I wonder

Aug 01, 2023

Do you ever wonder about random things? I do.

For instance, the other day I wondered if aluminum foil has any aluminum in it at all. That random thought took me back to a moment when I read a sign at a recycling center, saying that they don’t take aluminum foil because “cans are cans and foil is foil.”

Because that sign was so adamant, I wondered if foil is maybe just paper coated in aluminum. As it turns out, aluminum foil is ninety-eight-point five percent aluminum, created in an interesting process where “the molten alloy is rolled thin and solidified between large, water-cooled chill rollers. During the final rolling, two layers of foil are passed through the mill at the same me...” (U.S. Department of Agriculture). There’s probably a factory or two somewhere where one could observe that interesting creation.

I’m enamored with manufacturing, and people who make things with their hands. Although it causes me and the go-zillions of others who buy the things others make, feel a smidgen useless at times.

Inventors are the most fascinating of people. Is “necessity the mother of invention”, and “if there’s a will there’s a way?”

I think if I’m not mistaken, since the 1950s we in the U.S. are known as a service economy rather than a manufacturing one. I wonder if that’s true. Yep, pretty much, with the service sector hovering around eighty percent of the economy.

I wonder how they keep cling wrap from clinging during manufacture. I guess I don’t wonder enough to spend time watching a descriptive YouTube video.

I wonder which came first, chop sticks or forks. Actually, I think the Chinese have us on that one.

Who decided that dandelions are weeds and should be eliminated? Who decided that lawns should be continuous masses of blade upon blade of grass? Doesn’t the Bible say blades of grass wither and fade? I wonder if perhaps everything is temporary.

Some people work tirelessly to eliminate any odd plant coming up in their yard, while others nonchalantly throw li/er into other people’s yards. Go figure, people are funny.

I wonder how they make wax paper. You’ve gotta love the U.S. Department of Agriculture who tells me, wax paper is really tissue paper (like I thought aluminum foil was), and “made with a food-safe paraffin wax which is forced into the pores of the paper and spread over the outside as a coating.”

I wonder if the stuff I put into the recycling bin is really recycled. Sadly, I heard somewhere that some recycling really just gets dumped into a landfill. But then I read a list of the things that are, or can be made from recycled materials. For instance, aluminum cans and milk bottles become new cans and bottles; cardboard becomes toilet tissue, paper towels, etc.

I wonder how they used to coat bath tubs and sinks in that glorious eternally shiny ceramic before they flooded the market with the fiberglass/plastic ones. I imagine a big crane of sorts dipping them into a vat of liquidy mud kind of stuff and hanging them to drip dry.

How do they keep super glue from adhering to the tube?

I wonder why you prefer earthy brown and beige and sand and I prefer sky blue and yellow and green. In fact, why do we have preferences at all? Why isn’t lavender, honeysuckle, or gardenia a pleasant aroma to everybody? And why doesn’t garlic turn everybody off?

How do they make paper into cardboard? In fact, how do they make trees into paper, into boards? And what’s that smell that used to come from the paper mill? I know the answers having lived shouting distance from “the paper mill,” but I’ve wondered.

I wonder what mechanism allows some people’s bodies to dismiss heavy humidity in the air and others of us to nearly drown in it with wet air sticking to our skin like white on rice.

How does bluing make fabric white yet permanently stains a glass jar?

I wonder why some people are curious to know and others are satisfied to be told. For that matter I wonder who decided that cats represent the curious and cows are “fat as,” clams are happy, pigs like mud, bigger is be/er, there are answers to every question, or money solves every problem.

When there is so much to learn, I wonder why so many folks can dismiss wondering. I wonder if wonder causes some of us to “wander” or even if the two words are at all related.

Please don’t feel you must set me straight in all these and other things that I wonder about. Because first I believe there’s not a thing wrong with crooked things and not everything or everybody needs to “straighten up.”

Secondly, I think maybe the act of wondering isn’t the bit of stimulus in this world that makes life worth living. So, I’m thinking that a modicum of wondering never hurt anybody.

Bev Barton LeVan of Everett is a personal essay writer and blogger for her website www.deepthoughtsonrandomstuff.com.

Log In

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,racist or sexually-oriented language.PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.Don't Threaten. Threats of harming anotherperson will not be tolerated.Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyoneor anything.Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ismthat is degrading to another person.Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link oneach comment to let us know of abusive posts.Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitnessaccounts, the history behind an article.

Improving the quality of life in Bedford County through economic development while preserving our heritage and natural resources.

2023 Status of The County Report

Clear skies. Low 47F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph..

Clear skies. Low 47F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.

Updated: August 31, 2023 @ 6:32 pm

Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.

Error! There was an error processing your request.

Get late-breaking news soon after it happens.

Get news updates each day.

Sign up to see the latest Real Estate listings in Bedford County and surrounding areas!