Light in January.

I'm a morning guy, and my dog is a morning dog, and as I noted a couple of weeks ago, at this time of year that means darkness. Which is not great. Cars don't see us, teenagers sneak up on us, animals are out there and while Izzy may smell them, I can't see them. 

Well, my wife got me this. 

I seldom do product plugs on the page, except maybe for some foods that aren't good for me, but I will plug this. (It's electrical, get it? har) It's a rechargeable headband that has a flashlight on the temple and a glow band for general luminosity on the front (that yellow strip). And when I say it glows, I mean it glows like Rudolph. 

When we're out where there are no streetlights and no sidewalk, at the time of year when the sun doesn't rise until past seven and the sky is usually plastered with cloud cover anyway, it's nice to be able to press a button on the headband and get this aura to illuminate the darkness. It lights up everything within about 30-40 feet, I'd guess, and certainly warns any cars that we're out there far better than just reflecting tape or the like would do. A second press of the button sets the glow strip on a less-bright / less battery-sucking level. I've yet to run out of juice on one of our walks, though, maybe because the sun eventually does come up. 

What really interested me from a personal-history standpoint was the flashlight on the side. 

Why? Because like most red-blooded American boys, my entire function in life appeared to have been to hold the flashlight in the wrong spot and annoy my father. Car trouble, insulation work, electrical wiring, plumbing -- anytime there was a job that required working in a dark spot, you can be sure I would be there holding the light for hours. My attention would wander and so would the light, and I'd get rebuked. In my misty water-colored memory, this seems to have taken up approximately 37% of my childhood. 

Well, don't I wish my dad were still with us so that he could see this miracle! A mere headband, so much more compact than a miner's helmet but with the same power of light! Dad could have worked in peace and gotten things done faster, and I could have been doing something more fun, like homework or going to the dentist. I won't say Dad didn't try, with products like the Snake Light giving some relief, but even they had to be moved around as he worked and there was never a perfect spot to hang them from. 

The headband's flashlight also has two levels of power. Plus, when you have it set to whichever function you want, you can turn on the side sensor -- this allows you to turn the thing on or off with just a wave of your hand by the button. When wearing big bulky gloves, this is a helpful feature. 

Now the complaint: The thing is made in China, and it shows. The glow strip partly detached after a few weeks of use. But it was easy to superglue it back on, and it's stayed in place since.

If I have another quibble, and I really don't, it's that when out in the cold I like to keep the hood up on my coat. This is fine with the glow strip, but it blocks the flashlight. Nothing much to be done on that score. I only use the flashlight when out with the woofer to zero in on whatever he's left behind that I must pick up, and he usually waits until we get home to do that.

So if you're in town and driving around early, and you see a light in the darkness, don't worry. It's not an alien or a ghost. It's just ol' Fred and his fuzzy sidekick, getting our morning air at some insane hour where any smart person would be sleeping. Give us a wave -- we'll leave the light on for ya.