Monday, December 7, 2020

Melting wheel-weights

 

Today was a beautiful day to be outside.

I whittled away at my collection of wheel-weights.

I used a mini-muffin tin for a mold. The cardboard and bricks are splash-guards.

I weighed one muffin. It was 9.5 ounces or enough lead to make 25, 158 grain bullets (or 33 125 grain bullets)

That works out to a bit less than 300 bullets per cycle.

A picture I liked

The sign reads "Food born here. Prices raised elsewhere"

A trip to the dentist

I spent 90 minutes in a dentist's chair this morning.

I am getting a crown for one of my molars.

If you want practice praying under trying circumstances, try praying in the dentist's chair. If you can pray while pummeled while the dentist is drilling your tooth than you can probably pray almost any where, any time.

One of the differences between this time and the last time I had a crown installed was the nature of the temporary crown. The last time it was a soft, metal crown that I crunched down on and it conformed to the opposing molar. This time it was a "composite" temporary that is supposed to be much more durable.

I suspect that some of my dentist's patients got frozen out in the first lock-down. They had temporary crowns intended for two-weeks usage and ended up waiting four months for the dentist to reopen.

In light of the hype about the "second-wave" I am glad my dentist installed a temporary crown that is more permanent than the previous technology.

FAFSA

Imagine my surprise to learn that I needed to fill out a FAFSA application for Belladonna's training.

Back in 2007 (oldest kid) I had been told that once my kid had their B.S. or B.A. they were considered adults and were on their own. 

Things changed in the last 13 years. I had to fill one out because Belladonna is less than 24 years old. She could apply for grants or scholarships unless we filled one out.

Between the dentist and the FAFSA, I was in a grumpy mood today.

Melting lead and thinking about making projectiles was good therapy.


9 comments:

  1. Okay, I give up.

    What is a "FAFSA"?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FAFSA is how scholarships, loans, and other college financial things are determined. It is a Federal program. The software sucks.

      It is almost impossible to avoid if you have a college age kid. I thought we were done with it.

      Delete
    2. FAFSA does indeed suck. I use many a word starting with F when dealing with it. Only one more year.....

      Delete
  2. Praying in the dentist chair is good for one for many reasons. It's funny when I stop thinking of myself and think of the ONE, my minor inconveniences and discomforts seem trivial. Same idea applies to all of life. This kind of prayer is also good for the times when I am not getting my way and behaving badly (like a two year old having a tantrum). My go to is "Lord, have mercy on my soul." It's practical, it applies to my situation and it's even has seven syllables which is my perfect number for mantra. Try repeating that for 5 minutes and see if you can stay mad, sad, or any other negative state.
    Good article, really related to the prayer comments.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ERJ Sir,
    I wonder how many among your readership wouldn't love to hang out a day or two with you. I know I would.Lead mini muffins,cool.I'm due for a molar crown,Ive had so much dental work over my life it doesn't bother me.Figure an hour or so in the chair each time, just watch the clock. Then it will be over. Course a bit of drooling is in order.Thanks for your blog,always one of my first.Allan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hanging out with ERJ is a good time. He's AMAZINGLY intelligent and broadly informed.

      Delete
  4. I got one coming up in a few days.
    But the permanent will not be til next year.
    Hopefully early next year.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Check the harness of your WheelWeight lead....It can be butter soft or 16 hard. You never know.

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  6. Those are going to be some nice bullets!

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