We’ve been warned of impending drought this summer, and along with that the concomitant wildfires, yet so many people leave dead cedar bushes ringing their homes. We were wrong to buy them when we did, and I’d never do it again as they need so much water. But if you have them, you do have to water, or else they die and then if you leave them and one cigarette butt is thrown, look out.

34 years ago when we moved into this house we noticed many yards were ringed with cedar bushes and when we went to the nurseries they had tons of them, so we naturally thought this is the plant to buy. However it’s not a desert plant, and so can imagine the amount of water these hedges require?

And then add to that the thick pine needle drop in Sutherland Hills Park and you can just sense another disaster of fire waiting to happen. My Ponderosa pines are part of that forest, as we live in a beautiful heavily wooded area. We all love trees until they burn down our homes, but I can’t worry about it. I can only hope the City recognizes needle drop in a public park and dead cedars around homes are hazards.

Social media sure works, as I posted on the Osoyoos Connect Facebook page that mom’s phone wasn’t working thanks to being switched over to some high falutin’ cellular network. Over 100 people commented, and over 60 emojis were posted, most of them angry, and the nice Telus person who was working on mom’s house said he got several calls from concerned citizens.

Just a suggestion, but if you really want to get something done, post on social media. The downside, as we all know, are trolls making rude or stupid comments, but I didn’t actually get any of those on this post about mom’s phone. Though when I posted about the thick pine needle drop on the Hall Road Facebook page, I got some ignorant results.

And while we’re onto suggestions, if you have stuff you really don’t know what to do with, put it into a box and drop it at Value Village. They’ll sort and recycle. Where else can you drop half a can of old paint, a broken fan, old photo albums or ancient books with that tiny print? Exactly. Instead of putting them into the landfill, let Value Village decide what’s garbage and what isn’t.

And who among us thrift store shoppers hasn’t bought an item that seemed wonderful only to discover it’s got issues. I bought a great hard-sided carry-on suitcase at the Salvation Army for around $10 and was smug all the way home. Then after trying to lift and release the handle a few times and realizing it was super sticky, I went oh that’s why it’d been dropped to thrift. Tit for tat, right?

I’m quite sure this is going to lead to a disaster, however Romany Runnalls, the nice volunteer president of the Okanagan Humane Society, said they’re always looking for host foster families as they don’t have a facility and count on volunteers. I said I doubt I’d qualify as my pets aren’t vaccinated, plus I already have two dogs and two cats so could become a hoarder quite easily.

However Romany replied that’s not a problem, thanks a lot, we always need volunteers, you’ll be doing such a good thing….. so just make a note of this date so that when I hit the papers, you’ll know why.