Shh? No! Speak up!

California Legislature is considering banning incandescent light bulbs.

I am all for conservation of energy, reusable resources, renewable resources, thinking before we act. I use both types of bulbs, depending on the location.

Living in Florida, there were days just the heat from one incandescent bulb made it uncomfortable to sit close to the lamp. But here in the Pacific Northwest I have no heat in my bathrooms at all. And the heat from the incandescent light bulbs above the sink vanity combined with the heat lamp in the ceiling make it comfortable enough to even take a shower when it is in the twenties outside.

I also keep my heat quite cold, many times throw on a lightweight fleece jacket on rather than warm up the room. Why? Because I hate hot weather, I love to feel cool, always have. Sitting next to an incandescent light can make the difference in bumping up the heat or not. I save more electricity by using incandescent lights than I could ever save by putting heat in my bathrooms.

The choice should be ours. Educate us on being responsible, offer incentives if you want to help us when we have less money, control safety issues, but don’t try to run every detail of our lives. Put your money, your effort in renewable resources.

I have an idea: Put solar systems for hot water heaters in homes of the poor. See if it makes a difference in that there is less energy used (overall) and a family not paying to heat their water, may have money left to buy the new bulbs for some of their lamps, the ones they aren’t using in lieu of heat, anyway.

California Legislature is considering banning incandescent light bulbs.

I am all for conservation of energy, reusable resources, renewable resources, thinking before we act. I use both types of bulbs, depending on the location.

Living in Florida, there were days just the heat from one incandescent bulb made it uncomfortable to sit close to the lamp. But here in the Pacific Northwest I have no heat in my bathrooms at all. And the heat from the incandescent light bulbs above the sink vanity combined with the heat lamp in the ceiling make it comfortable enough to even take a shower when it is in the twenties outside.

I also keep my heat quite cold, many times throw on a lightweight fleece jacket on rather than warm up the room. Why? Because I hate hot weather, I love to feel cool, always have. Sitting next to an incandescent light can make the difference in bumping up the heat or not. I save more electricity by using incandescent lights than I could ever save by putting heat in my bathrooms.

The choice should be ours. Educate us on being responsible, offer incentives if you want to help us when we have less money, control safety issues, but don’t try to run every detail of our lives. Put your money, your effort in renewable resources.

I have an idea: Put solar systems for hot water heaters in homes of the poor. See if it makes a difference in that there is less energy used (overall) and a family not paying to heat their water, may have money left to buy the new bulbs for some of their lamps, the ones they aren’t using in lieu of heat, anyway.

Westport, WA,

EDIT: Ok, I was rotten to let y’all think he would actually smash my plane. He didn’t, he just likes to tease, besides then he couldn’t fly it, too.

Fog and Frost. Days like this I know why I have retired from going to work every day. I think there should be a permanent understanding that no one has to drive to work in the fog! I know I would have backing in this campaign, but I also know my campaign would fail due to the need to work for a living. (Put a different way: the businesses need their employees to open, customers to buy, and we all need money to put food on the table — and the majority of us are not going to buck that system, mostly for the latter reason.) It is a great dream though.

Heavy fog is more than a pet peeve. It is dangerous. If one is lucky he or she comes up behind another car and can follow their lights. That works fine if that followed driver knows where they are going or is not going at a ridiculously fast rate of speed.

Then you have to weigh that option: How fast do you go? Common sense says drive slower so you might have time to react should something appear in front of you. But common sense on some roads also tells you that if you try to go slow, you are going to get run over from behind.

Why would you get run over from behind? Two reasons. The person that drives too fast because they think it can’t happen to them OR the person that is terrified of going slow enough because they know the speeders are out there racing to work.

Solutions, I wish. But we can at least think before we get in the car, make sure our headlights and fog lights are clean, concentrate while we are driving, and control our tempers so we can concentrate.

So, for those of you out there this morning in the fog, I know you will be tense when you get to work. I just hope you will be lucky enough to have gorgeous weather this afternoon to make you smile and release some of that tension. And if the sun is not smiling on you and no one at your workplace has made you smile yet, maybe it is up to you to think of something funny and get your day going in a different direction, a better one.

I for one, will stay off the roads and out of your way.

Fog and Frost. Days like this I know why I have retired from going to work every day. I think there should be a permanent understanding that no one has to drive to work in the fog! I know I would have backing in this campaign, but I also know my campaign would fail due to the need to work for a living. (Put a different way: the businesses need their employees to open, customers to buy, and we all need money to put food on the table — and the majority of us are not going to buck that system, mostly for the latter reason.) It is a great dream though.

Heavy fog is more than a pet peeve. It is dangerous. If one is lucky he or she comes up behind another car and can follow their lights. That works fine if that followed driver knows where they are going or is not going at a ridiculously fast rate of speed.

Then you have to weigh that option: How fast do you go? Common sense says drive slower so you might have time to react should something appear in front of you. But common sense on some roads also tells you that if you try to go slow, you are going to get run over from behind.

Why would you get run over from behind? Two reasons. The person that drives too fast because they think it can’t happen to them OR the person that is terrified of going slow enough because they know the speeders are out there racing to work.

Solutions, I wish. But we can at least think before we get in the car, make sure our headlights and fog lights are clean, concentrate while we are driving, and control our tempers so we can concentrate.

So, for those of you out there this morning in the fog, I know you will be tense when you get to work. I just hope you will be lucky enough to have gorgeous weather this afternoon to make you smile and release some of that tension. And if the sun is not smiling on you and no one at your workplace has made you smile yet, maybe it is up to you to think of something funny and get your day going in a different direction, a better one.

I for one, will stay off the roads and out of your way.