Smarties Bar & Grill #76

Happy Thanksgiving to all ye lounge lizards.

 

Happy Thanksgiving to you all

 

The things you see working at night.
This Hispanic fellow that was obviously drunk come in the store about 3:30 a.m. and keeps talking Spanish to me.

I know very little but can pick up on the gist of something generally but I couldn't make heads or tails of what he was saying.

He makes a small purchase and opens up the Red Bull and begins crying.

My heart hurt for the guy because I think he was saying he misses his family but there's nothing I can do for him. And he just happened to come in in about the 30-minute window when my boss is in the back office counting money. So I finally get him outside of the store and lock the door because I have to go back in the office to retrieve some food for the oven and told my boss about him and watched him on the camera to make sure he's not coming back there when he has all the money on the desk.

My boss just wanted to call the police on him immediately because he didn't seem inclined to leave but he finally left without needing to call the police.

Wish there was some way I could help the guy but there's nothing I can do.

You see a lot of migrant laborers around here. Hope he gets where he's going or finds whatever it is he's looking for

 

We used to use several windmills to water cattle. We are down to just one in a horse pasture close to home. We trenched water lines in most everywhere else and water from submersible pumps on grid electricity.

Parts (both new and rebuilt) for windmills are getting expensive and fewer and fewer well companies are willing to work on them.

Most windmills are being converted to solar now. All solar components from panels to pumps are getting much more reliable and affordable. Windmills just can’t complete with the advantages of solar.

Windmills are cultural icons in a way here. It will be sad when they are all gone.

I just drove by our last mill. This is it 2 minutes ago.

 

Wish I could have been there for y'all... anyway.. Jesus bendiga! (Jesus Bless you)

 

It will be sad to see them go they are a part of our history. Time and progress marches on. I think there is only one company in the US that still manufactures windmills. I would love to have one or at least a pump that works without electricity. When you stop to think about how much dependence is put on electricity it gets scary. The Amish might have the right idea after all.

 

This is getting to be the time of year when we start forgetting about the brutal summer. Maybe if winter is cold as summer was hot we might get snow.. The last couple of mornings the temps have been in the 30's.

 

It was like 14 here the other night. It is unusual around here to be that low in January and february, let alone November. It has also been crazy dry here in the middle of the east coast. I guess La Nina or El nino or whatever is at play for this crazy weather. I have a big 3 gallon wildlife water bowl out back that I can't keep filled up it disappears so quickly. Been like that a couple months.

 

El Niño is the one to blame for the weather probably.

https://www.weather.gov/fwd/enso

https://www.weather.gov/fwd/teleconnections

 

Light frosting of snow last night here.
-1C at the moment but no wind so it doesn't feel too bad.

 

Turned the A/C on momentarily. Had the door open, but too many flies were coming in and a little coolness slows them down so I can swat them. 'Posed to drop down to the high 40s in the early AM.

 

We are getting rain that is actually leaving puddles in the yard. It was beginning to feel like we had our own personal drought going on. Yesterday was 72% chance of rain and today it is 98%. We had rain almost all day so today will probably be another day of rain.

 

Is everyone getting tired of buying 10 ounces of something in a 16 oz. sized bag for triple the price? I bought some boxes of candy for a gift to a relative in the hospital. What at one time was a pound of candy in a nice box is now 10 ounces in a tacky box. Really? The manufactures are really stretching to make their money and dwindling my desire to buy. So much for the soap box today.

 

Just about everyday a house finch comes to the glass in the front door to fight with his image. I think that is what he is doing or he could be catching bugs. He comes usually in the morning but today it is in the afternoon. He is entertaining.

 

Does anyone realize the start of all the Smarties bar threads have been going for 14 plus years. Next May or June it will be 15 years old, just an FYI for those that aren't keeping track.

 

Shrinkflation. My favorite is that now you have to pay a premium to get a thinner Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. They don't even try to hide that they are smaller---they market it that way LOL. It isn't always about stretching to make money though. It is also about stretching to fulfill orders. The food sector is has been out of whack end to end since COVID so part of it is trying to make less product go further because of labor/supply chain issues have production down but orders aren't.

 

There wasn't a shortage of the 10 ounce candy, that item was in three or four different spots in the store and well stocked. What is going on is not so much a shortage as a demand problem. People won't demand what they can't afford. I am not buying a $15.00 or $20.00 lb of meat, right now I am buying what I think is reasonable (or need) and the other stuff I pass on by. I shop sales. Prices on products will bring on a shortage faster that the supplier not being able to supply. If people won't buy why supply? Supply and demand.

 

Nice to see y'all. Geez I musta been 17 when this was bar was started. Not even old enough to drink! *koff*

 

Well, my wife had a lump on her breast and had surgery for that. It's okay ...a 3 percent chance of it returning. Then a couple weeks later she got a cologuard test. It was positive. I thought the cancer has moved.... metastatic.... Anyway she had a colonoscopy today. No cancer.. The best Christmas present ever.

 

Super glad to hear that. Long live the both of you.

 

It used to be that when you bought larger amounts of product you always got a discount.

Now if you shop by the unit price you can see that sometimes they're actually charging you more money per unit to buy a greater overall amount of product.

 

Frijoles and tortillas are still cheap. Bebe made wonderful enchiladas Verdes this evening. The pastor his wife and their son came over and ate with us. God bless all my brothers and sisters here on this forum. This I pray, in the name of Jesus amen.

 

That was a scary time for the two of you. It is the best Christmas present ever or the best present ever.

 

You do know if you talk about certain foods you have to leave the recipe.. don't you?

 

Ut oh... made from serrano chiles... roasted and peeled leaving the pulp (deseed them) shredded chicken cooked in mushroom soup; layered in a pan, corn tortillas (fried) cheese, chiles and chicken,,, bake like a casserole.