Things aren't always what they appear to be

Uncle Russ had an electric motor repair and metal-working shop up in cottage country of Ontario, Canada. I was about 12 years old the summer this happened, but the humour of the incident didn't hit me til many years later. He was in the shop one day doing some ornamental railings for a customer. After taking a piece out of the forge and hammering it into shape, he left it on the anvil to cool, while he returned to the bench to continue re-winding a motor. The shop door opened, and a friend of his came in. "Good morning, Russ", said the friend. "Morning, Herb", Russ replied. The piece lying on the anvil had cooled to a dull dark grey, but was still very,very hot. Herb picked it up, and immediately dropped it with an expletive and a loud clang. "What's the matter, Herb?", asked Russ, "is that thing too heavy for you?". "Not at all, Russ", Herb replied, blowing on his fingers and waving his hand in the air, "it just doesn't take me very long to look at anything!!".