Friday, September 28, 2012

Friday Brain Dump... and a Bit of a Rant


Todays Friday Brain Dump is brought to you by...

1.  The Interrobang- have you heard of this?  It's a question/exclamation mark together.  And all I can say is it's about time!


2.  Can I just tell you how disappointed I am that my grocery store is moving everything around?  What on earth has gotten into these people?  I was just there yesterday and recognized one of the owners of the chain, directing the folks doing the shuffling, and almost gave him an earful.  Because - hello? - do you do the grocery shopping for your family?

No, I think not.

Because if you had ever, even once, filled a grocery cart you would know better than to put the bread first, where it will get squished under everything else you're about to buy.

Kerry suggested I just start at the other end of the store.

Kerry is hilarious.

No.  You go right first.  It's scientific.  Even in countries that drive on the left, they know that people will go to the right first.  Which is why they put all the refrigerated and frozen things way off in the back, to the left... where you finish.

And another tip?  Among the refrigerated things?  The eggs should go last.  Not before the six gallons of milk I need to buy today.

They need a woman to head that committee, because the men Don't Get It.


3.  And speaking of grocery - and other - stores - our county recently banned (single-use) plastic shopping bags.  Crazy environmental busy-bodies.  I don't mind so much at department stores, but reusable bags for groceries?  Ewwww.

I've seen some pretty nasty looking ones, and you know why?


That's my clothesline.  Apparently, I am in the 3% minority of people that actually wash their bags.  Now you might feel all virtuous and noble, because you're washing your bags, too.  But what about the people in line ahead of you?  The checker had to touch their filthy bags before handling your groceries.  How noble and virtuous do you feel now?  A checker at Wally-world last week told me a man had handed her his reusable bag, in which his dog had vomited.  I think I would've shoved the bag over his head, and him out the door!  I think I'm not cut out to be a checker.

Dog vomit aside, the study (University of Arizona and Loma Linda University) found coliform bacteria in about HALF the bags, and E. coli in 12%.

One researcher claims that after San Francisco banned plastic shopping bags, there was a spike in ER visits (and deaths) related to these bacteria, but I don't know if that's substantiated.  Although a reusable bag appears to have caused a norovirus outbreak, among a Beaverton, Oregon soccer team.

Done ranting now...


4.  I have a turkey in the fridge, all thawed out and ready to cook, but I got distracted and it's too late to start.  Maybe tomorrow?


5.  We're done picking blackberries for the year.  They're still out there, but they're not the same.  Must be the cooler nights.



6.  Does anyone know what kind of tree this is?  Yes, it's real.  No, it's not a fruit that I've ever seen people eat.  Looks like something from Dr. Seuss, if you ask me.



7.  I've been trying to grow these for years, and this is the first time the deer have left them alone long enough to get to this stage.  Thank you, Liquid Fence.

Chinese Lanterns


8.  Gunnar and I had a good walk yesterday.  Apparently I had left my camera on a different setting and didn't notice until we were home - oops - and my pictures didn't quite come out the way I hoped, but still...


He always likes to visit the ducks at several nearby ponds,

... and quickly spotted this less common visitor, as well.  It's a Great Blue Heron, a bit out of focus - sorry!


9.  I just like the fall colors, coming out around my neighborhood :D





6 comments:

Felicity said...

There are quite a few things men need women to design, but as far as your rant about grocery stores I say: HEAR HEAR!!! If I can bring home a loaf of bread unsquashed I feel like I accomplished something amazing. And even though we drive on the left (which we believe is the right side to drive on ;-) ) I go right when I get inside the shop! And things like bread and milk (which you often just have to pop in for) should be easy to get to not at the far back corner of the shop...

We haven't had plastic bags banned here, but we have to pay for them (they used to be free. I try to reuse mine but always forget to put them into my car... mostly I reuse them as bin bags.

Herding Grasshoppers said...

That's what we did with our, Felicity - used them to ine the garbage cans around the house, and I'll miss that. Of course we can buy liners.

The other thing that gets me is the environmentalists aren't counting the impact of all that washing (of bags) that should be done in their calculations.

But then, you don't have to make sense to be a liberal.

Rebecca D said...

They re-did our grocery store not too long ago... Now there are whole aisles I don't go down and ours makes no sense either!

They haven't banned plastic bags here yet so I still ask for them for meat, messy veggies, and such, but I also wash my bags. I wish I was all noble about this, but it was my daughter working in said store that prompted this... Trust me, dog vomit is not the worst thing she has found in or on a re-usable shopping bag!

melanie said...

Hmmm, thinking I have a re-usable bag I should wash! :o
{not that it has any sort of vomit on/in it... ewwww!}

But to join your grocery store rant, the other thing I want to do {myself, thank you} is teach some mandatory training on how to BAG my groceries... and especially how to handle my fresh produce. :@ I wonder how many young clerks and baggers have ever eaten a banana or apple after it received the sort of treatment they give my food. :-\

Anonymous said...

I believe it is a dogwood tree. Some types have little berry-like things and some have these.
I remember being weirded out by them on a tree at the library when I was a kid. - A friend of Rebecca's

Herding Grasshoppers said...

I bet you're right! The leaves look like dogwood leaves, now that you mention it ;D

Julie G