It feels good to use stuff up.

We are rewarded for buying new things, not using things until they are used up, and it's easy to ditch stuff when it gets blemished or goes out of style. To me it feels good to use things until they have no life in them. Witness: an old pair of ski gloves.

I found these along the access road while driving home from Cataloochee one night about five years ago. I used them for backcountry skiing and biking. Biking is hard on gloves and these have been in a stage of falling apart for several years now. When the duct tape shreds began to catch on the brake lever, and when I could feel air oozing through the holes, and when someone casually asked why I was still wearing them, I figured it was time for an upgrade.

It will be interesting to see how long these $13 Kinco gloves last. They're made for construction but are the go-to glove for patrollers. They are lined but I can feel cool air coming through the knuckles where the fabric is; Kinco had all-leather gloves, but they were $3 more.