Thursday, August 21, 2014

Throwback Thursday: Desiccated

Here's how stupid-smart I was as a kid: at about the age of five, I remember finding a little package of silica gel beads.

I figured out how to get it open. Those little beads looked like candy, so I ate them, though they really didn't have any taste, which was disappointing.

I then paused to read the label, and noted the DO NOT EAT. (Pretty sure the package I found as a kid didn't have the confusing quotation marks.) I could read well enough to understand. So I took the package to Mom and explained what I'd just done.

I don't remember what she ended up doing. Just made me drink some extra fluids for the next little bit, I think. And probably laughed at me after I'd gone to bed.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah, those tempting little bags! We never had a chance to eat the beads or play with them. Bummer! My parents and aunt and uncle were under orders from Gramps to save them from us kids. He was a master tool maker and used them in the drawers where he kept his precision measuring instruments.

Thinking about it, I wonder if exposure to those tools led to my interest in precise writing instruments. Hmmmm.

Jeff The Bear

Elizabeth H. said...

It amuses me that I was both babyish enough to just put random stuff in my mouth and smart enough to read labels, if after the fact.

What sort of tools did your grandfather make?

Bill M said...

You sure would have had fun with some of the bags og silica get I pack in machines to ship. I think they are 3 or 5 pounds. They are huge.

Scott K said...

Well, learning by exploring is one way to do it.

Anonymous said...

My grandfather worked for the navy as a master toolmaker and machinist. His division could do repairs or create replacement parts for destroyers and escorts: engine-related, gun emplacements, even water tight hatches. They might design and make new items, if approved by the War Department, for installation. This was in the 1920s, 30s and WW II. By the time I came along, early 1950s, the facility was more storage and repair and Gramps was an administrator not a technician. Wish I could have seen him using those huge metal lathes or visited the design offices.

I was told Gramps left school after 8th grade and apprenticed to a railroad, learning to repair and maintain steam locomotives. That's why he wasn't drafted for WW I; railroads were a high priority resource. He taught himself algebra, trig and calculus. Working for the Navy came later. And I sure as heck didn't inherit his talent for math.

Jeff The Bear

Elizabeth H. said...

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing! He sounds very intelligent and dedicated. I wish I was good at determining goals and achieving them...