It doesn't take Alzheimer, or old age, to have such episodes. At this day and age, mental exhaustion is all too common. We now live at a very fast pace at work and in our social lives, frequently going "105% on the reactor".

I remember two funny episodes with my mother, years before she retired.

a) She was trying hard to push the laundry into the washing machine, but it just wouldn't go in.
She finally realised she was trying to shove the laundry in the fridge.:ping:

b) She had an old fashioned gas powered water heater, one you'd need to use a burning match to start the pilot flame.
Her friends had come over and they were chatting away in the kitchen, sipping tea. She then decided to do the dishes they'd used. The procedure is you light up a match, set the pilot flame aburn, and open the hot water tap.
Her mind just took a shortcut: lit up a match, and tried to set the "pilot water" aburn.
For a second she was lost as to why the match had gone out.:06:

Not the same thing, but I thought I'd share this as well.
My maternal grandfather was born in 1916, and he was never akin to evolution. (RIP)
In my youth I had this then "modern" looking telephone in my room, with push buttons, as opposed to the old fashioned rotary dial we had in the living room. And this "modern" phone was red, slim and rectangular (odd thing indeed, how ridiculous, God forbid).
A call came in, I answered it. It was for him. He then decided my phone was the closest one.
When he came into my room, he spent a moment staring at two odd looking objects sitting on my desk.
He finally picked up my grey Phillishave: "Hello?":rock:

Anyone watch that show "Brain Games"? I do not usually but I saw a section of an episode the other day.In it they where explaining how your brain functions to focus on the primary task.

In other words lets say that you normally when you get home you set your keys in certain location.After you do this a few times it becomes automatic more or less.

The problem arises when another activity occurs say talking to your wife or you dog or something.When you are doing that activity your brain is focused on it and not the other task.As a result you wind up forgetting what you did with your keys maybe you keep them in your hand and set them in another place like you pocket while you are paying attention to your dog.Then when you go for your keys they are not on the table where you usually set them because you put them in your pocket but did not realize it.

Myself anyway when I forget something it is usually a case of my usual routine getting interrupted.