Cold or maybe just chilly in the morning, warming gradually, with clear skies. Ever wonder why we use the plural there? It’s only one sky. Anyway, that is what yesterday was like and the national forecast is calling for the same today.
I did my auction stuff in the morning, then headed out to do pickups. I only had a couple of small items this week, but I also dug a small table saw out of storage for my buddy, which took about an hour or more, and dropped off a chest freezer for my auction friend. Meatspace.
Dinner was some of the on sale sirloins from last year. Yummy.
Today I’ve got one pickup appointment which is for the butcher saw and a couple of other small things. I’ll be doing domestic bliss for the rest of the day starting with a haircut. 4 years I’ve been doing that myself, and I’m still just OK at it. Can’t see the back, always hope it’s good. I like the results ok, and it doesn’t scare passersby, so I’ll rate it as a success. The main thing for me now is that it’s quick and convenient. I do miss the check in with my barber, but he’s charging $20 for a clipper cut now, which adds up when you get a cut every 3 weeks, and he’s in a part of town I don’t get to as often as I used to. Add that to the time it takes to get there and get the cut, and it’s a lot easier to just keep doing it myself.
There are a lot of things people currently pay for that they might consider doing for themselves if the economy, or their circumstances, continue to worsen. That has knock on effects of its own.
One thing I did yesterday was hit a couple of hispanic markets looking for mexican vanilla. 3 places, no one spoke english. One, the proprietor was middle eastern or persian, and all the workers spoke spanish, but he spoke broken english. The others? Yeah, no english at all. This is a few blocks from my rent house, which used to be our residence. Wasn’t like that 10 years ago. Yes hispanic market, but clearly their customers are only spanish speakers now. No pretense of serving everyone. FWIW, the mexican brands I found aren’t pure natural vanilla (in alcohol) anymore, they all had additional vanillin added. Even the one with the name “Pura”… sad state of affairs.
I could have used more of my spanish, but I have to think about it to put sentences together. I got by with mostly english and some spanish words and phrases. Interestingly, afterwards, I tried “Hey google, como se dice “vanilla” en espanol?” The reply was “In spanish, you say “vain-ee-ya”.” So google can do simple translation from voice commands and understands mixed english and spanish. That’s pretty slick and a long way from their starting point of free directory assistance- a service that barely exists anymore.
Time marches on, and incremental changes add up.
Make some small improvements in your life. Always be working and over time, the small effort will pay big dividends. Stacking works that way too. Build your food security one can at a time.
nick
