Shower

I am a participant in the Great Peace March. I bused back to Santa Monica on March 13 to be here for a court date. Kathleen Hendrix's terrific story of March 14 on the Peace March was my breakfast companion (after a blissful night's sleep at home and an indescribably luxurious hot morning shower). Thank you for such an in-depth article written clearly and concisely. I understood from later news that PROPeace Inc. was declaring bankruptcy and a new corporation, the Great Peace March Inc. is evolving.

Tire chains and snow shovels were more appropriate Mother's Day gifts than bouquets in the Sierra and parts of western Nevada on Sunday, where up to a foot of snow halted traffic and blanketed springtime flowers. The snowfall on Interstate 80 was generally light and slushy across Donner Summit, but a brief, heavy shower triggered a series of chain-reaction accidents that shut down eastbound lanes at the Kingvale exit for nearly two hours in the afternoon, the California Highway Patrol said.

While David and Dianah Clifford of Calabasas are "trying to meet the mandatory water cutbacks by eating off paper plates" (May 28, page B5), the Times garden editor Bob Smaus (May 26) not only has a 13-foot-deep border garden but also has "teen-agers who spend most of the morning in a shower." His family of 5 manages to use 600 gallons a day. Our household of two uses a tad over 600 gallons per month. Each of his household is therefore using twelve (12!) times as much as I am. Yet I should cut down 27% so his kids can take long showers?

Why on earth do you repeatedly send "Babes in the Woods" (Weekend Escape, July 31)? No, I'm not referring to the fact that you covered an all-female camping trip. I'm referring to the fact that once again you have sent complete novices to write about the forest. Why not send writers who enjoy the wilderness? Your writers have trekked to Yosemite, Mineral King National Park and Idyllwild, all great locations to relax and commune with nature. Yet, every report was filled with complaints about things that come with the territory, things like sweat and dirt.

An 18-year-old male hitchhiker thumbing a ride in Hollywood was kidnaped and sexually assaulted Thursday by a man who picked him up, police said. The hitchhiker was taken to a home in El Segundo, where he was held against his will and sexually assaulted, Lt. Ron Green said. After the attack, the victim was ordered to take a shower in the bathroom, where he managed to escape through a window and call police shortly after 3 a.m., Green said. Police later arrested and booked David Wayne Beckett, 28, on suspicion of kidnaping, sodomy and assault with intent to commit rape, he said.

Re "More Charity, Less Overhead," editorial, Sept. 2: While I am no fan of promoter Dan Pallotta's ego or the way he distributes money to charity, I do take issue with you on the "three dinners, four lunches, four breakfasts, mobile hot showers on tractor trailers...." I did one of those three-day walks and worked on the medical crew for another. The dinners are not steak, shrimp and champagne but pasta, green salad and fruit. Lunches and breakfasts are likewise healthy and full of the carbs you need to keep going.

Hi. My name is Elizabeth, and I'm addicted to oil. Is there a 12-step program out there for me? Not exactly. Even if there were, kicking the habit would be a daunting task. Oil is just way too useful. Its byproducts are almost everywhere, and my daily life practically oozes petroleum. To rid myself of products tied to oil and its carbon cousin, natural gas, I would have to pull up my carpet and pitch my cosmetics. My premium-gas-gulping car would get the heave-ho. So would the chemicals that keep my pool clean.

Question: We want to install lights around our swimming pool to make it more desirable for nighttime entertaining this spring and summer. My son, who goes to a vocational school, believes we can do it ourselves if we buy a book that provides specific instructions. Can you recommend a book that will give us step-by-step instructions to handle the job? Answer: You didn't say how much experience you have had with electricity. I assume none and that you're relying on your high school son a lot.

"The secret to a happy marriage is separate bathrooms," says Lucy Deny-Gardner, who four years ago bought an upscale tract home in Northridge's Porter Ranch area with her husband, Craig Gardner. Though the 1960s home had lots going for it--most notably an appealing trilevel design, large backyard and a pool--it also had remarkably boring bathrooms. This bothered Deny-Gardner, who said: "Just for us to be happy, we need a good place to greet the morning."