While taking care of some grocery shopping (the cupboards were getting rather bare), I wandered through the "Seasonal" aisle. This occasionally doubles as the "clearance" aisle and is a great place to find candy marked down the day after Christmas, Easter and (to a lesser degree) Halloween. So, on the off chance that there was a candy holiday I’d overlooked, I wandered through.
There wasn’t any candy, but I did notice a rather strange pairing of products. On one set of shelves there were three kinds of rock salt for folks who might need to de-ice their sidewalks if any happened to form during the 60-degree weather we’ve been having. I briefly considered buying a bag for use with the ice cream maker I got for Christmas, but decided I might already have some. On the shelves to the immediate right of the salt, there was a display with three brands of charcoal and two brands of charcoal lighter fluid.
My first thought was "Who the heck is going to have a cook-out in January?" (True, I once went on a picnic in March with eight inches of snow on the ground, but I suspect I’m unique in that regard.) After thinking about it for a moment, I realized that, when applied correctly, either rock salt or charcoal (particularly with lighter fluid) could be used to melt ice.
So perhaps it makes sense after all.