In hindsight, a picture would probably be instructive but didn’t think to take one. Too wet to do anything much outside this weekend. Only thing involving the tractor was as I was walking through the muddy path to our walkout basement I saw a shiny fine thread nut, about 7/8” or so, smashed into the mud. The only suspects were the Tundra, zero turn, Kubota, and WC-68 chipper. It was kind of thin so suspected it was a jam nut and too shiny for the Tundra or zero turn to be strong suspects so wife and I went down to the heated shop to inspect the tractor and chipper. Approximately 2 minutes into the inspection, by some minor miracle, saw the grille guard hinge bolt on the right side had a nut and jam nut. Left side had a nut but no jam nut. The mystery nut matched the jam nut on the right side and threaded on the left side perfectly. Reinstalled and on to the next chore.
Wife said, “So you can look at a machine with about 500 nuts on it and immediately see where one is missing but you can’t find the potato chips in the pantry in the same spot they’ve been the past 30 years?” My response, “Yep, that pretty much sums it up accurately.”