You Can Use Ashes For That? Part 1

My wife emailed me the other day while I was at work.  The email contained the following link:  https://practicalselfreliance.com/wood-ash-uses/  It is a blog post written by a woman appropriately named "Ashley."  The content seemed very interesting since we had just cleaned out the fireplace after burning wood all winter.  We had two 5 gallon buckets of fireplace ashes.  I bookmarked so I would be able to read later.

When I got home, I read it in detail.  Very interesting.  70+ Uses for Wood Ash.  Well, here is a bucketful of ash we just scooped out of our fireplace:

I'll show you one interesting use for ash that we experimented with and it works!  My grandmother on my mom's side we affectionately called, "Bumby."  Bumby collected small silver spoons.  Anytime she traveled, she would purchase a souvenir spoon.  We inherited some of those beloved spoons.  My grandfather "Poppy" made some wooden display cases for Bumby to display her spoons on the wall of the kitchen.  Here are the spoons we have to remember Bumby:

One thing about silver is that it tarnishes.  You must get out the silver polish and polish them up to keep them bright and shiny.  Polishing silver requires some elbow grease.  Well, I hate to admit it, but polishing silver isn't high on our priority list and so our cherished spoons are in a tarnished state right now.

But lo and behold, Fireplace Ashes will polish silver.  Simply add a little fireplace ash to a damp rag and apply.  Well, we wanted to check this tip out.  So we picked out a spoon that had considerable tarnish to test it out.

Tricia applied a little ash to a dampened rag and began polishing.  She was surprised at how effortless it was - easier than silver polish.

After just a short little time, Tricia had expertly polished the front of the spoon...

And the back!

Wow!!  Scroll back up to compare the before and after photos.  What a neat use for fireplace ashes.  As we read and experiment with other uses for fireplace ash, we'll be sure to share.

Remembering Times of Silver Dimes

My great-grandmother was born on December 21, 1901 and passed away on October 12, 1987.  We affectionately called her PoPo.  I have many memories of her. She drove an old blue Chevy Nova. She was of short stature and so she had a phone book (the Yellow Pages, I seem to remember) that she would sit on to help her see over the dash.  She lived in a wood frame house with a screen door.  When I would go visit her, she always had a glass candy jar on her table that she'd offer me candies to eat. The candy jar had "Circus Peanuts." You know the big orange, peanut shaped marshmallow candies? My great-grandmother (PoPo's) home wasn't tightly sealed like most homes are today and so the circus peanuts, due to the humidity, would get a little hard in texture, but I ate them nonetheless.

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PoPo's brother, Doc, would visit and from time to time, he'd give me a silver dollar. I always thought that was neat.  PoPo appreciated silver, too, and would take an evaporated milk can and although it had two triangles on either side from being opened with a can opener in order to pour out the contents, she would use a knife or a screwdriver to make a slot in the top center of the can.  This made the can into a piggy bank and she would save every silver dime or quarter she had to give to me, my brother, and sister.  Somewhere in a closet shelf is a heavy little can full of silver dimes and quarters that was scrimped and saved for me by PoPo.

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While the value of the dollar diminishes year by year, silver has held it's value or grown.  Put another way, the purchasing power of the dollar over time has been eroded by inflation. According to THIS WEBSITE it would take $7.74 today to purchase what $1 bought in 1964.  Think about that for a minute.  Inflation is a thief!

United States dimes, quarters, half dollars or dollars minted in 1964 or before contain 90% silver.  In 1965 coins began to be mostly copper-nickel clad, and thus worth considerably less than the silver coins that preceded them.  Benjamin likes to collect coins.  He would have appreciated having PoPo save silver coins for him, but she passed away about 14 years prior to his birth.  To give you an idea of the value of silver coins, Benjamin purchased a 1962 quarter the other day from a coin shop. This quarter that had a face value of $0.25, but cost $3.65 to purchase due to the 90% silver content.

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PoPo was wise.  Time has proven that she's right.  She knew a thing or two about things that hold their value.  I appreciate things that last - things that stand the test of time and retain their value year after year.  I do know that, over time, even precious metals and other things we hold dear are subject to theft, loss, moths, rust and decay.  However, the LORD and His Word are really the only things that stand the test of time and has the greatest worth of all.

The law of the Lord is perfect,

    refreshing the soul.

The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,

    making wise the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right,

    giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the Lord are radiant,

    giving light to the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is pure,

    enduring forever.

The decrees of the Lord are firm,

    and all of them are righteous.

They are more precious than gold,

    than much pure gold;

they are sweeter than honey,

    than honey from the honeycomb.

Psalm 19:7-10