I have a few camping devices that screw into the top of a mini propane canister to be a tent heater, stove top, lamp, etc. Somehow over the course of the last few years I have managed to lose the plastic stands to every single one of them. This makes for interesting camping when I wind up propping the stove up with rocks or bricks, and putting a propane canister in my boot to keep it upright.

I've been looking for one for the last few days in the camping section of all the big stores we've visited, but nobody has them. Dave Diller spoke highly of the REI on Timonium Road in Cockeysville the other day and on my way over York Road this afternoon I stopped in.

I wandered around the shelves for a few minutes until a saleswoman asked me if I was finding everything I was looking for. I described to her the piece that I was trying to find and she scrunched up her face and said, "Yeah I don't think I've ever seen them. Let me check in the back and see if it's in our random pile."

She came back a minute later and told me, "This is your lucky day" and handed me a black plastic propane canister base with a defective sticker on it and no price tag. I asked her if I was supposed to pay something for it and she said, "No, I'm happy today" and walked off.

I can't recommend service like that highly enough.

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