There could be one advantage to getting older. Maybe you’ll forget embarrassing moments. Unfortunately, those are the ones you’re most likely to remember!

Here are 10 moments I would like to forget about 2017.

1. The clunking sound in a nearly new vehicle. You buy a new car because you don’t want maintenance problems, right? So only a few thousand miles in, you don’t expect to hear a clunking sound when you back up. We did! Bolts came loose. Fortunately, the dealer fixed it.

2. Hmmm. That cat is pregnant. I got cats to get rid of mice, not start a cat colony.

3. “Mr. Bechman, did you see the kittens?” One of the FFA members who keeps sheep at our place found kittens. Worst part is, they were from a different cat!

4. “Mr. Bechman, aren’t the kittens so cute?” No, they weren’t. Enough said.

5. The cat did what? One FFA student agreed to take a kitten. By then, we had them neutered. But when she went to put the kitten in her carrying box, it darted out. It’s still here. The student found a tamer cat elsewhere.

6. The cat did what? — Part 2. I caught that same little gray kitten a couple of months later. A local feed elevator wanted cats, and we had cats! She and four of her friends were in a dog kennel. When I went to load the kennel into my truck to deliver them, that gray kitten darted through a crack and was gone again! Worst part is another one followed her out. They’re both still here.

7. What do you mean they won’t fit? All my forgettable moments aren’t about cats. I ordered a pair of rails for a lamb shearing stand so the sheep would be less likely to get a foot off. It looked like the same stand we had to me. When the rails arrived, they didn’t come close to fitting. Fortunately, a friend with a welder solved my problem.

8. Don’t let me shop on the internet, period! We decided our oldest daughter need a fidget spinner for her birthday. It was the rage for long enough to sucker me in. Heck, we decided to buy her two. Stores were out, so I got on the internet and ordered. When I finished, I had this sinking feeling that maybe I had hit the order button twice. Sure enough, we wound up with four fidget spinners! Then we found out she told her sister she really didn’t want one! Anybody need a cheap Christmas gift?

9. My cellphone finally died. I drove all the way to the store on the other side of the county to get a new phone. I was sure it was dead. It’s an old iPhone 4 and it wouldn’t do anything. The guy at the store looked at it, pushed a few buttons, and it lit right up. It turns out a friend had sent several huge photos at once, and the old phone couldn’t handle it. The memorable part is I saved money. The forgettable part is that I wasn’t smart enough to solve the problem myself.

10. Egg judging — really? I judged gardening at a county fair, and somehow part of the open class assignment was judging eggs. All I know about eggs is that they’re good fried, scrambled or hard-boiled. Fortunately someone else volunteered to “coach” me. Otherwise, it might have been a real (egg) toss-up!