It's Not That Easy Going Green

My only major plans for today was getting the laundry done. It was so nice this morning, I dropped the laundry bag in Miss Ellie's old cart and walked to the laundromat instead of taking my bike. It was sunny and still chilly and windy, but slightly warmer than yesterday. The daffodils are just about gone, but the lilacs are almost out. I hope the frost they reported for the last few nights didn't do any major damage. Everything looked fine to me.

Thankfully after last week, the laundromat was empty when I arrived. The TV was on the Philadelphia NBC affiliate's 11:30 news show; they discussed Earth Day, flooding in St. Louis, and the capture of the Boston Marathon bombers. A few people did show up later, but by the time it was starting to get busier, my small load was out of the drier and ready to go.

On my way home, I thought I'd try something. Every yard, park, and patch of grass in South Jersey has at least a few sprouts of spring onions, long grass-like bulbs. When you pull them out, they look like mini pearl onions with scallion ends. I used to bring them home all the time as a child so Mom could use them in cooking. Mom didn't always appreciate it; she'd complain when I'd bring home too many, or that she couldn't figure out what to do with them.

I knew what to do with them. I plucked a bunch from the side path that leads to my apartment, along with some fresh dandelion greens. I washed them thoroughly, then chopped the onion and added it to tuna, light mayo, chopped celery, and dried tarragon. I put the tuna mix on a bed of spinach and dandelion greens for Simple Abundance Tuna Salad (named after the book I got the idea from).

Ran cartoons themed around Earth Day, Arbor Day, and conservation of our natural resources throughout the morning and early afternoon. The Lorax is the little orange man who speaks for the trees, but the greedy Onceler won't listen to him and continues chopping them down and destroying the forest, until both learn a sad lesson in the damage unchecked "progress" can do. The Sailor Soliders learn a similar lesson when evil magic turns the creatures of a threatened local park and the park's caretaker against them in the first season Sailor Moon episode "An Unnatural Phenomenon." The Pink Panther has his paws full trying to keep a camper who ignores his signs from making a mess of Mother Nature in the early 70s short "Keep Our Forests Pink."

Tiny Toon Adventures did several episodes on saving the planet and its creatures; I chose two from the later first season. In "A Whale's Tale," Buster and Babs save a baby whale from a clueless Elmyra and his mother from a female poacher who wants to use her blubber for cosmetics. "Pollution Solution" has Plucky trying to keep Elmyra from tossing her cans into his pond, Buster and Babs stopping a nasty rich executive from destroying the rain forest to build his front lawn, and GoGo the Dodo coming up with a creative way of getting the backwash from Montana Max's factory out of Wackyland.

The Peanuts take conservation of the Earth into their own hands, paws, and wings in It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown. Sally wants to put what she's learned about Arbor Day and trees in school into action. The gang finds the perfect lot for a garden...Charlie Brown's baseball field! Chuck isn't thrilled with their beautification project, until it looks like it might actually help them win a game.

I went to work not long after the Peanuts and Pink Panther finished. Work was pretty much the same as yesterday - busy when I came in, quiet when I left. The time went quickly, and there were no major problems. I was in and out after picking up cherry tomatoes (on sale for a dollar), eggs (still a dollar - might as well stock up), and buttermilk.