Unusual things ..

A couple years ago, my two middle granddaughters gave me a salt lamp.  It’s very cute.  I like it!  Usually it sits beside my computer and is plugged into a USB port.  I’d never had one before so I did some searching about salt lamps. 

WOW!  Salt Lamps are the cure-all for very nearly everything.  Just a few examples -

1. The negative ions in salt lamps can help you breathe easier.

2. The negative charge of these lamps can help balance the body’s ph and energy.

3. Salt lamps clear the air by attracting the actual debris and invisible impurities in the air to itself.

4.  A salt lamp may help improve focus needed to get tasks done.

5. A salt lamp helps lower blood pressure.

And so forth.

Very cool considering this is a lump of salt with a small light bulb inside.  Well, my general attitude toward these sort of things is – if it promises the world, it’s too good to be true.  Still, I like the little orange light, it makes me think of my granddaughters so maybe it does lighten my mood a bit.

Recently, I was looking through some files for heaven-knows-what, and I found the instruction sheet that came with my little lamp.  Mostly it tells you to not get it wet and the light has xxx-number of hours.  Hmmmmm.  Well, I’m pretty sure that when the light bulb burns out, the salt lamp is just a little round ball of salt.  No, no, no – don’t want that – want the little orange light to keep on glowing.

So, I decided to move the little lamp to the living room and add a 120v plug to the USB gizmo and plug it in/out as I thought of it. 

So, here’s something I’ll bet you didn’t know about salt lamps.

They sweat.

I’d left it unplugged for a couple of days and went to plug it in and, OMIGOD, it was sitting in a puddle of oily liquid!

Straight to the internet.

“Due to the hygroscopic properties of salt, these lamps will be absorbing moisture from the air when they are in a damp environment - that's why they don't recommend it for places with a noticeable amount of humidity.  Because the salt lamp absorbs moisture, maybe you can use a Moisture Absorber to remedy this situation and lessen the humidity.” 

Hahahahahahahahahahahah!!!!!  I live on the Texas Gulf Coast.  On a good day, our humidity is 80%, INSIDE!

The fix is simple really – leave it plugged in at all times.  The tiny bit of heat it generates, keeps it from sweating. 

I guess if it burns out one day, I’ll have to see if the bulb can be replaced or I’ll have a sweaty little ball of salt.

And, here is yet another piece of information to add to your growing file of

interesting things to toss out during an exotic cocktail party to astound and amaze everyone.