Cold again, getting warmer throughout the day.\u00a0 And then back to cold at night.\u00a0\u00a0 It ended up being a gorgeous day yesterday, once the sun warmed everything up.\u00a0 Hoping for more of that today.<\/p>\n
Did my pickups, and spent\u00a0 the afternoon with my daughter.\u00a0\u00a0 We did go grocery shopping at the “small” HEB store near our house.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There were a lot of empty spots on shelves.\u00a0\u00a0 I’ve never seen the veg and fruit area with so many empty areas.\u00a0\u00a0 They flipped the trays over to take up the space, something I’ve never seen before, so they weren’t just slow restocking.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They were putting the items on the front of the shelf with nothing behind too.<\/p>\n
The weirdest thing though was the meat cooler.\u00a0\u00a0 They usually have about 6ft of cooler for beef steaks, and featured cuts.\u00a0\u00a0 Yesterday they had ONE foot with a couple trays of NY strips for $12\/pound, choice grade.\u00a0 They had filled the rest of the space with packaged food from other parts of the store.\u00a0\u00a0 There was still beef in the “cheap” section of the upright display cooler, lower grade and lower cost cuts, but not the usual number of choices either.<\/p>\n
Canned veg was stocked as it has been, there was some dried pasta on the shelf.\u00a0 I was able to get the last 4 bags of egg noodles, which have been out of stock for a long time.\u00a0 Soda was ‘new normal’ or maybe a bit better.\u00a0 Snacks had big holes in every category.\u00a0\u00a0 Seafood was in the cooler but prices were crazy high, snow crab clusters were $17\/pound.\u00a0 They used to be $7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cat food and litter was back on the shelf, with gaps scattered throughout.<\/p>\n
The milk cooler had brands I’d never seen before as well as the usual.\u00a0 Eggs were stocked but limited choices.\u00a0 Still no cinnamon rolls or regular biscuits in the fridge rolls.<\/p>\n
All in all, the absence of choice or better grade beef was the most disconcerting, with the flipped over trays in the fruit and veg display areas coming in a\u00a0 close second.\u00a0\u00a0 Never seen that before.<\/p>\n
Dinner was hamburger helper beef stroganoff flavor and grilled skewers of chicken hearts.\u00a0 D2’s favorite.<\/p>\n
Today I’ll be pulling stuff for a local auction, and dropping that off, then doing a pickup.\u00a0\u00a0 I won a bunch of scanners in another auction, but don’t know yet if I have to go get them or if they will transfer them to Houston for me… it’s a mix of analog handhelds and digital base\/mobile units.\u00a0 Most I will list on ebay, but several will be added to the ‘shack’ here and at the BOL.<\/p>\n
Speaking of the BOL, the title company is moving forward but we still don’t have a closing date.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s been a month, and that’s without inspections or bank financing.\u00a0\u00a0 I don’t remember this house taking that long, and I don’t know if the title company is dragging their feet\u00a0 or just swamped with work.<\/p>\n
I did notice a bunch of newly closed businesses around town.\u00a0 There are some new places opening, and new construction continues in some areas, but the level of trash on the ground, car parts in particular, and on the\u00a0 roads is higher than at any other time I can remember.\u00a0 The empty storefronts, and signs with the company name removed are definitely increasing, at least in some areas around town.\u00a0 There seems to be a lot of illegal dumping too.\u00a0 The slide is continuing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In the face of continued shortages, buy what you can when you see it.\u00a0\u00a0 With the idea that it’s getting worse, not better, stack it high.<\/p>\n
And keep your eyes open and brain engaged.\u00a0\u00a0 Things are getting stranger and more desperate every day.<\/p>\n
n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cold again, getting warmer throughout the day.\u00a0 And then back to cold at night.\u00a0\u00a0 It ended up being a gorgeous day yesterday, once the sun warmed everything up.\u00a0 Hoping for more of that today.<\/p>\n
Did my pickups, and spent\u00a0 the afternoon with my daughter.\u00a0\u00a0 We did go grocery shopping at the “small” HEB store near our house.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There were a lot of empty spots on shelves.\u00a0\u00a0 I’ve never seen the veg and fruit area with so many empty areas.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n