How to light a match without the striker strip
September 10, 2010
Today, just after I had finished a long effort of editing a book for my acupuncturist and was getting ready to cook some food for the first time in days, boom – the lights went out.
It was semi-dark, about 6 p.m. After calling Puget Sound Energy, I thought I might go to a movie. Using my laptop, I checked the movie schedule. “The Girl Who Played With Fire” at The Olympia Film Society sounded good, but I didn’t think I’d have time to eat my can of beans and get there by 6:30 p.m.
“Going the Distance” at 7:30 p.m. looked like the best movie showing locally at other theaters, but the trailer showed so much of it that I felt like I got the whole story.
I checked the library closing times. Thursday is 7 p.m., so it didn’t seem like that was enough time to get there and blog. The coffee shops locally now close at 8 p.m., another dead end.
To reduce my stress level, I played solitary on my laptop until the battery died. By 7 p.m., it was getting pretty dark.
I went to my closet where I usually keep my flashlights. One of them was there, but the batteries were dead.
I felt around in the closet for the candles and matches. I found the candles, but not the matches
I remembered I’d used a match a couple of days earlier to hold buttons away from a pair of pants while I sewed on buttons. (It’s called making a shank.)
I found the match and tried to figure out what to light it on. I thought the metal strip on the box of aluminum foil would work. Although it made a spark each time I struck it, it didn’t light.
There are two types of matches: A safety match can only light when someone strikes it against the striking surface on the side of the matchbox. A "strike anywhere" match can be lit by striking the match on anything solid.
The ISU Outdoor Program suggests buying the strike anywhere matches and taking a piece of emery board with you for a striker.
After I couldn’t get the match to light, I went back to the closet and felt through the shelves. Just after I found my box of matches, lit the match, and lighted the candle, the lights came on.
I was happy.
Copyright 2010, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist
“Going the Distance” at 7:30 p.m. looked like the best movie showing locally at other theaters, but the trailer showed so much of it that I felt like I got the whole story.
I checked the library closing times. Thursday is 7 p.m., so it didn’t seem like that was enough time to get there and blog. The coffee shops locally now close at 8 p.m., another dead end.
To reduce my stress level, I played solitary on my laptop until the battery died. By 7 p.m., it was getting pretty dark.
I went to my closet where I usually keep my flashlights. One of them was there, but the batteries were dead.
I felt around in the closet for the candles and matches. I found the candles, but not the matches
I remembered I’d used a match a couple of days earlier to hold buttons away from a pair of pants while I sewed on buttons. (It’s called making a shank.)
I found the match and tried to figure out what to light it on. I thought the metal strip on the box of aluminum foil would work. Although it made a spark each time I struck it, it didn’t light.
There are two types of matches: A safety match can only light when someone strikes it against the striking surface on the side of the matchbox. A "strike anywhere" match can be lit by striking the match on anything solid.
The ISU Outdoor Program suggests buying the strike anywhere matches and taking a piece of emery board with you for a striker.
After I couldn’t get the match to light, I went back to the closet and felt through the shelves. Just after I found my box of matches, lit the match, and lighted the candle, the lights came on.
I was happy.
Copyright 2010, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist
Lol
Posted by: jojo reed | March 07, 2012 at 06:25 PM