By Rosie Preston
* Grabbing a cart in a supermarket parking lot can keep your car from being hit by keeping the parking lot tidy. It is certainly a kind tip to offer an empty cart to an elderly or handicapped person.
* Climate change scientists are predicting the hottest weather in quite some time coming our way very soon. If you work outside, there are towels and hats sold at local retail stores that can cool your body down. You just wet one or both (be smart – use two) and your core temperature will be reduced. Of course, you must wet the towels every few hours.
* A heatstroke can happen within 15 minutes, so please be aware of the people around you and get help if needed. Prevent heatstroke by getting to a shaded area as soon as your feel your body start to break out in a sweat. Use cool water to splash on yourself; not cold water, as it could put you into shock.
* Extreme heat can quickly shatter a car window. To avoid that problem, leave your windows down a couple of inches.
*Obey all traffic laws. Everyone realizes that a car trying to beat a red light contains a very dangerous driver inside. Keep your distance from people who are driving haphazardly. Wait a few seconds after a light turns green to make sure that another driver is not speeding through it. I’ve seen up to four cars drive under caution (yellow) or stop (red) lights as if they have an emergency.
*It’s easy to forget that traffic laws are put in place for your safety, not to get you to the fire you seem to be trying to find. You are literally going up in smoke!
* Help people around you who may need a door opened or who may be trying to back out of a parking spot and have a blindside and cannot see.
* Greet cashiers, store workers and everyone who is working that day with a smile. It also doesn’t hurt to share a positive word, such as “Have a blessed day!”
* When you go to eat in a nice restaurant, always leave at least a 15 or 20 percent tip.
* Begin today retrieving empty carts from parking lots. I see so many people pass by the available ones in the lot, which in many cases are blocking parking spaces, only to walk in a store and get one from the inside cart space. These carts are very expensive and cost retail stores a lot of money. The carts also cause damage to cars when left to roll around. Many stores have machines that help employees to push more carts back to the store, yet there are people who scream and yell and say negative things to those workers. Let’s be nice, let’s be kind and let’s smile a while!
Keep smiling, Rosie
Please send me a poem or short story at rosie.preston@yahoo.com. I would love to publish it!