It's always something

Cliff's brother, two hundred miles from here, found someone who wants to buy our 1988 Ford pickup and is willing to pay almost $4,000 for it.  Trouble is, the pickup has to be transported to Kansas.  I don't drive, remember, so Cliff can drive it there, but he didn't know how he'd get home.  Between him and his brother, Don, they finally devised a couple of different plans of action, depending on what's available Sunday.  
Don is a professional mechanic, and he has some projects he thought Cliff would enjoy helping on, so Cliff figures he'll stay there a couple of nights and come home Sunday afternoon.  I have no desire to go sit in a house in Kansas while Cliff and his brother are playing grease-monkey, so as much as I hated to send Cliff on a four-hour drive alone, I stayed home.  Those people don't even have Internet, for pete's sake!  That, and Don's wife and I have very little in common.  
Cliff was about sixty miles from home when I thought of his meds.  I went to his bathroom and checked:  sure enough, there was his weekly pill-holder.  He'd forgotten all about his pills.  
Now, one of my readers has cautioned me that a person should not suddenly stop taking Lipitor; her husband did that and passed away very shortly afterward.  
Cliff would only be missing two nights pills, but I don't like risk-taking when it comes to my paycheck husband.  
I called the local Walmart and told them my story; the lady there assured me Cliff could pick up enough of his prescription meds at any Walmart to get him through the weekend.  
Sure enough, the druggist in Independence, Kansas, hunted my husband up on the computer and got everything taken care of in short order.  I called Cliff and told him to stop by and pick up his two-day supply of pills.  He sounded relieved.   
All's well that ends well.

A Walmart experience

Cliff and I were at Walmart picking up my blood pressure medication today; the doctor thinks we have the right kind for me now, and probably the right dosage. Time will tell.

Just as we exited the store, there was this huge "BANG", and at first we wondered if somebody was shooting at us. Then we saw the pickup. The man driving (notice it was a MAN, people!) had slammed into a concrete-encased pole not far from the entrance. He hit it so hard it not only dented the left front of his truck, it also blew out the tire.

I had my camera with me, and I wanted so badly to take a picture. Unfortunately, there was no discreet way of doing that, and I figured the guy, probably in his thirties, already felt bad enough, without watching some old woman take his picture.

We can't figure out any reason for the mishap. Was he on the cell phone? On drugs? There's no way to know, but he sure messed up a beautiful white pickup, and what looked to be a brand-new tire.

Are you ready for Black Friday?

I found a website with all the major Black Friday ads HERE.

Being a non-driver and having a husband who hates to shop, I've done the black Friday thing only once in my life, with my daughter and a couple of her friends. I've never been one to go all-out buying Christmas gifts, and these days I just don't do any gift-buying at all; call me Scrooge. I do think that if I drove, I'd get out early and watch the excitement, though. I'm sure a couple of hours would do me in; then I'd be begging for the comforts of home.

Which reminds me: Yesterday Cliff and I took his motorcycle to Tipton, Missouri, to have some maintenance work done; fluids changed, brakes, checked... that sort of thing. The cost for this at Ghetto Cycle Center is much less than at Hub, which is where we've always gone before. And with gasoline prices at $1.49 per gallon (and less), we didn't mind the little drive. We even spent a couple of hours visiting with Cliff's aunt, who lives in the area.

Where was I going with this? Oh yeah, shopping: we stopped in Warrensburg so Cliff could buy the oil for our Gold Wing. The Walmart Supercenter we entered was bustling with shoppers, all of whom seemed happy and polite. The management must pipe some sort of happy gas into the store, because I'm used to Walmart shoppers practically running me down with their shopping carts; and if they make eye contact at all, it's usually to glare at me. Most shoppers seem angry at the world. It was like this even before our economy shot craps!

Of course, I have to pause here and admit that when I see a reflection of my own face while shopping, I don't exactly look the picture of peace and good will. So maybe I'm just getting back the same vibes I'm sending out.

And that's my totally random entry for this morning. As I read back over my words, I can see this whole post goes nowhere and says very little. If you made it all the way to the end, aren't you sorry you wasted your time? (Don't answer that.)

Grocery expenses. Bah, humbug!

I haven't really had a grocery budget for several years. If I want something, I get it. No problem.

We all know what's happened to grocery prices in the past year or so, and I'm getting tired of walking out of the store over $100 poorer than I was when I walked in. Every single week. Just for me and Cliff.

OK, so I've figured out problem number one: Walmart. I go in with my "grocery" list, diligently shop for the store brand, check out the almost-expired meats for bargains, and wonder why it's costing me so much. But honestly, I do know the problem.

It's the non-grocery items. Oil for several tractors and two vehicles; bird feeders; big plastic containers for storing out-of-season clothes and quilts and mementos; even clothing, at times. Of course the oil and containers must be purchased. But I think it will be better if they are kept seperate from the groceries.

I'm going to work at shopping in regular grocery stores. The prices are higher, but they have good weekly sales, and I tend to walk out with exactly what I went in for; no extras. A blogger told me long ago I should patronize my local businesses, and I've half-heartedly done it... sometimes. I was jolted, last week, to see that a local grocery store in nearby Oak Grove that's been there since the '60's is shutting down because they just can't take the competition from Walmart. I'm going to make a real effort to buy my groceries anywhere but Walmart. No, folks. I don't hate Walmart (except the Blue Springs one... ha!). I just want to stick to a budget, and perhaps keep one of our local stores from closing. The following is a snippet of news I read in our local newspaper:

Norby and Phamie Corn honored at Thursday night football game

Norby and Phamie Corn, longtime owners of Corn's Apple Market, were honored prior to the Oak Grove-Holden football game Thursday night.

Hank Melhorn, announcer for the Panthers, read a tribute and thanks to the Corns for their support.

"Everyone in Oak Grove is aware that Corn's Apple Market, a landmark establishment, has closed this week after serving the community for almost 50 years.

"Phamie and Norby Corn are with us tonight, and Oak Grove R-6 and the community want to say thanks and wish them well as they enter a new chapter in their, and the community's, life. Phamie and Norby are representing the Corn family. Norby's parents, Mona Lee and Carl, assumed full ownership of the store in 1964. Norby and Phamie are graduates of OGHS classes of '70 and '72. Norby became the manager, with Phamie's help in 1980. Carl and Mona Lee, for better or worse, were also looking over Norby's shoulder." Read complete story in Focus on Oak Grove.

I'm switching back to plain old Folgers coffee, unless we're at Sam's Club where I can buy those tasty coffee beans in quantity; and we only go there about every six weeks. My grind-your-own habit isn't cheap (thanks a lot, A.J.). When Edna was here Tuesday, she told me about the coffee she buys at Save-a-Lot, so I may check that out. We drive by there on our way to the other local grocery store.

I'm going to pray for a good garden year in 2009. If I only can tomatoes, it'll save us a fortune. It's amazing how many tomato-based foods I make: chili, stews, jambalaya, gumbo, casseroles. And canning my own means I can leave the salt out. Did you ever check a lable to see how much sodium is in your store-bought canned tomatoes and sauce? It's horrible!

So, let's see how well I stick to my plan. I'd better not have any more grocery bills over $100! After all, it's just me and Cliff, and I buy very little meat beyond chicken leg quarters and ground beef.

Did you know....

There's a company whose business it is to fix shopping carts?

My daughter caught this guy in action today, and I came home and googled the business: The French Company.

See, I can still learn new things, even while shopping at Walmart.

Grocery-shopping on a motorcycle

Sometimes we just have to sneak in a ride on the Gold Wing the best way we can. We needed groceries. So Cliff hitched onto the trailer, put the cooler on for frozen stuff, and we headed across the Missouri River to our favorite Wal-mart in Richmond.

Our first stop was Orscheln's, for fifty pounds of sweet feed. Lo and behold, they had some nifty T-shirts marked down to $4 each. Cliff and I will take turns wearing them.

Then to the John Deere dealer to pick up some sort of filters for the garden tractor. Notice that Cliff is always looking at the tractors, even as he walks through the door.

Last stop, Walmart. No problem getting all those groceries in the trailer.

This is my first experiment with adding a slide show onto Blogspot. You can click on any picture to get a better look.

Wake-up Walmart

I've been noticing the ad campaign on television directed against Wal-mart. Now, you have only to scroll down a couple of entries to see that I'm not necessarily enchanted with Walmart stores myself, especially one in particular. However, in these times of rising prices, I tend to go where the bargains are. And Walmart is such a giant that they can afford to undersell other stores... which of course is why so many mom-and-pop stores are shutting down.

I do make an effort, these days, to shop my local grocery stores more... the ones in the small towns around here. I'm of a mind to try and make a still greater effort. Maybe that will be my new year's resolution. I was influenced to do this by guy, over at "Astoria Oregon Rust". He's also the one who talked me into buying a reusable water bottle so I'd stop buying those disposable bottles of water that are taking over our landfills. On that one, I've been true-blue all the way; I haven't bought a bottle of water in months. It's an easy change to make, and I urge my readers to follow suit on this one. I call it "the power of the blog", when one person writes something that manages to influence at least one other person to make a positive change.

But back to the anti-Walmart ads: I'd like to know where you plan to shop for clothes if not Walmart? Folks, I worked at a Kohl's distribution center for almost five years. It was a rare event to see anything made in America come through there. I'm sure you could say the same for any other retailer in the country.

I wear Wrangler blue jeans often. I read where they're now made in Mexico. I also have some Levis, and Lee jeans. Levi closed their last US factory in 2003; Lees are now made in Costa Rica, I believe.

So give the devil his due. Walmart has surely caused problems for our economy, but they aren't alone in this. Virtually all name-brand clothes and shoes are made in other countries.

And I don't have a clue what to do about it, except to at least try to buy some of my groceries at my home-town supermarket. I do know I can't afford to pay twice the price just to buy American-made products.

I linked to my Walmart rave on a message board, and one fellow made this comment: "I give Walmart five years and then they be so big they will self destruct from within. Back in the twenties Armor meats were big and then they started losing thousands a day and couldn't stop it they died with none or very little money." AL

We shall see.