Galling

I’m really annoyed by Hy-Vee, Hefty bags, and mostly, myself.  A couple of days ago I was in the express checkout line (12 items or less) at Hy-Vee, buying cherries, grapes, lemons, and blueberries. The checker said “You have $20 worth of produce, and so you are entitled to 20 free boxes of these bags.” She waved her hand at a grocery cart beside her, filled with boxes of Hefty plastic bags.

You know I hate plastic and never take my groceries in plastic bags.  But it’s garden season, and I freeze lots of tomatoes, green beans, etc. So I thought, well, okay, I can use those.

She rang up all my purchases, and then she had to ring up each of the 20 boxes.  Then she had to ring up a coupon for each of the boxes.  Therefore, instead of 12 items, I had 52.  I apologized to the man behind me in line, who was waiting patiently with his quart of milk,

As the checker toiled away at the cash register, I noticed a) that there was a pallet of cartons of plastic bag boxes behind her, and b) that these weren’t plastic bags I could use to freeze vegetables.  They’re that kind of bag you’re supposed to keep produce in, to keep it fresh longer.

I recently read an article that said that these bags don’t keep  produce any fresher than washing it and wrapping it in a dishtowel.

I didn’t have the presence of mind to stop the checker partway through her endeavors (or maybe I was just chicken, yeah, that’s it) to tell her to forget it.  I have absolutely no use for 240 plastic bags (12 per box) that can’t be used in the freezer.

Any ideas what I can do with them?  I thought about giving them to Just Food, the people who coordinate the food pantries in town, as well as the distribution of Plant a Row for the Hungry vegetables.  I might do that, but really, they’re useless! Just more non-biodegradable detritus for the landfill. Why, oh why, did I take them?

Oh yeah, and she put the boxes in plastic bags too. I'm reeling.

Over to the dark side

I bought a MacBook Pro this week.  Sheesh.  I have had a PC (or two or three or five) since 1983.  Several people have told me over the years I should get a Mac “because it’s so easy.” For me, Windows is a piece of cake.  I know it well and can bend it to my will without difficulty.  

Hoo boy, skunk

Sadie (aka Smudge for her pig-pen-like characteristics) went out tonight below the retaining wall and immediately got skunked. Wow.  Peeeeeeee-yewwwwwww. It was raining and so Buster the big wuss did not get off the porch, thank goodness.

A couple of weeks ago we got a new shower head, partly because the old one was all crudded up and partly so that we could have a hand-held for dog-washing purposes. What timing! A stripped down and got in the shower with Sadie to clean her off.  Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

• One pint of hydrogen peroxide
• One-half a cup of baking soda
• Two tablespoons of dish soap
• A bottle of vinegar

Directions

1. Mix the hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and dish soap in a large bowl and stir until the baking soda is completely dissolved.
2. Next, use a spray bottle or sponge to generously apply the mixture onto the pet’s fur. Work the mixture through the fur and onto the skin below, massaging the solution into the affected area for ten minutes. Be cautious when applying this solution to the face, as the mixture should not come in contact with the eyes.
3. After ten minutes has passed, thoroughly rinse the solution from the animal’s fur and skin. Once the solution is completely rinsed away (there should be no soap bubbles remaining in the water as it flows off the body), towel the pet’s fur.
4. If the odor is still relatively strong and skunky, repeat the above-mentioned steps. If the odor is largely eliminated, then continue on to the next step.
5. Once the solution of hydrogen peroxide, dish soap and baking soda has been rinsed away, use a sponge or spray bottle to apply generous amounts of vinegar to the pet’s damp fur and skin. Again, saturate the fur and massage the solution into the fur and skin.
6. After letting the solution sit for twenty minutes, thoroughly rinse the pet with fresh water.
7. Often, the pet is left smelling vaguely of vinegar. To leave your pet smelling fresh and clean, follow with a gentle pet shampoo and conditioner.

Read more at Suite101: How to Remove Skunk Odor from Your Pet’s Fur: A Recipe That is Proven to Rid a Pet of that Skunky Smell

Frankly, I couldn’t care less if my pet is left smelling vaguely of vinegar. It beats the heck out of skunk.

Museums in San Francisco

I’m in San Francisco for a computer conference, and the sessions are packed with good stuff I want to learn more about.  But this morning on the way to the conference center I walked past three museums on the same block that I am dying to go to:  The Cartoon Art Museum, the Museum of the African Diaspora, and the SFMOMA.

All my siblings and I can quote old New Yorker cartoons to each other (“Milk’s boiling over!”, “Watch out, Fred, here it comes again!”, “Guess what? I’m barefoot”, etc.). We read our parents cartoon books (This Petty Pace, the New Yorker Book of Cartoons 1925-1950, George Price and Helen Hokinson anthologies, and more) over and over again. I’ve only ever been to one other cartoon museum.  So I have to go.

Then on a much darker note, our forebears were intimately and powerfully involved in the African diaspora as slave traders.  So I have to go to that museum too.

As for the SFMOMA, well, I just like that stuff.

These are all just one block over from the convention center.  Maybe I can go in dribbles.

Sadie

We got a new dog today.  Sadie was hit by a car around Christmas, on a bitter cold day.  Her pelvis was broken in three places, and her owner couldn’t afford to pay for surgery.  He asked for her to be put to sleep.  This sounds harsh, but it’s not – she was in terrible shape.  The vets were all set to do it, but then they decided she was meant to live.  She’d lain outside all day long and survived.  So she’s got a pelvis full of metal, and she walks very strangely, at least for now.

She’ll be high maintenance for a while, because she has to go outside on a leash, and we have to support her when she goes up and down the steps.  Right now she’s in her crate.  I put her there so she’d get the idea that it’s her place.  A and Buster are outside.  Sadie is NOT happy.  She’s whining and moaning. I’m going to free her in a minute.

So far Buster has behaved pretty well. He took over her crate when we all got home, but other than that seems not very interested. Fine with us at this point, because she can’t horse around too much yet.

Sadie

The main person and the main dog have gone outside. Woe!

That shaved back probably itches. You can see who she likes best already.

Let's see if we can all get in here.

That white stripe inside the crate is Buster's Bentley - the white dividing line down the middle of his head.

It's been exhausting!

Winter grey

I would like it very much if the sun would come out and stay out for a while.  A week would be nice. I think we used to have sun once in a while in Kansas.

Update, 2 hours later:  I went downstairs to do yoga.  I lay in corpse pose, eyes closed, thinking about how gloomy this post was and how I should remove it.  Opening my eyes, I saw sun sparkling over the snow.  All righty!  All we have to do is ask.

Some bragging

This weekend A and I traveled to Chicago to hear B give his capstone paper in cultural studies at Columbia College.  The title of the paper is “Going Where the Action Is:  The Action Film Hero in the Era of Neo-Liberalism.” I’m not going to give a synopsis here.  It’s too complicated.  Those of you who know him can ask him yourselves.

Of course the parents are always biased, but his presentation was the best out of eight.  Really!  B has always been an excellent public speaker, and is very comfortable in front of a crowd.  He breathed in the right places, looked at the audience, and generally made his research understandable and interesting.

His professors spoke about him in glowing terms.  One of them said he was the best student he’d ever had.  They love him and are very proud of him, just like us.

Here’s a question:  What’s the right way to respond to praise of your child, particularly your adult child?  It’s weird to say “Thank you,” as though we are totally responsible.  We probably are responsible for a bit of who he is, but not too much.  You can’t make someone intelligent or funny.  I think you can make someone misanthropic but I’m not sure you can make someone charming, thoughtful, and pleasant to be around.  He pretty much came into the world with the brains and personality he has now.

When a professor says “B is the cream of our crop.  We think he is just wonderful,” I said “Thank you, we think so too.” Sometimes I said “I’m so glad you think so.”

I’m happy to brag about him, because I think he is wonderful too.  I just want to brag in an aren’t-we-lucky kind of way rather than an aren’t-we great-parents way.  We are lucky.