Where Are The 100W ??

I am pretty environmentally concious. Save the rainforest....recycle, reuse...eat local...turn off the lights when you leave room...unplug chargers when not in use. I don't mind walking to places that are close instead of driving. I set my thermostat low in the winter and high in the summer, so see, I do care very much about our planet earth.

But apparently I have been living in a bubble and have no idea what is happening.  A couple of weeks ago I was grocery shopping and needed some light bulbs, 100 watt bulbs to be specific.  The store was out of them, so I went to another store later in the day and they were out of them also, odd I thought. A few days later I was at the drugstore for something else so I decided to look for my bulbs. No 100 watt, none....zero...zip...nada. They had 40, 60, 75, but no 100, how am I supposed to read without a 100  watt bulb? What really tipped me off that something was going on was that today I was at Target and decided to check out the bulbs.....SURPRISE, no 100w. I stopped at two more stores on the way home and guess what, they didn't have them either. I asked a salesperson at Target and they shrugged their shoulders and didn't know anything about it, at another store I waited at the service desk because I was going to get to the bottom of this. I waited and waited, no one came out so I went home.  I beginning to think I am in the twilight zone. HAVE THEY STOPPED MAKING 100 WATT BULBS? Why have I not heard about this, read it in the paper or seen it on the news? What kind of bubble have I been living in that this information has not made it's way to me? Reading will never be the same again.

I know what you're thinking....Kathy, if you are so environmentally concious why aren't you using CFL bulbs? BECAUSE I HATE THEM. That's why.  I have gotten some in the mail, free, from our local power company. I used one in my front porch light.  It lasted 2 days and when I took it out I was so nervous that I might drop it or break it and leak mercury everywhere.  Not long after that I saw an episode of The Doctors, the TV show about medical issues, not the soap opera, and they were talking about how to clean up dropped CFL light bulb. It involves gloves, plastic bags, don't touch the bulb, don't sweep it up, use duct tape to pick up the pieces, don't breath it in, throw gloves and all away, double bag........yada..yada..yada....in others words it is a hazmat situation. I have also heard stories, secondhand, about articles discussing how the workers who make these bulbs are being exposed to large amounts of mercury. I haven't persoanally read these articles, so obviously I am not in that loop either.

I want my 100 watts back, I promise I will cut back in other ways.....pleeeaaaassee.

Is there a blackmarket for light bulbs? This whole thing is making me very uncomfortable.

"Sigh"........Kathy