Friday Nite Check In

 

The Potato Garden is looking good.  We got a nice little shower earlier in the week and the sunshine has been working it's magic since then.  

Charlie Horse thought it was about time to hill those puppies up a little..., and so did I...,  😀

So..., I got busy on Wednesday and moved a little dirt.  It looks like a lot of hill dirt left..., but at this point the base of the hill get expanded since that dirt rolls down hill..., making for a lot more dirt to raise the hills even a little.

The potato plants aren't the only thing looking good in The Garden..., and the flowering plants don't hold a candle to the weeds that are popping up.  The damn daisies are sprouting up..., but not flowering yet..., but I will be picking wheelbarrows full of flowers soon if I don't get more of those green sprouts pulled along with the yellow buttercup looking things that are trying to take control.  I spend a lot of time on my hands and knees pulling those and other assorted weeds.  Charlie Horse tries to help me..., but Logan thinks Charlie has other ideas and thinks he needs to protect me from Charlie's advances.  

I missed a day pulling weeds on Tuesday to make a Costco/Walmart run to Port Angeles.  I was out of dog food..., and since I don't have big dogs that require a ton of feed in the half ton Tacoma on a regular basis anymore..., I can't comment on the inflationary impact of that on the budget.  Back in those days the inflation gauge consisted of dog food and beer prices.  These days it is beer and rib steak.  Walmart still has my beer price at $20 a case..., and I was patting myself on that back after seeing that the Forks price had increased to $27 a case a couple of weeks ago.  I see on my weekly run today that my my savings were a bit over rated..., as the price was back down to $23 a case.  But I felt a little better when I saw that even though the price of Half and Half had jumped up about four bits a half gallon at Costco..., it was still about $2.50 cheaper than Forks.  I was surprised that several of the name brand gas stations in PA had breeched the $6 a gallon price..., and even Costco was $5.65..., about the average in Forks.  And those Rib Steaks are both $18.99 a pound today..., though last week they were on sale in Forks for $14.99.  Oh..., and don't go to Costco on Tuesday..., that must be Old Folks Day..., I was appalled  at first..., until I realized that I fit right in  😀

Speaking of inflation..., I nearly went postal right in the Post Office today..., when I opened the Direct TV bill.  I had a couple of reasons for opening it there..., I pretty much have to pay a couple of bills the day I get them at the Post Office and take my checkbook and stamps..., because I only go once a week.  If I miss a bill by a week and then take it home and wait another week to get the bills mailed off..., it will pretty likely be late and incur a late fee.  The other reason was I always get an email notification from Direct TV..., trying to induce me to start using an automatic payment plan..., and this email said the bill was going to be $206 dollars !!!  It is usually "just" $140.  I had racked my brain for most of this week to try to remember how the hell I had watched that may pay per views..., or if I had accidentally subscribed to some "extra" service to increase my bill that much.  Well..., the reason I would have gone postal if I had been carrying a gun..., was..., that was just how much my bill was going to be from now on..., because my two year promise of the low rate had expired and this was the new rate !!!  I haven't read the fine print of the contract..., but I am thinking that I can't just cancel now without incurring some sort of penalty for doing so...,  😢

I guess I should have posted this one from James McMurtry for the Friday Nite Music Video last week..., a little closer to the Memorial Day Weekend..., though back in the day it used to be observed on May 30th.  I really like this one from the point of view of a young kid...,