Useful stuff

Sometimes people send me stuff that at first I don’t think has much utility – and then later I wonder how I ever got along without it. I’m thinking of a high-tech flashlight somebody sent me going on two years ago, which I initially mocked, and which now never leaves my belt. Even with all the flashy modes that never ever get used, it’s still a huge improvement on every other one of my several flashlights.

One gift that I didn’t mock is this gadget here…

…which in over three years has faithfully helped me through driving in the boonies with paper-thin tires. And even now that the Jeep has new tires, I’ve still used it twice in the past week: Once on that little tractor, and this morning on Landlady’s handtruck. If that little inflater ever goes south on me I’ll need to replace it immediately.

But here’s a previously-mocked item that just rubbed my nose in its usefulness this morning…

“Stormproof” matches – I really didn’t think I’d ever get any use from these, but I threw them in the Jeep anyway because why not? Backups are good. I carry a Bic lighter with me all the time even though I quit smoking years ago, because you never know when you’ll want to set something on fire. This morning I had a real need to do just that, but the weather’s all unsettled and windy and the Bic wouldn’t stay lit. So I hauled that little waterproof container out of the Jeep’s center console, struck a match, lit my fire, and then couldn’t shake out the match no matter how I tried. It was hilarious – these things are dipped in white phosphorus or something else so lethally flammable that, once lit, will go out when it burns out and not before. Stormproof? Hell, these matches can’t not set things on fire. As with the flashlight and the inflater, they join the list of things I’ll have to promptly go out and replace if they run out or break, because even though they may not get used every day they each do one useful thing extremely well.