How do “Little Hotties” work?

How do “Little Hotties” work? My work outdoors this winter has been vastly more comfortable because of these magic little pouches called “Little Hotties”.  Having lived in southern California for over 40 years, I'd never heard of these things.  Nearly every store here carries them: grocery stores, sporting goods stores, gas stations, even pharmacies.  They are available in different shapes and sizes, for various purposes.  For me, the hand and foot warmers are the key to my comfort. 

I wondered, though, how they worked – and whether there were dangerous or harmful chemicals in them. It was obvious from the packaging that the process involved oxidation, as the pouches come sealed in an airtight plastic bag.  As soon as you open the bag, they start getting warm.  But how?

Well, the short answer is that they're perfectly safe – they work by oxidizing iron powder.  They contain a very fine iron powder mixed with a few other ingredients that act to regulate the rate of oxidation (and therefore the temperature).  The Little Hotties web site has a description, and I found more here.  When you're done with one of these things, all that's left is a little plastic, some rust, a bit of salt, and a teaspoon or so of expanded rock (vermiculite).  All safe and even environmentally friendly, except for the bit of plastic...

Paradise ponders, slick driveway edition...

Paradise ponders, slick driveway edition...  Conditions over the past 12 hours or so have conspired to produce the slickest icy driveway I've ever experienced.  Yesterday evening it was above freezing and we got some snow and ice pellets.  This formed a slushy mix on our driveway, around an inch thick on average.  Overnight it dipped below freezing, and all that slush froze into solid ice.  Then this morning the temperatures have risen above freezing again, so now there's a thin layer of water atop the ice.  If you could have seen me walking from our house to our barn, about 50', you'd be laughing at my antics as I tried to stay upright.  I partly succeeded – I only fell three times, not too bad.  Just after I got into my office it started to snow – wet, slushy snow.  We're forecast to get up to 12" today, and 6" more tomorrow.  What a mess!  I think I'm going to be quite busy trying to keep any disasters (as we had yesterday) from occurring...

My sister wrote to tell me that I am forbidden from ever writing a post like yesterday's again:

“I do not want to have to read such a jamulblog post again, do you hear me?!”

I had no idea she was so opposed to free speech.  And can you imagine an English teacher using such punctuation?! :)

I'm going to work indoors for a few hours until things warm up and thaw a bit outside, then I'm going to try to get some of the ice/slush off the driveway.  It's probably a futile effort, but I'm going to give it a shot anyway.  The rest of my day will likely be completely occupied by various snow-removal chores...