Lead

Merril’s sister chose a word at random from the dictionary this time.  It was totally weird what happened.  I was watching.  She chose a word and I went and looked at it.  It was “head.”  Merril and I said we have had that word before (it was the last one Merril had put her finger on.  So her sister randomly chose another word.
It was “lead.”  I was amazed that she had put her finger on another word spelt exactly the same way but with a different first letter.  Instead of head, it was lead.  We were actually all surprised.
It is one of those weird words where the same spelling has two different meanings.  Lead can be a metal or a rhyming word with deed that means to go before.  I did check the word in the dictionary and it was referring to the metal.
I have known for a few years lead was something to be avoided in certain forms.  Temperate gauges usually had lead and when they broke that was the end of the story.
A girl at work (who ended up becoming the chief librarian) told me she had suffered migraine headaches for years.  It was only when it was revealed she had a lead filling and it was removed did she get relief from the migraines.
The sinkers I use when fishing are lead.  Obviously they are not a guarantee to catch fish.  If they were, I would probably catch more fish.  I do have a couple of lures and the packaging says “guaranteed to catch fish.”  I will have to take their word for that as every time I have forgotten to take them.
We did have and still do have lead pencils.  I like to use them when doing plans as they allow me when I need to (which is often) rub what I am working on and start again.  Trouble is mostly when I find one it is broken.  I need to grab the trusty pencil sharpener and bring it to a point again.  I need to be careful though.  Go too long and it breaks again and I need to start again.
We used to buy lead paint but not any more.  Merril tells me (and I did not know this until just now), that kids in cots would chew on a but of lead paint and get lead poisoning.  Not a good look.  No wonder it was discontinued.
Lead definitely has uses but it also had uses that were not good.  In the right form in the right place it is good.