Once again, A.J. has provided me with food for thought. His post about cordless battery powered tools has prompted me to fulfill my apparently insatiable tendency to play devil's advocate.

I should say, first off, that I like cordless tools, especially drill/drivers which were what started the whole thing in the first place. But I soon learned the folly of trusting battery life estimates. As long as one is within easy reach of a freshly charged battery, you are OK. But get more than a few dozen feet from one and you are in deep.

Batteries, like any other power source, have a devious way of knowing the most inconvenient time to poop out. Like when you are wrapped around a ridge beam or up against a high pressure timeline.

We are always talking about what we would do if we could "go back." If it were me, I would have invested in batteries a long time ago, back when flashlights were the only thing they were good for. Who could have foreseen back in the early 50s that the day would come when everything ran on batteries? These days, even shoelaces and pens need batteries.

Today’s rechargeable batteries are able to run for a decent length of time. But they still wear out, give way to new technology, or won’t work with the new tools. We’re forever buying batteries!

D.D.