Be good to the earth

Be good to the earth, use 100 percent recycled aluminum foil.
Aluminum foil is available as recycled aluminum.
Soda cans instead of aluminum-ore?
My wife (now gone) and I were greenies; we used recycled aluminum foil.
I continue the tradition, being a greenie myself.
Recycled aluminum foil made by Reynolds was available at my local Wegmans supermarket. That’s what I bought.
A while ago Wegmans stopped selling it, but I noticed recycled aluminum foil at another supermarket I patronize.
It’s not Reynolds; it’s “If You Care” brand. They also sell the unbleached chlorine-free baking cups I use to make muffins. They work really well = non-stick.
“If You Care” purports to be “environmentally friendly.”
I also use paper-towels, toilet-paper, and facial tissues made by “Marcal Small-Steps,” made from recycled paper.
Another legacy of my wife.
Supposedly “Small-Steps” saves millions of trees.
Every Monday night I eat baked tilapia fish.
I wrap it in aluminum foil, and bake it 25 minutes at 350 degrees.
I noticed the other night I had run out of aluminum foil.
So I put it on my list I keep in my iPhone to purchase it at that supermarket that sells “If You Care.”
Okay, open new package to set up tilapia for baking.
“If You Care” recycled aluminum foil is rolled onto a cardboard tube, then taped to avoid unraveling.
So carefully remove tape. No can do! The tape itself came apart.
So remove enough foil to tear off the part with the tape.
Again, no can do!
The foil is splitting where the tape was. I’m getting two halves.
So, engage box-cutter and kitchen knife to try to unattach the tape.
No can do!
The foil continues to tear itself into two halves, even though the tape is removed.
Minutes have passed! I’m already up to 20.
Just getting to this aluminum foil is turning into an engineering nightmare.
More box-cutting. Now the foil is peeling off in tiny fragments. No longer am I getting the halves.
Utter frustration! I need that aluminum foil to make my supper. Already I’m up to a half-hour, and have wasted about three square feet of foil.
Finally, I gave up! Drive car 15 minutes back to store to exchange engineering challenge for foil I can use, even if not recycled.
“I’m mad as Hell,” I said to the callow service-clerk in the supermarket.
“I bought this stuff yesterday, and it’s just plain impossible. I need aluminum foil to make my supper, which is being delayed an hour.”
The clerk started poking around with my foil, which I knew he would. Time marches on!”
“How about you get another box of this recycled stuff, and I’ll see if I get the same problem.”
“We’ll try,” I said, as I marched hurriedly to the foil aisle.
I picked up both recycled and non-recycled.
But the kid got the recycled to work.
Back to my house with a functioning recycled.
But it’s the last recycled I’ll ever buy, unless I can get Reynolds.
I don’t need madness.
I was an hour-and-a-half late starting supper.

• My beloved wife of over 44 years died of cancer April 17th, 2012. I miss her dearly.
• “Wegmans” is a large supermarket-chain based in Rochester I often buy groceries at. They have a store in Canandaigua. (“Canandaigua” [“cannan-DAY-gwuh”] is a small city to the east nearby where I live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” It’s about 14 miles east. I live in the small rural town of West Bloomfield in Western NY, southeast of Rochester.)