Well, not really. But I saw a funny thing on the PBS program “Nature” a few minutes ago and it reminded me of something. Tonight’s episode is entitled “Moose: Life of a Twig-Eater.” It documents the year a photographer named Hugo Kitching spent in Jasper National Park in Alberta as he observed a mother moose and her calf, trying to understand why only an estimated 30% or so of calves survive their first year.

That was all fascinating enough, but at one point Mama Moose and her baby discover Kitching’s SUV and the road salt which encrusts its bumpers, and they really like it. It reminded me of the single season I spent as manager of the high school wrestling team, which really meant I was the guy who handed out towels and shoveled the sweaty dirty uniforms into a laundry cart. Come to think of it, who washed and dried that stuff?

The other thing I handed out, though, was salt tablets. They were used to provide sodium and chloride to the wrestlers who lost water and dehydrated as a result of vigorous practice. They fell out of favor after Gatorade and other sports drinks were developed, because those provide more of the electrolytes needed than the tablets do. In 1966, though, salt tablets were all we had, and those guys coming off the mats and heading for the showers really liked them.