Hi all --

Been busy so I haven't posted in a while, but I wanted to share an experience I had the other day.

I was outside painting winter landscapes during a balmy, 28F afternoon with some friends (it's sort of a polar bear club for creative people -- one can only stay cooped up in the studio for so long!) and after a couple of hours of standing at our easels, one painter complained of cold feet.

Thinking to be helpful, I got out a couple of chemical handwarmers from my personal kit to put in their snow boots...only to find that the warmers didn't work, despite the expiration date being 2014. At first I thought they were just slow to warm up, but no. They were absolutely dead. Kaput.

Fortunately, we were not far from the car and they were able to warm up...but I kept thinking to myself, how many times have I thought I could rely on those handwarmers in an emergency situation?

Moral of the story: Chemical handwarmers are NOT a failsafe item for your winter kit. If you do choose to have them, buy new ones every season, have back-ups, and check them regularly! If they are soft, they are likely still good. If stiff and gritty, forget it. They can go "off" despite their expiration date.



Off to get a hot cup of coffee,

Meadowlark

for your perusal

http://willowhavenoutdoor.com/featured-w...-survival-uses/

Hopefully I'm wrong but it doesn't sound great for this missing family. The couple and four little kids have been missing for 24 hours now, and the temps reportedly have been down under -20 F. No mention of what supplies they were carrying or how they were dressed. If they stayed with their Jeep and had warm clothing this will might just be a story to they tell about a close call. Hopefully they were prepared for an overnight stay.

Usually I have to settle for getting something novel and useless from my family, as they are not inclined to proffer anything in a gendre I could use, despite the many years I've confided my expertise to them. So I've accumulated ties, cheap hand tools, throw away flashlights, and bottle openers.

This year my wife suggested I get on her account at Amazon and stuff her cart with items I would like. Then she can pick the things she wants to get for me, without having to vet them first. I reciprocated the idea, and suggested she share the notion with our children.

I have been informed that everything I put in her cart has been ordered.

I've never been one for surprises. So knowing what I am getting for Christmas, especially since I also know now it will things I actually desire, is a pleasant, if not wholly materialistic, experience.

Life has just become one order of magnitude easier.

While cleaning out my vintage minivan, I ran across some Clif bars which I had stored under the front sat and opened one. It was noticeably drier than normal, obviously losing moisture due to the frequent high daily temperatures in the interior. As the deterioration of the trim of this vehicle will attest, it was typically parked in the open, exposed to the blazing SoCal sun. The bar was edible, but I would have preferred a nice cup of tea in which I could have dunked the bar to restore moisture. The bar had a sell by date of June, 2002. Had it been stored in better conditions, I doubt it would have been noticeably altered at all.

Any other experiences with archaeological Clif Bars?