Had a major disaster last night. Driving home late, after cleaning offices for hours. Almost home, feeling very tired, and a cat ran across the street in front of me from the left. Instinctively, I swerved right. Missed the cat, but my right front wheel went off the pavement and the sand on the side of the road caught it. Couldn't pull it back on the street quick enough and hit an electric pole.
My beautiful car is crumpled in the front. I'm fine. Was driving very slow, because I was on a residential side street, so I suppose it could have been a lot worse - I could have been killed! But .... my beautiful car is severely messed up. It starts just fine, sounds as good as ever, and when the towtruck pulled it out of the ditch, I saw the front wheels turning, so I'm hoping that it will only need body work.
My janitor had been following me all night. I always go in first to do the dusting, polishing, kitchens and bathrooms. He goes in after me and does the heavy work - trash and floors. When I went off the road, I called him in a panic. He was there within a few minutes. Asked me what happened and when I told him he said "Joan, next time, HIT THE DAMN CAT!!"
I know he's right, but how can I do that? I remember my Dad always telling me that if a small animal runs in front of me while I'm driving, I should just hit it, because that is much safer than swerving. But, I always try to avoid critters - like that bird a month ago.
I really need to stop avoiding small animals. How can I retrain my brain?
Today, I'm stranded without a car. My insurance policy includes a rental car, but the rental companies are all closed today.
On another topic .......... I've been following a really cool blog and want to share it with y'all. It's being maintained by a scuba diver who is working with an organization called Alguita to research the stupendous amount of plastic trash accumulating in the world's oceans.
At the moment, he is on a catamaran in the Pacific Ocean to research the Pacific garbage patch. I've heard it is twice the size of Texas - that's pretty big! The wind currents and ocean currents cause all this trash to eventually converge in "patches" on the ocean.
Plastic takes 1000 years to break down completely. At that point, it is still in the water and so it gets into the very systems of the fish and other creatures who live in the ocean. Ultimately, we will end up ingesting it ourselves, when we eat the fish. It is toxic, no matter how you look at it.
Some reports say that plastic waste in the oceans actually weighs more than all the plankton.
This is a serious, scary problem.
The crew of this catamaran will spend the next 2+ months aboard and travel 8,000 miles on this research mission. They left from Los Angeles and right now, they are out in the middle of the Pacific, enroute to the trash site.
Here is a link to the blog, for anyone else who is interested in following it:
http://trashvoyage.com
Enjoy the blog, and please, please, PLEASE: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Don't accept those single-use plastic bags at grocery and retail stores - carry your own reusable bags made from something that is 100% biodegradable. Use your water bottles over and over again until they start to leak, then recycle them properly. Any plastic bags that come to you can be recycled also. Don't let them get into the natural environment!
My beautiful car is crumpled in the front. I'm fine. Was driving very slow, because I was on a residential side street, so I suppose it could have been a lot worse - I could have been killed! But .... my beautiful car is severely messed up. It starts just fine, sounds as good as ever, and when the towtruck pulled it out of the ditch, I saw the front wheels turning, so I'm hoping that it will only need body work.
My janitor had been following me all night. I always go in first to do the dusting, polishing, kitchens and bathrooms. He goes in after me and does the heavy work - trash and floors. When I went off the road, I called him in a panic. He was there within a few minutes. Asked me what happened and when I told him he said "Joan, next time, HIT THE DAMN CAT!!"
I know he's right, but how can I do that? I remember my Dad always telling me that if a small animal runs in front of me while I'm driving, I should just hit it, because that is much safer than swerving. But, I always try to avoid critters - like that bird a month ago.
I really need to stop avoiding small animals. How can I retrain my brain?
Today, I'm stranded without a car. My insurance policy includes a rental car, but the rental companies are all closed today.
On another topic .......... I've been following a really cool blog and want to share it with y'all. It's being maintained by a scuba diver who is working with an organization called Alguita to research the stupendous amount of plastic trash accumulating in the world's oceans.
At the moment, he is on a catamaran in the Pacific Ocean to research the Pacific garbage patch. I've heard it is twice the size of Texas - that's pretty big! The wind currents and ocean currents cause all this trash to eventually converge in "patches" on the ocean.
Plastic takes 1000 years to break down completely. At that point, it is still in the water and so it gets into the very systems of the fish and other creatures who live in the ocean. Ultimately, we will end up ingesting it ourselves, when we eat the fish. It is toxic, no matter how you look at it.
Some reports say that plastic waste in the oceans actually weighs more than all the plankton.
This is a serious, scary problem.
The crew of this catamaran will spend the next 2+ months aboard and travel 8,000 miles on this research mission. They left from Los Angeles and right now, they are out in the middle of the Pacific, enroute to the trash site.
Here is a link to the blog, for anyone else who is interested in following it:
http://trashvoyage.com
Enjoy the blog, and please, please, PLEASE: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Don't accept those single-use plastic bags at grocery and retail stores - carry your own reusable bags made from something that is 100% biodegradable. Use your water bottles over and over again until they start to leak, then recycle them properly. Any plastic bags that come to you can be recycled also. Don't let them get into the natural environment!
posted by Me | 7:26 AM
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