Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

A buddy of mine sent me an awesome gift that arrived yesterday. He’d pointed this vendor out to me a couple months ago and I remember saying that if he wanted to get me something for Festivus he could get me this. Sure enough, that’s what arrived in the mail yesterday. How does this thing differ from, say, the Gerber Strike Force or the Swedish Firesteel? Glad you asked, because since I have both of those products I’ll be doing a simple comparison of them later.

Then, today, as I’m minding my own business at the shop listening to Adam Sandler’s ‘Hanukah Song’ on YouTube (William Shatner? Really?), the FedEx truck shows up with box from Amazon. What could it be, I wonder. Why, it’s a spare parts kit for the Hi-Lift jack. That’s two goodies for that wonderful piece of gear that have shown up this week. I’m a big fan of having spare parts for equipment and this little packet o’ parts will fit perfectly into the recovery kit that I’m putting together. The very thoughtful sentiment sent with it said, among other things, “…I hope you never need this, but now you have it if needed.” Wow, isn’t that pretty much the sentiment behind everything we do in the name of being prepared? Hope we don’t need it, but if we do………… So, thank you, sir. I appreciate the gift and I really appreciate the sentiment. Merry Christmas to you as well.