Once upon a time, tweeting is what birds did, and also what people calling birds did. Return with us now to those trilling days of yesteryear with this little hand-held Audubon bird call. Measures 2-1/4" long with a cast-aluminum shaft inside a birch barrel. Twist it to tweet, and there’s no limit to how long you go on.

C'mon baby, light someone's fire with this magnesium and flint fire-starter kit. The 3" steel hack-saw-type blade and a 3-1/8" x 3/8" x 1-1/8" hunk of magnesium, with a rod of flint embedded in one long side, are on a keychain for carrying but are easily removed from it. With the serrated edge of the blade, shave some Mg into a small pile of tinder. Strike the flint with the opposite edge to spark the tinder-Mg's interest, and you're Prometheus.

Have a blast at the family picnic or your next traffic jam -- or when boating, coaching the soccer team, or calling the kids for dinner. This lightweight megaphone is only 8-1/2" long, with a 5-1/2" dia horn and a fold-down handle, but its 5-watt power output lets you project up to 165 yards. Volume control, on/off switch, voice/siren option, hi-impact ABS body that's shock and weather resistant. Use the nylon strap to hang it from your wrist or around your neck. Uses (4) "C" batteries (not included).

The CamJam XT is a clever cast-aluminum rope-tightening tool and carabiner. Has a 7/8” ID carabiner hook at one end, and a 1-1/4” toothed ratchet at the other. Made to take braided rope between 1/8” and 3/8”. Has a working load limit of 500 lbs, and a break strength of 1500 lbs. Measures 4” x 1-3/4’ x 7/8”. Marked “not for climbing.”

This Stansport product is called the Finger-Tip Saw (although all you really need to cut off fingertips is a good garden pruner). This is actually a survival/hunter's wire saw, a 20" long, thin and sharp serrated wire with a 1-1/8" slip-ring at each end (for your fingertips). Coil it up and you can store it in a shirt pocket. Cuts "wood, plastic, bone, etc." and includes instructions for making a one-handed saw with a short tree branch.

You will survive, too, just like Gloria Gaynor, and in the woods, even. But only if you have this U.S. Army manual, cleverly titled: SURVIVAL, Department of the Army Field Manual FM21-76. It's 287 heavily illustrated pages of techniques for staying alive (add your own BeeGee jokes here) including orientation, food & cooking, fire- and shelter-making, rafts, animal, insect and plant recognition, and much more. This is the 1970 edition, but staying alive in the woods hasn't changed a whole lot since then. In soft-cover.

In case you forgot to make one for your mother at camp, we’ll be happy to send you some of ours. Very slightly elastic and 17” long, with snap clips, a sliding keeper, and 1-3/4” loops at the whistle end. We’ll pick (4) from our assortment of black, blue, orange, yellow, aqua, red, purple and lavender. Your mom’s bound to have something to match all of them.

An exhausted physicist. Also this 3-1/4" dia camping lantern. Stands 5” tall with fold-down handles, but pull up those handles and reveal the super-bright, a whopping 600 lumen COB LED light inside. Turns on when you open it, and has a small compass on top so you can see where you’re going. Measures approx 7” open and will shine for approx (6) hours with a trio of “AA” batteries, which are included. In utilitarian gray ABS plastic.

When the lights go out, and everything else goes with them, grab this dynamo light, radio, siren and power source. The am/fm radio has an antenna; the flashlight switches from (1) to (3) LEDs, all through collimating lenses; and there are both a 1/8" headphone jack and a 3.5mm power output jack, plus a 22" USB jumper cord. All this in a packable 7-1/2" long x 2" dia hand-crank flashlight-shaped unit with a recharging storage battery.

Next time you hang an air freshener from your rear-view mirror, make it something your passengers will remember. These are all approx 4” to 5” long and bring a little something to the party that a paper pine tree can only dream of. You pick the creepy hairless cat in a Buddha pose, smelling of sandalwood; the bubblegum-scented rubber chicken; or the largest tardigrade (aka moss bear or water piglet) in the universe, redolent of green apples.

The boys in the back room called this IZoom Pro™ flashlight ludicrously bright, and they’re usually right. Rated at 300, 1200, and 2500 lumens with a strobe setting, light is through a reticular COB LED element with an adjustable focus lens. Takes (6) “AA” batteries, and they’re included. Measures 7” long x 1-1/2” dia in black aluminum alloy body. Has up to a 4-hour life, depending on the beam strength you use.

Both of our classic bike accessories are LED-free, battery-free, and happily wireless. The large Bee-brand steel bicycle bell is 2-1/2" dia, clamps onto a tube up to 1" dia, and has a thumb lever to make it go Briiiiiiiiinnnng, Briiiiiiiiiinnnng! Our retro bike horn has two tones (one while squeezing, the other while the bulb inhales). The tone is much more a Clarabellian quack (search the Web for Howdy Doody if you're too young to remember Clarabell) than a deep Harpo Marxian (ditto) honk. Measures 8" long with a 2-3/8" bell and a rubber bulb that will be either red, black, or purple. Includes a removable handlebar mount.

Another iZoom® twofer. Our each is 150-lumen silver aluminum COB LED flashlight, 4-1/3" x 1" dia, and your bonus is a carabiner key chain with a 3-mode LED light in the center. Push-button switch makes it bright, strobe or really bright. Oh, those COBs!

Just how big are your hips? Big enough to handle our 64-oz hip flask? Measures 11-1/2" tall x 6-7/8" wide in the traditional curve x 1-5/8" thick. Holds a party-ready half-gallon, which is 1.89 liters which would be, yes, bigger than those 1.5 liter bottles. In surgical stainless steel with the all-important attached screw cap that won't get lost. Brushed-finish sides, polished top and cap. Suitable for engraving as an extra-special award item.

Put these on your feet, and stay on your feet. We use these here in the heartland, and so should you if you’re anywhere where the snow or mud flies and ice coats the sidewalks. Measure 9” long in black silicone rubber, and they stretch over the toe and heel of pretty much any size shoe, men’s or women’s, with rubber pads that have (5) 5-pointed steel cleats on each sole. Easy on, easy off for your winter-hiking walking convenience. For you folks in the warmer climes, you can use them to turn any pair of shoes into hiking cleats or for pick-up games of football.

It’s always hot somewhere. Stay cool with a hyper-evaporative towel. In a sports-jersey-ish fabric, you wet it and wear it--around your neck or head--and the evaporative quality keeps you cool. Measures 40” x 12” in a flattering blue, and comes in a plastic bottle with a carabiner-like clip on top so you can wet it and hang it on your belt until you heat up.

Hook these on the zipper pulls on your jackets and you'll never be in the dark again. Tiny LED lights measure 1" x 9/16" in a 5/16" thick oblong, and come on a 7/8" long lanyard clip. We'll pick some that will go with your eyes, in blue, green, black or red. Include little button cell batteries that can be replaced if you're the sort of person who does that.

It will be if you buy this bright-as-a-Phi-Beta-Kappa COB LED 3W flashlight, with a bonus red laser. Measures a mere 4-3/4" x 1-1/8" dia and comes with (3) “AAA” batteries inside, where they belong. In a knurled aluminum body of a color that we’ll pick for you (gray, black, red or blue) because who cares what color a flashlight is. (Note: flashlight and pointer can't be on at the same time.)