Widows & Widowers Support Group
This community is dedicated to those who have lost a husband, wife, or partner. Anything is open for discussion here, with the hope that we can focus on grief, bereavement, life after loss, and continuing on after a great loss.
It finally happened: I broke a bulb. The first time in my life. And it just had to be a CFL bulb.
I'd decided early on not to buy these bulbs. I'll stock pile the regular bulbs or buy LEDs, but no bulbs that will cause me to seal a room just 'cause one broke. Then I moved into a new house, and wouldn't you know it, I'm surrounded by CFLs. Still, I figured I'd be okay because I'd never broken a bulb before, so why should I start now? I figured I would let the thing blow out then replace it with one in my stock pile. It was not to be. Suddenly one of my outlets stopped working, and I removed the bulb and replaced it with a regular bulb. Of course that didn't fix the problem, so I figured I'd hang on to the CFL--a girls gotta save money where she can. So I put it in my pantry and two hours later I went into said pantry, touched something and bam, CFL and it's mercury all over my floor.
I was told to leave the room for ten minutes, shut off the forced air, but of course I forgot. All I remmbered was getting a bag, sweeping it up and sealing the bag. An hour later I was on the computer and found out I'd done it wrong. Now, mercury is flying through my house and I'm wanting to know, why would the government ban the regular bulbs and force us all to buy CFL, a bulb that practically requires a haz team to dispose of it.
Anyhow, long story short, I messed up my back last night, so me and the broken CFL bulb are living together. AT first I was afraid, then I remembered playing with mercury as a child. And here I am about to celebrate my 55th birthday. Oh, well... anyhow, when my back feels better I'm stock piling 100 regular bulbs.
I'd decided early on not to buy these bulbs. I'll stock pile the regular bulbs or buy LEDs, but no bulbs that will cause me to seal a room just 'cause one broke. Then I moved into a new house, and wouldn't you know it, I'm surrounded by CFLs. Still, I figured I'd be okay because I'd never broken a bulb before, so why should I start now? I figured I would let the thing blow out then replace it with one in my stock pile. It was not to be. Suddenly one of my outlets stopped working, and I removed the bulb and replaced it with a regular bulb. Of course that didn't fix the problem, so I figured I'd hang on to the CFL--a girls gotta save money where she can. So I put it in my pantry and two hours later I went into said pantry, touched something and bam, CFL and it's mercury all over my floor.
I was told to leave the room for ten minutes, shut off the forced air, but of course I forgot. All I remmbered was getting a bag, sweeping it up and sealing the bag. An hour later I was on the computer and found out I'd done it wrong. Now, mercury is flying through my house and I'm wanting to know, why would the government ban the regular bulbs and force us all to buy CFL, a bulb that practically requires a haz team to dispose of it.
Anyhow, long story short, I messed up my back last night, so me and the broken CFL bulb are living together. AT first I was afraid, then I remembered playing with mercury as a child. And here I am about to celebrate my 55th birthday. Oh, well... anyhow, when my back feels better I'm stock piling 100 regular bulbs.
I don't worry about it. We have a couple in the living room but that's all. I'm sure you'll be celebrating many more decades despite fiddling with the mercury from your bulb!
Ralph
I believe in being green - but honestly, sometimes I have to wonder how the government thinks it's ok to clutter up space with their space junk and spend money on killing people in other countries (aka war), or heating the water in our water heaters over and over again (Australia has a good system to combat that) but burning a lightbulb is all of a sudden a major catastrophe. sigh
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