Sanibel Journal

More than a week has passed since I left the house. I left to take my husband, Tom, to the emergency room because he'd nearly severed his left index finger on his table saw. Hearing his screams caused me to shoot out of the pool. I raced past spots of blood on the floor, and I found him in the living room, a dish towel wrapped around his left hand. He was in a mild state of shock. I called 911, then raced to put on dry clothes because I know from experience that those EMTs arrive promptly. Amazingly, there was not much blood to mark the occasion. As one of the EMTs pointed out, there was more pool water on the floor than blood. As the EMTs cleaned some sawdust out of the wound and stuck the dangling finger back on, binding it with gauze, I asked questions such as, "Will he be able to type?" Two EMTs laughed, thinking this was a joke. But a third EMT said, "Is he an author?" "Yes," I answered. "Will he still be able to play the drums?" was m

  by Barbara Joy Cooley, Chair of the COTI Environment Committee What can you do about red tide?   There is something.   Maybe you have done it, or are already doing it.   Maybe you haven’t done it yet, but you will – hopefully, soon. What is it that you can do?   Go Native!   Get rid of that green, grassy lawn and replace it with native vegetation.   City of Sanibel guidelines state that at least 75 percent of your yard and garden should be planted with native plants.   To meet the guidelines, only 25 percent can be non-natives. In many ways, green, grassy lawns are the worst of the non-natives because, as City Councilman Dr. Scott Crater stated so clearly on March 7, “You can’t grow grass on sand.   You cannot do it.   It is impossible.   The only way to grow grass on sand is to dump chemicals on the ground.” Those chemicals include nutrients that eventually make their way into coastal waters to feed the red tide algae, contributing to red tide blooms like those that are plag