Living up to the cranky part

The title of this blog is there for a reason. While I am by no means little, the sobriquet of cranky old lady certainly fits. As Nellie and I were out on our usual walkabout, on a rainy evening no less, we passed a house with the sprinklers running - in the rain. Let that sink in. It had already rained heavily in the night and off and on during the day, yet these people thought it'd be a swell idea to run the sprinklers. To add to the folly, their lawn, such as it is, is definitely not worthy of such treatment and it would be a kindness to mercifully kill it off and plant something more suited to the environment. That said, it got me thinking about other pet peeves, and yup, you can stop reading, because here goes the rant:

1.   Wasting potable water, especially in an arid environment. Whether it's big agriculture or individual homes, water is precious. Running sprinklers in the rain, or worse, running them every day (yup, there's someone in the neighborhood who thinks that's a good idea), is just wrong.

2.  Picking up your dog's poop is a good thing, right? Yes it definitely is. Assuming you've done your job when you pick up, don't then throw the bag into nearby bushes or just on the sidewalk. It's trash. It belongs in the waste bin.

3.  Speaking of trash -- why do Americans feel that throwing things away in the street or on sidewalks is an acceptable practice? In Japan, there are hardly any waste bins in public, and yet the streets are clear of debris. After sporting events, the audience will clean up the stadium before they leave. It is even exceptionally rare to find a cigarette butt anywhere. The complete opposite is true here. Every day I go out with my grabber and trash bucket to pick up the flotsam and jetsam left behind by motorists who throw their fast food wrappers out the window, pedestrians who think the shrubs are the town rubbish tip, and smokers who don't have the brains to realize they can start fires with their careless tossing of butts. Not to mention the harm to wildlife and pets. Trash is ugly, it's environmentally disastrous, and really annoying to those who end up putting it where it belongs.

4.  Able bodied people who see a person with two dogs and a cane walking on the sidewalk, but don't feel they need to move over at all and come plowing toward what could be an unfriendly animal and a definitely cranky person need to get a clue. Or some manners. The ones riding bikes who come straight at you are even worse, since they don't seem to know they don't have right of way at all. The looks on their faces are priceless though, when I just stand still and block their way. Yes, that is petty. Not sorry.

5.  Last but not least, articles accusing each different generation of multiple lifestyle infractions are tiresome. My suspicion is that even the Neanderthals were complaining about young people and old geezers. Certainly Plato had multiple things to say on the subject. Each generation goes through pretty much the same life stuff and faces similar issues. The tragedy is that humans don't seem to learn much over time. But I will say one thing in defense of Boomers:  they created a society that allows women to wear pants to work. Boo-ya. 

If you made it this far, so sorry you trudged through this. But thanks for playing. To end on a nice note, some wonderful tile steps: