Saturday's blue

[altivo]

The sky, anyway. It didn't rain. A miracle. The animals all got to go outdoors.

We went to Sam's evil empire to buy groceries. Gary fixed the lawn tractor and did some mowing to make sure it worked. I weeded the strawberries and removed flower buds. I was going to bake a rhubarb pie, but didn't get that far. Tomorrow.

We made burgers out of ground turkey on the grill tonight, with spinach salad from the garden and baked beans. I avoided doing laundry, but will have to do it tomorrow or else.

Still shoveling paper out of my study/workroom. Should find the floor soon.

Saw that red-headed woodpecker two or three more times, snapped more photos but haven't offloaded from the camera yet. If they are any better I'll post some.

Now off to bed.

Comments

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Hey, speaking of SAM's I've been reading this book
about SOG in Vietnam.

Turns out that Walton's son was a great medic, and
almost died in South Vietnam during a fierce fight.

Tell him that his sacrifice wasn't in vain, and that
he should learn from the experience the lesson
of Bismark and give his workers bennies.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree. Now that Wal*Marck is a publicly held corporation, I'm not sure the family has as much say anyway in how it runs. What we have here is the same problem that is so familiar down south, where the evil empire has been active much longer. There are no longer any real choices. Food prices continue to rise, the economic downturn doesn't seem to have affected them at all. We're at the point where the price at an independent grocer or even at the large chain grocery-only stores (owned by Albertson's or Safeway, mostly) are nearly double the price of the same item at the evil empire store. Even after screening out the stuff imported from China (why would you import peaches from China when they are grown right here?) the compared cost of a week's groceries makes buying at the local grocer look just plain stupid.

Our real estate taxes keep climbing too, even though the true resale value of houses and land has declined. They just ignore that and keep on raising it all by 3 or 4% a year. Gary's income is fixed, no increases at all. My annual increase is always less than inflation, and I didn't have the greatest base bay to start with.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

*sleeps on the papers in your workroom and swipes at you when you try to take them away* ;)

Not a member of Sam's Club

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

Sams club always seemed far more "bare bones" than Wally World. Literally just a warehouse that has gigantic containers of mayo, ketchup & mustard (how much of those can one person consume?!?!) that usually exceed the size for industrial-sized buckets of spackle or joint compound :P

The things I always see there are huge boxes of (mostly) sugary cereal, instant ramen & (for some odd reason) frozen vegetables that probably weren't fit for consumption before they were frozen.

Pop quiz: which do you find more disgusting- someone buying a bag of teriyaki flavored jerky OR a bag of "bar-B-Q" chicken wings that's big enough to need a bag for itself?

Re: Not a member of Sam's Club

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Quiz answer: both are pretty awful sounding.

By "Sam's evil empire" I'm referring in fact to Wal*Mart. We do go to Sam's Club occasionally because I get a free card from work but we buy computer supplies like paper and toner there, not much food. The one nearest us does have more stuff in reasonable sized quantities now, but you're right about the huge institutional packaging of much of their food products. I did notice some things there that we will use, though. Baking powder with no aluminum in it is hard to find and they have it. Also bread flower in decent sized bags (10 or 20 lbs.) rather than the little useless ones the regular grocers have. Gary likes Ritz crackers and goes through a box a week. Those are $4.50 a box at the regular grocery and Sam's has bundles of four boxes for something like $6.50 total. That's a deal too good to pass up. They also have some decent coffee for far less than the other places charge.

Re: Truth comedy.

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

Quiz answer: both are pretty awful sounding.

I don't like 'em either, but in a pinch, I've chosen to eat both. I'm now confident I could could stomach roadkill :P

Gary likes Ritz crackers and goes through a box a week.

Tsk tsk, you're going to have to be a disciplinarian and get after him about that at some point.

You're a pretty good source of info on this stuff, Alt- I'm grateful you're so fourthcoming with it.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*rolls you up in the papers and dumps you in the recycling bin*

Oops. ;p

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Ack! How dare you move me from my sacred sleeping place....any place I sleep is sacred :D