This afternoon, I paid a visit to Stagecoach Antiques, where I bought a half pint milk bottle and another wide-mouthed bottle that looked like it had probably held cocktail sauce or some similar condiment.

Yes, this means I made two incense burners for the car.

The proprietor of Stagecoach never recognizes me when I come in the store, even though I live next door.

His helper is a little more aware, and when I told her I live next door, she said, "Oh, you're the one with all the girls?" I assume she is talking about my daughters.

In spite of her disapproval, my mom hooked me up with a big plastic clip to use. (This was immediately after I had referred to my brother Rob as a "nancy boy" when he asked where the nearest craft store was.)

I used the clip in the cocktail sauce bottle because it is taller and allowed a little more room for the incense.

Problem #1: the bottles are too short to accommodate a whole incense stick. They had to be trimmed.

Problem #2: The plastic clip and narrow bottle neck seems to prevent airflow. Only about half of the incense burned.

You can see in the photos that the bottle is full of smoke, but very little makes its way out of the mouth of the bottle.

I love the label: "Stop, Think before you act. Don't take chances with carelessness." Sort of funny when you're planning to drive around with glowing embers at your fingertips.

For the milk bottle, I reprised my use of twisties to hold the incense. This was effective, but not very classy.

The solution proved to be a key ring (1 ¼") that holds stick securely in place. Unlike the twisty, which required extra twisting and positioning with each use, the key ring also keeps the stick plumb in the bottle.

As luck would have it, I bought an assortment pack of key rings, so I replaced the plastic clip in the condiment bottle with the 1 ½" key ring. This turned out well, as I am rather fond of the milk bottle. I can use the condiment bottle in the car, where you can't really see it anyway, and use the milk bottle at home.

More of the View from the West Hill

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