Counting the days

Does anybody really know what time it is? How about what day it is? What better occasion to consider a good calendar than the holidays, when time is almost as precious as oxygen.

Wander into the nearest specialty store, or click on Calendars.com or Amazon, where hundreds of choices await, from traditional dog and cat calendars to such quirky selections as “Twelve delightful months of nuns caught in the act of letting go” -- frolicking in the surf, playing softball or shooting skeet. Presumably, an entire calendar of “Nuns With Guns” can’t be far behind.

The websites keep tabs on our wide-ranging tastes, even breaking down the most popular purchases by category: animals, humor, nature and family. For 2004, the three biggest sellers overall at Calendars.com are:

1. “Mom’s Plan-It” ($12.99, Avalanche)

2. “German Shorthaired Pointers” ($11.99, BrownTrout)

3. “Nuns Having Fun” ($11.95, Workman Publishing).

Want more choices? How about a calendar with instructions for a paper airplane each day (“365 Tiny Paper Airplanes,” $11.95, Workman) or one devoted to squirrels (“Squirrels,” $12.99, World of Discovery)?

For the more practical, many calendars offer options for organizing family time. In addition to “Mom’s Plan-It,” there are “Mom’s Family Calendar” ($11.95, Workman) and “A Year in the Life of Our Family” ($26, www.distinkt.homestead.com), a gingham-bowed calendar with spaces for photos and big grids that allow moms and kids to keep track of significant events: “Mom gets a traffic ticket,” or “Cory breaks his leg.” By the end of the year, you’ll have a time capsule of family joy and agony. And what says “the holidays” more than that?

Chris Erskine

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How good is that pneumatic nail gun?

The tool corral of a home improvement store can be bewildering, especially for a novice out gift shopping. But there is help. In its “2004 Tool Guide” ($9.99), Taunton Press assembles the experience of its Fine Homebuilding and Fine Woodworking magazines as well as user surveys. The 122-page volume is full of performance and price comparisons on hundreds of power tools, as well as tips on how to maintain them.

In a field too wide to cover everything, this guide leans perhaps too sharply toward specialty items such as lathes, band saws and pneumatic nail guns used only by contractors and the most serious hobbyists. General topics, among them an excellent performance rating of cordless tools versus their 110-volt versions, are useful for beginning buyers but aren’t the main focus.

Indeed, the best bet might be to give a copy of the “Tool Guide” along with a gift certificate.

-- Doug Smith