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New Normal?

 I went to the grocery store yesterday and picked up just a few items that I needed. When I went to pay, the checkout clerk asked, "Did you find at least some of what you were looking for?" That was kind of a twist on the usual question. 

I had noticed recently that there are bare spots on the shelves and there have been recent times when the store has been out of certain items that are usual on my list. The clerk told me that they were having trouble keeping fully stocked because there are not enough truckers.

I didn't plant even a single tomato plant in a pot this year but now I am wondering if I better start planning a vegetable garden. Oh, let's be real -- maybe join a CSA.

Yikes! Maybe I am too late! I just checked out a local farm online and their CSA program is sold out through next summer's crops.


Also in the news this morning was an article about the school bus driver shortage. Massachusetts is planning to use their National Guard troops to help out and also may pay some parents to transport kids to school.


Well, go ahead and tell me about this is what we get for demanding public health measures.


1918:


Gargle with salt water! HA!
They didn't know about bleach in those days?


Comments

  1. All still good advice!

    And yes, I have noticed that stores are running out of some things a lot these days. Guess as long as the pandemic continues, it will be this way.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have noticed some bare spots in the stores but never been asked that version of the check out question.
    Noticed they mentioned mask twice.Wonder if in 1918 there was such resistance to common health rules like today?

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  3. I have been wondering about the "new normal" also. We are seeing shortages in grocery stores. Restaurants are having trouble getting some kinds of food supplies. We are short on school bus drivers and ferry boat workers. After the push to "defund the police" we are short on police officers. Doctors and nurses are quitting or taking extended time off because they are burned out.
    Masks are a fashion item for the foreseeable future, and we still have resisters to masking. It does seem like nature is taking care of the vaccine resisters. They are either getting natural immunity from getting sick or they are dying off. All of this is taking a toll on the rest of us too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We are having the same issues here. Even getting workers to help around the farms
    Right now it’s not so noticeable but as covid numbers go up I’m sure it will become more and more of an issue
    I’ve just got hubby to make me some wicking beds so I’ll be able to plant more this year

    ReplyDelete
  5. So far, so good here in my part of Canada. There seemed to be a run on toilet paper again recently but otherwise the shelves are full. However, prices have gone up significantly. Now regular prices on many items are a full dollar or more than they were a year ago.

    The rules from 1918 are pretty spot on....apparently the naysayers and anti-maskers were prevalent then too.

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  6. Certain stores here do run out of groceries, mainly due to demand and not due to fewer truckers. Never heard of such a thing in Hawaii. LOL.

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  7. We've a bus driver shortage, as well.
    The supply chain is a bit tenuous!

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  8. Truck driver shortage? Who knew? Geez our world is a hot mess.

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  9. It doesn't seem that the advice has changed much since 1918!

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  10. I heard about the lack of school bus drivers. That is terrible and an awful inconvenience for families of young children.

    Thank goodness we don't have too many shortages here... for now... except for hospital beds.

    ReplyDelete
  11. My mother used to talk about the Spanish flu and so many neighbors in her family members farm community who died from it. She never mentioned protestors or the precautions people were told to take. Wish I could ask her. She would have graduated from high school and maybe gone off to Kent State Normal School to become a teacher I think, but her family lived on a farm. Plus it was horse and buggy days with not too many folks, if any, having cars.

    ReplyDelete

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