Skip to main content

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?

    ReplyDelete
  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.

    ReplyDelete
  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.

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

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

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

    ReplyDelete
  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

Post a Comment

I appreciate readers' comments so much. You don't even always have to agree with me.

Popular posts from this blog

Updates

 On September 29, I had the closing on my condo. Everything that was not going to the buyers was out and packed in the ABF moving truck which had by the been taken over to the storage units. Don thought it would take him until Wednesday to finish packing the truck with the help of his son. It took him until late Thursday with Chris' help and mine. Kevin was supposed to help load as well but he was in a mountain bike accident and wrecked his shoulder the week before. That added driving him to doctor appointments to my to do list and dong some shopping for him plus jobs around the house that might need two functioning upper limbs.  We stayed with Kevin on Friday night after the closing and then had a suite in an extended stay place for the coming week. This was the worst possible time to have to get a room because the prices balloon during leaf peeping season if you can even find a room at all. But it was close to the storage units where we were working and it was dog friendly. We ju

Wedding

 Don and I drove to South Carolina to attend the wedding of my step-grandson, Will. Will Will and Katie The wedding took place on Dataw Island, a beautiful outdoor ceremony followed by a reception in the country club. We stayed in a tiny cottage in the historic center of Beaufort, rented from Vrbo. Since the wedding was at 5 p.m., we had time to explore the area a bit. I really like the low country scenery and historical charm. Sitting quietly in the curtained gazebo I was visited by multiple cardinals. They came to visit the feeder, not me, but I can always pretend! How I will always remember Will!

Rest In Peace

 In a summer that has been so wet, Sunday was a reprieve. The humidity dropped and the sun came out. It was a day that could have been special ordered by the family of a friend's husband. It was the day they had arranged his celebration of life ceremony set on the shore of Lake Champlain. I was not looking forward to the gathering, even couched as a celebration. This is a family fraught with relationship tensions. It turned out to be a beautiful day and a beautiful ceremony. A Catholic priest gave a brief but meaningful homily and two Air Force members played "Taps" and presented the American flag to my friend. I am not a Christian, but I do know about Christ Consciousness. That priest's word's filled me with such a sense of peace and love. I hope it did the same for the family members and neighbors who attended.