, here. it’s nice nobody has the same ones. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2017, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/12 "2017-12-24T19:42:21Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > “inflatable” :mad: Not the way \*\*Northern Piper \*\*does it. **KaBOOOM!!!** 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/13 "2017-12-24T20:16:13Z")
That Snoopy? It’s really a mined decoy. Just wait till the Red Baron closes in … ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2017, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/14 "2017-12-24T20:25:18Z")
My theory is that extension cords, when left unsupervised, spontaneously break down into multiple USB cables. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2017, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/15 "2017-12-24T20:28:53Z")
Y’know where you are likely to see whole bunches of Snoopies and Charlie Browns, inflatable or otherwise, all over the place, all year round? Santa Rosa and surrounding communities (Rohnert Park, Cotati, and especially Sebastopol) in Sonoma County, CA. Charles Schulz, of Peanuts fame, lived and worked in Sebastopol for some substantial portion of his life, so there are Peanuts statues and other symbols all over the place, not to mention the Peanuts museum and ice skating rink there. [Even the local airport is named after him.](https://sonomacountyairport.org/) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2017, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/16 "2017-12-24T20:29:04Z")
Snoopy and Woodstock: [https://lowes.com/pd/Peanuts-5-64-ft-x-12-01-ft-Animatronic-Lighted-Snoopy-Christmas-Inflatable/1000296429](https://lowes.com/pd/Peanuts-5-64-ft-x-12-01-ft-Animatronic-Lighted-Snoopy-Christmas-Inflatable/1000296429) The drawback with Snoopy is that the wings actually have a bit of lift if there’s a wind (which of course we never get in Saskatchewan in the winter), so he and Woodstock have a tendency to take off. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2017, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/17 "2017-12-24T21:50:53Z")
I used to live in a McMansion enclave that somehow got competitive about Xmas decs. The big houses had cavernous basements, so storage space was no obstacle. Everybody had large lots with large lawns. That needed to be filled to capacity with cheerful glowing whatever kitschy stuff they could find. It got pretty outta hand before the fad passed a few years later. This was back near the beginning of the wireframe-plus-white-lights decorations era. So there were lots of wireframe Santas, trees, mangers, wise men, crosses, donkeys, etc. And lots and lots of reindeer. Some standing, some crouched down, some grazing, and some with moving parts. So one night after a bit too much xmas cheer a bunch of us guys went out and rearranged the neighborhood deer, etc., into a rather impressive interspecies orgy. The wimmin were not amused. Fortunately this was before home video surveillance equipment became commonplace. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2017, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/18 "2017-12-24T23:49:21Z")
Well, yesterday I got a timer and new cord from Canadian Tire; plugged the timer in tonight. Discovered I had to remove a broken off ground bit that was still in the outlet; now how did that get there? :smack: At any rate, all plugged in, with an environmentally friendly timer working. Good timing; it’s 24 below here, with blowing snow. It’s so cold that the motors on the [del]blow-ups[/del] inflatables aren’t working very well. Kevin the Minion took a long time to stand up, and Snoopy’s propeller isn’t turning very well. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2017, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/19 "2017-12-25T00:16:44Z")
It’s also so cold that the props on the hatch gate of my CRV don’t hold the gate up. Bopped me on the head just now. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2017, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/20 "2017-12-25T00:46:12Z")
I feel I am missing some pertinent information here about why you are plugging things into your car. I assume you are not talking about a Nissan Leaf. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116.md?page=2)