Washington, Part III

More things I learned about Washington versus Indiana:

1.  There is a "no idling" sentiment.  If you are in a parking lot in Washington, waiting for family to come out of a store, you don't leave your car running.  It just isn't done.  In Indiana, people start and run their cars, and leave them running while they just make a mad dash into a store.  Idling unattended.

2.  No one smokes.  Period.  There are few "no smoking" signs, nor are there places to deposit cigarette butts outside of establishments.  If you smoke, you are in a definite minority.  In Indiana, there are signs about no smoking everywhere, but there are also places to put cigarette butts, if you do.  And I wish I had money for every time I departed my car in an Indiana parking lot to discover a pile of butts where someone simply dumped their ashtray on the pavement.

3.  Trash is trash, right?  Wrong!  Where my daughter lives in Washington, they have three trash bins.  One is for recyclables; one is for trash; and one is for compost.  And they pay for it.  Interestingly, the smallest bin is for the land fill trash.  Yikes!  Here, the trash bins are not provided by the trash collectors, except for a small tub for recyclables.  There are no observable limits to what goes into your bins, and recycling is only barely supported.  We pay for it, but not much.  One dollar per month in my community.

4. Flimsy plastic grocery bags are under attack in many places, including Washington.  People are encouraged to carry reusable sacks.  And so it is here; HOWEVER, Indiana (under then-Governor Mike Pence) passed a law that forbids any city or county in the state from banning the use of those plastic bags.  Indiana showed its Republican roots on that one...  Why should WE worry about the environment??

5.  In Indiana, you won't find dogs on leashes out in public unless being walked or taken into Petsmart or a veterinarian.   That doesn't mean that they aren't taken along on trips.  Sometimes, they are taken and left in vehicles inappropriately, when the outside temperatures threaten the lives of the critters.  (I am particularly sensitive to this because my ex-husband left our Irish Setter in the car while he had lunch with friends on a hot day, and she died--especially since the last thing I said to him that day before going to work was, "Don't leave Ann in the car.  It's supposed to be hot today."  I was, as you might suspect, devastated.)  Of course, since a really hot day is rare in my daughter's part of Washington, the "dog status" isn't quite so worrisome.  Dogs there are quite happy to be out and about in public and do not seem to be bothered by other people or other pets.

6.  This is something that works on me.  Here in Indiana, we are land-locked.  Fish comes into grocery stores frozen, usually, and is expensive.  It isn't locally caught, and most Hoosiers don't care for it.  Hence, no real market for it.  (Or so it seems.)  So...not much demand.  Supply is limited, but so is demand.  Why is it then more expensive than beef?  Okay...so I go out to Washington where fish and crab are plentiful and people like it.  They catch some of it themselves.  The supply is plentiful, and so is the demand, but it's still expensive.  I don't get it.  I always thought that the principles of supply-and-demand controlled prices.  Inquiring minds want to know.  I'm listening.

Life goes on in Indiana.  I suspect it goes on in Washington without me, too!