Littered Cigarette Butts Kill the Fishies

I wouldn't dream of throwing trash on the ground, but for many years I did not consider cigarette butts trash. WRONG!!!

I am a smoker and after 40+ years am likely to remain one. But I don't want to kill the fishies or the rabbits, chipmunks or skunks either for that matter (squirrels I have to think about). Litter from cigarette butts is highly toxic and usually ends up in the water system through run off. (Click on the title for source material.)

Increasingly strict limitations on smoking have made it far more difficult to find a public ashtray. I notice this during my morning walk. Across the street from our local hospital, where it is illegal to smoke on the grounds, is an unofficial smokers' station. It borders private property and the sidewalk and surrounding grass and shrubbery are THICK with discarded cigarette butts. I wholeheartedly sympathize with my fellow smokers needing to feed their nicotine cravings. But between them, both they and the hospital have created a public nuisance and a mini toxic waste dump. The hospital would have done better to place containers for discarded cigarettes in a designated area on the perimeter of its grounds. The smokers need to be made aware that they are ultimately responsible for responsibly disposing of their used butts.

Sooo, if you are a smoker, PLEASE extinguish the butt and either dispose of it in a public trash container or keep it on your person until you can safely dump it in your own trash. You will be doing your part to preserve our environment and save a fish, or a small mammal.

A second source on the subject:
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Publications/GreenTeam/default.cfm#CigaretteButts

Let's prove ourselves more responsible than the oil and petrochemical companies.

Did he just call me DEAR?!

Sometime in the last six months, total strangers have started addressing me as "Dear." Do I LOOK like I'm 110? Cause that sure makes me FEEL like I am.

If I am not already a senior citizen (isn't 60 the new 40?), I see it approaching at warp speed -- sort of like a runaway semi barreling down a steep Colorado mountain, or the light at the end of the tunnel that is an oncoming train. More and more people ask me if I am retired (like THAT is possible after the financial meltdown). I have belonged to AARP for several years, but they start trying to enlist you when you turn 50.

Jim does a great job styling my hair and coloring it brown. Surely that counts for SOMETHING? I drive a nifty little sports sedan. SHOOT, does the fact it's a sedan weigh against me?

I used to hate being called "Hon" or "Honey" by people whose only connection to me was the line at the bank or the restaurant in which I was eating. The southern and western use of "Ma'am" always sounded so much better.

But DEAR?

That makes me want to go out in the garden and eat worms.

Thank You Note Brightens My Day

My 11-year old great-nephew in Austin, Texas not only sends hand-written thank you notes, his notes are poems he composes himself!

One arrived yesterday. What an incredible delight to receive. And what remarkable parents he has who have nurtured and encouraged such courtesy and imagination!