My Dad was a collector of pocket knives. I have an eye for flashlights. Being a daily dog park visitor with Kanook, it is the time of the year when the visits are after dark on the weekdays. While there are more visitors to Minooka's dog park, it seems to be empty after the sun sets. Mitchell Park still has some people that enjoy the stillness of the night. We often adorn our dogs with flashing LED lights that clip on the collar. One visitor is using a dog "headlight" that she bought at Cabela's. It straps under the chin and makes the dog very visible and if it's night vision isn't too good, will help it from running into trees, fences and potholes. I bought another blinky light for Kanook. They come with batteries and sell for about $9. When the batteries die out, new batteries will cost about $11. So, I have lots of good blinkies laying around in need of batteries.

 For my use, I long gave up the big "D" cell flashlight. For the last few years I've had various LED flashlights. The batteries last forever, it seems. However, the light that they give off isn't much, until recently. The last few years have seen high output LED flashlights that pack a pretty good light. While at Batteries Plus on Grandview and Silvernail buying a new Blinky for Kanook, I was looking over the wide selection of flashlights that they have. I noticed on the counter one that looked like a cylinder of stainless steel that fit in the hand nicely. It measures about one inch in diameter and about four inches long. I pressed the button and the light it gave off was amazing. Three small AAA batteries power it for over 100 hours and produces 72 lumens. What that means is it floods the area in front of you as you walk around the dog park. I thought that it'd make a great bicycle headlight.

It isn't cheap. It cost $29.95 but I gave up smoking years ago so I treat myself with good stuff once in a while. The associate at Batteries Plus said they have a hard time keeping them in stock. I can see why. If I still fixed furnaces it would be my flashlight of choice because of the bright flood of light it gives. It's name is LED LENSER. The numbers 0089596 are on it but looking at LED LENSER's catalog, I believe it is model 7732.

 See you at the dog parks, even at night!