Yesterday, as I was dropping Quicksilver off at her play-date, I approached one of the young lasses who is the mother of one of the tots who Quicksilver has taken a shine to.
"I think I met you about seven years ago" I started out.
Recognition flashed across her face.
"Oh! You are Kubota's dad" she finished my sentence for me.
"And Quicksilver is his niece" I added.
"I LOVE Kubota. He is so funny. I follow him on social media" she gushed.
I expect Quicksilver's aristocratic connections (to Prince Kubota) to make the rounds with the moms of the other kids a play-date. I know the young lass is friends with several of the other moms, so I expect that they went to high school together and they all know Kubota.
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| Musk oxen closing ranks to protect the calves |
Southern Belle left Eaton Rapids in early 2009 and didn't move back until the middle of 2023. Most of the moms at the play-date were in second grade when she graduated from high school.
Eaton Rapids is a small town. It can seem close-minded and rigid if you are an outsider. The view from the inside is very different. On Wednesday, Quicksilver was just another, anonymous kid. On Thursday she became "real" to the rest of the moms. As a sprout from a multi-generational Eaton Rapids family, she is safe to invest in emotionally because she probably won't move away in a year or two.
Cool-amp
Back in my days in the factory, we used a product called Cool-Amp to silver-plate the ends of copper welding bus-bars and jumper cables.
Copper oxide has a high resistance. Silver oxide has relatively low resistance.
The powder is silver nitrate combined with a pH buffer and a mild abrasive. The copper ions are more reactive and rip the nitrate anions away from the silver cations. That deposits elemental silver on the surface of the copper.
Zinc is even more reactive than copper, so it would be very easy to apply a thin wash of silver metal on top of the zinc-copper alloy used by Rocky Mountain bullets.
Since the bullets don't need to be solid silver to kill juvenile were-wolves and other common, paranormal varmints, the thin wash of silver should be sufficient for most of your pest-control needs.
Speaking of pests
We have mice in the attic.
I am catching one-a-day and am not sure that I am keeping up with their reproductive capacity.
It is odd that I am catching so many with foot and tail catches. I am not sure what is with that. I have been euthanizing them by dropping the trap into a bucket of very cold, soapy water. They only struggle for about a half minute.
I may have to resort to placing several adhesive traps out to get ahead of Malthus.
More pests
A black walnut root sitting on a 2-by-4 for scale.
I was cleaning out a nursery row and planted a couple of pear rootstock in the Hill Orchard. I hit this root three inches down. The flap of bark sticking out on the left side of the root is where my shovel hit it.
I excavated three feet in each direction and cut the root out. I removed it so it wouldn't leach toxins into the soil beneath the pear as it decayed.
Seven-year mortgages
If the average marriage only lasts seven years, wouldn't it make sense to offer seven-year mortgages as the default?
Tis the season to be gifting (look up gift in German) the mice.
ReplyDeleteA reasonably effective and safe for pets and raptors mix uses peanut butter, flour, baking powder mixed in 1/3's for a gift for them.
Some suggest plaster of Paris as it hardens up like concrete inside them, but I understand that it's hard on creatures that might eat those mostly dead mice and tempt pets badly.
I've used the stairway to heaven 5 gallon pail trap with great success as long as its above freezing. They keep marching up to their swimming lessons to get that peanut butter-seed mix.
Sticky traps often fail once temperatures drop near or below freezing.
Someone that had a true Pied Piper effect for rodent control in post prosperity America would have a secure employment indeed. Just pay the Piper.
I'm not a real reloader (aside from BP loads for the 303 British) but I understand the tolerances of bullets is pretty tight.
ReplyDeleteWhat change in diameter of those now "silvered" cool amp bullets be? Accuracy is my goal when reloading.
The number of atoms of silver that are deposited are exactly the same number of atoms of copper that are removed. The film is so thin that it approaches transparency.
DeleteAny change in dimension is on the order of the difference in the diameters of copper atoms and silver atoms.
If it's that thin, what benefit to the reloader aside from "Hi HO SILVER" comments :-).
DeleteMaybe I was thinking about your earlier zinc "silver" bullets for reloading being cheaper but "more fragile" than copper washed bullets?
Can’t buy $1 million home with a seven year mortgage. Then you won’t be in debt your entire life.
ReplyDelete