I had some small joys in the past two days, which I will share here, for the lack of a better venue.
First, the missus and I were tweaking a landscaping job she had done while I was recovering from surgery earlier this summer. I used the WWI/interwar pick-mattock I had gotten for free at a yard sale to dig a 2" wide trench along a walkway, then we inserted 9-1/2" square scraps of 5/8" plywood I had left from an earlier project. (9-1/2" squares nest vertically in milk crates without interfering with the bottom of the milk crate stacked on top.)
I was then inspired to trim some ivy, and could not find my manual Craftsman hedge shears (I recycled my dead B&D and Sunbeam electric trimmers in a midwinter purge). But I did find a crusty 9" shears from a garage sale two years ago ($1, if I recollect rightly). I used them, then thought I'd clean and derust them. Lo and behold, as I'm scraping the crud off the left blade, I see "Keystone \ made by Disston USA" emerge. I have been hoping to get a pair of these to go with my 50+ handsaw collection and Disston pruners - and I had them all along! The wood handles had the remains of black paint (or japanning) with yellow at the tips, but I elected to remove what was left and rub them down with BLO.
Finally, my college-age daughter came home to visit, and brought her 9-week-old labrador. She revealed a lack of a flashlight for nighttime walks (egad! Walking at night in Philly without a flashlight?), so I gave her my favorite, a 2AA LED Mini Maglite, after an exhaustive search turned up a dead LED Eddie Bauer (leaking battery seems to have corroded the innards), two dead keychain LEDs, and my old Xenon Mini Maglite with a dead bulb. After she left this morning (with my flashlight), I went online and discovered two things I had forgotten: Home Depot (and I assume most other retailers - HD just happens to be the closest to me) stocks an LED upgrade kit for $8, and there is a replacement Xenon bulb in the tailcap of my flashlight.
In the process of replacing the bulb without a trip to the Depot, I also discovered why there is a black plastic part that says "do not remove" - though I did not notice this warning until I had already dropped the housing and the metal contact for the bulb had ejected to parts unknown. For a moment, I revelled in the knowledge that my HD has 9 replacement kits in stock, and that now I had an unequivical reason to upgrade to LED. But then I noticed the metal contact next to my foot.
A few false starts, and I had it reassembled, bulb replaced, and operational. Even the existing batteries worked. Oh well. I'll use it as is for a while. But I still want the upgrade - in addition to the brighter light and slower drain on the batteries, it has a pushbutton. Single-handed on/off: a true upgrade!
So where's the garage sale connection for the flashlight, you ask? It's all well and good to fall in love with your flashlight all over again, but maybe it should be posted on the HD deals thread? Aha! The nylon belt sheath that it goes in was a freebie at another garage sale, after I lost the original one in the woods...yes, you do have to be holding the flashlight and take your belt off in order for that to happen. I think I'll leave it at that.
Great set Riley! 
and who knows how many other goodies...
