A Careless Smoker, Destruction & an Angel's Visit

It was a dark and stormy night and -- A gentle knock on the door, 11:40 at night, two little old ladies were enjoying the opening monologue of Jay Leno. We looked at each other and wondered who it might be. Another gentle knock. I rise, a little trepidatious, opening the door to a young man in his early 20s.

"I'm sorry if I woke you up, Ma'am, but did you know your front yard is on fire?" In stunned silence, I look at his concerned face and he seems to be glowing. By moving my head just a little to the right, the glow becomes something like this

behind him!

"Oh, my goodness, no." I reply, calmly, so as not to alarm him, "I had no idea! Be right with you."

It probably wasn't as big a fire as the burning of Atlanta, but, so far as I was concerned, it was on MY property and, until it was contained, it WAS Atlanta! Someone had tossed a lighted cigarette out their window and, with just enough wind, caught a drought-stressed lawn and leaves afire. I had taken my longest hose to the back yard for gardening just that morning and was now frantically trying to find it in the dark (I knew I should have replaced that bulb, last month) without tripping over -- well, my own feet, for that matter.

Meanwhile, my sister had given the kind young man a teaspoonful of water pitcher for water to start putting out the fire. Once the hose was attached to the front faucet, things became a little less frenetic. But, in just a short time, I had lost one of my driveway markers.

But, apparently, I got off lucky. When I shared this moment with another friend, they said the same thing had happened to their neighbor but he wasn't home and the fire took most of his front yard and jumped over to the neighbor's on the other side and, by the time the Fire Department arrived, his car had been engulfed in flames! All because some idiot couldn't use their ashtray. 

Now, I'm trying to decide whether or not to replace the driveway marker, whose companion looks like this

or come up with something different. Maybe, it's time for solar lights.

I'm a very lucky woman. If that young man hadn't stopped to let me know about the fire, things could have been so much worse. He didn't have to stop but he did. We were truly touched by an Angel.

A Penny Saved Puts You in Control

A Penny Saved Puts You in Control

Wait! That's not a penny, at all. That's an old package of Plasticaware. For one thin dime, 1/10th of a dollar, you, too, forty years ago, could have wisely purchased this box of ten (count them, ten) THROW-AWAY plastic spoons! Unlike this frivolous shopper who paid a dime for only eight (8) Plasticaware disposable spoons. (Where were standards?)

Did I find this during one of my thrift shop forays? Oh, no. My dear friend, who is generosity to a fault. discovered that his current instant coffee spoon had to be replaced because it had become unwieldy. He said the box was in his 'junk' drawer. (Junk drawer. Oh, please. Jeesh! He's a real beginner at junk drawers. I could show him a thing or two on what goes into a junk drawer.)  -- but, I digress.