It seems that this is a week of medical tests and errand running. However, it does give me the opportunity to get out and see what’s going on. I haven’t been able to do that for a while.
Locally, gas prices are doing what they are doing everywhere-rising. Today $4.20/gal seems to be the common price. I do note that crude oil prices have dropped considerably since the UAE announced that they favor a production increase and are urging other OPEC countries to do so. That’s nice, but I’ll believe it’s more than talk when the crude shows up and gas prices go down. It’s a pity we don’t have any extra oil production capacity of our own. *ahem*
I noted a couple of reports back that one residential RV had “left”. It’s back, but another one just up the street from us has left. In other housing news, Son has officially re-upped his lease for another year.He claims he wants to buy land/a house/do the tiny house thing, but he can’t seem to stay on this track for long. My take is that he really isn’t interested in any of those things, except in passing. It’s his life and his money.
We have finally found saltine crackers! They’re a store brand and they were $3.19/box, which is absurd. However, Mrs. Freeholder is getting better at shopping like a Soviet, so she bought 3 boxes, then apologized for the cost. I’m just happy to have crackers for my soup. I would never have thought of crackers as luxury, but I guess they’re becoming one. Grocery prices are continuing to rise, but we lucked into canned goods at Aldi for 44₵ per can. That’s 6₵ less per can than the last time we stocked up. The shelves are groaning under the weight, and we got some odd looks in the checkout line. I don’t care, because the definition of a hoarder is someone who got to the store before you did. As always, the various shortages are still there, still rotating from item to item and store to store.
I just got interrupted by a text from Mrs. Freeholder. She’s at the meat market, topping off the freezer. Sirloins are $5.99/lb. It looks like steak for supper!
After much consideration, I finally plunked down my money for a mount for the solar panels. It’s more expensive than building something myself, but my building something would be of wood and would be fixed. This tracker winds up being about twice the price of that option and about 1/3 the work. It also will add about 40% to the amount of power generated. All of that considered, I decided that it was worth it-besides, how long is money in the bank going to be worth much? The big downside to this is that I’ll have to mix 16-20 bags of cement mix to pour a base for it. I may rent a mortar mixer.
This weekend is the Charlotte Hamfest, and I’m going. I want to look for a few odds and ends, and just look at what’s there. A little pre-Wuflu normalcy would be nice. Expect another report after that.
I’ve also managed some reading, so I hope to have a Sunday Reading this week. Been a while since I’ve done one of those.
And with that, I’m out of items. Out here.
Good luck with the tracker! I look forward to hearing how it went.
Aside: you would think companies advertising in english would at least use a copywriter proficient in the language. Ugh!
So the OPEC countries need to increase production, but not us?? I don’t think our loss is of much concern to them, except for the extra bucks they could make, maybe.
Anyway… I did note our local WalMart was also out of crackers. We don’t use them, but you’re not alone in that department. Otherwise WM was pretty well stocked for a change. I got more canning lids and jars, and seeds for the garden. Fertilizer was thin, most is for flowers and grass.
The supermarket we use has been out of canned mushrooms for months, but pasta supplies are finally restocked. Rice was missing, I got the last 10 lb bag. Still no cat food, I’m ordering online. Hamburg and chicken is still high, but not increased. Gas’s jumped up to $4; it was 3.29 10 days ago. Heating oil is $5.29, up from 3.89 a week ago.
More than about 4 bags, it is worth the rental for the mixer.
You get a better, stronger base as there are no “cold Joints” as the mixing happens faster and therefore the first bag does not have time to set before the last is poured.
Plus it is much less work.