Organization is not my middle name. In fact, it's usually not even in my vocabulary. Combine my lack of organization with all the tiny technology gizmos in our lives today and I'm constantly compensating for lost gizmos.

Take cell phones for an example. Because of speed dial and preprogramming, many cell phone users don't know the numbers they are dialing. They simply push No. 4 and Joe Schmoe rings up on the other end of the line.

Lose that cell phone and Joe is suddenly out of reach.

I've been asked for someone's phone number and have to find the cell phone in order to retrieve the number. Just like e-mail addresses, I know I should make a copy of all those numbers, but I never seem to have a pen and paper -- and the phone -- all in one place at the same time.

Of course, this is assuming I can find my phone. While it would be wonderful if the phone was replaced in the same spot after every use, it's not. That's why they're called mobile phones. Rather, I just find a little sense of joy every time I reach for the cell phone and actually find it where it is supposed to be.

Living in a state of misplacement is not limited to cell phone. While cordless phones in a house can be a blessing, they can also instill doom when you can hear the phone ringing but can't find a handset anywhere.

My family has solved this problem by reverting to the old-fashioned technology. We have a "corded" phone in the kitchen. The phone can't wander off; it can't be laid down and forgotten in the basement; it can't lose it's battery charge in the middle of a call.

On the other hand, I can't hide out in the bathroom during a phone call when the kids are being loud.

When I'm not looking for home phones and cell phones, I spend my remaining time looking for car keys.

Recently, the keys to my van were "misplaced," which means they could be in a jean pocket, somewhere in the cow pen, dropped in the garbage can or in the bottomless-pit called the toy box.

Ordinary, I would have searched for the keys for a while, working with the obvious clue that the keys were somewhere on our property since the vehicle was there. Eventually, I would have given up, used a duplicate key and been on my merry way.

Unfortunately, I had one lone key to the van. (The others had succumbed to the aforementioned lost-look-give-up-merry-way-fate.) With that key lost, I was scrambling for a new key.

But these are not ordinary keys. Nowadays, auto manufacturers like to install security bits into our keys, making it tougher to steal your vehicle but also making it tougher to get duplicate keys.

Over the course of a week, I jumped through all the hoops to get new keys made, which is no small feat with security-encoded keys, and was happy to once again have a driveable vehicle.

The next day, I found my keys ... in the bathroom ... by the scale. Can you tell what other technology I try to avoid?

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What do cat lovers and football fans have in common? They are the only people to send me hate mail in the nearly 10 years I have been writing this column.

Nearly five years ago, I wrote about watching my dog shake to death a small cat, offending cat several lovers. They accused me of animal abuse for not stepping to stop the dog or trying to save the cat afterward.

Now, I have offended football fans by stating the obvious, that Nebraska's No. 1-ranked volleyball team should receive better media coverage.

Here's an idea: How about all the cat lovers meet up on the football field with the football fans and they can fight it out.

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The weather forecasts for Wednesday night mentioned frost advisories, but those warnings were all for north of North Platte.

That's a good hour away, so I figured we were safe. Those weather forecasters are never wrong.

Judging by my flattened garden, they were off by about 60 miles.

But not everyone lost their garden in the cold temperatures the other night.

Pockets around the area survived the frost, while other gardeners are done harvesting for the year.

Despite this randomness, I have yet to have anyone explain to me why some people lost their garden and others didn't.

Some people have said that gardens in the low-lying areas were protected, while others said that the low-lying areas were more susceptible.

I'm still not sure whether I'm in a low-lying or high-rising area, but my garden is done -- which is a little hard to accept with temperatures forecast in the 90s early next week. Or maybe that hot weather will just stay north of North Platte.

-- Ronda Graff continues to defy technology and swears she will never have a Web cam on her computer. She likes sitting around typing in her pajamas too much.