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It’s a gingerbread duck

From our local bakery. For whom we are very grateful.

They fled town a couple of years ago because the rents were exorbitant. Now they’ve opened back up in the middle of all this (in a much smaller shop without an eat-in section) and we make a point of stopping there every few days.

Their bread is excellent. They make a mean doughnut. I’m a little iffy on the gingerbread ducks.

More to the point, we’re trying to be as thoughtful as we can about where our money goes.

No matter how good your intentions, you can’t avoid buying goods from China. I doubt there’s a zipper factory left anywhere else in the world, and I don’t look so good in a toga.

But I can certainly avoid giving my money to Bezos. We’re still lucky enough to have a local butcher and greengrocer and several excellent farm shops, and now our baker again, so we can cut down on supermarkets.

I don’t have much power, but I’ll enthusiastically swing my tiny axe.

Comments


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: February 15, 2021, 7:59 pm

I’m afraid I am a Kindle addict, but I never pay full price. If I haven’t mentioned it before, let me recommend BookBub. It’s a newsletter. You tell them the sort of books you’re interested in, and they mail you a list of deals every day. Usual price is between £.99 and £1.99.

(If I know my conversion rates, that’s going to be between $.99 and $1.99. Because that’s how these things work).


Comment from durnedyankee
Time: February 15, 2021, 10:23 pm

Gingerbread. Nom Nom Nom.

Better if it’s made from real gingers.


Comment from QuasiModo
Time: February 15, 2021, 11:06 pm

My sister lives in Ontario and they have a government online library with an app that people can take out books digitally and read them…they get all the latest stuff…you should look into that Sweasey, as an alternative to Bezos.


Comment from Skandia Recluse
Time: February 15, 2021, 11:13 pm

Good Post. Thanks for the bookbub link. I am desperate for something to read. You even provoked me to get back on GoodReads.

Mackey Chandler has left his readers with a ton of hanging threads. )Family Law book 5( I want to know what happens next.

Propane delivered today, one less thing to obsessively worry about. Weather predicted to moderate on the 17th back to seasonal norms. SPRING is only twelve weeks away.


Comment from Deborah HH
Time: February 15, 2021, 11:24 pm

Happy Anniversary Stoaty and Uncle Badger. I know it was yesterday though I can’t remember how many years. Cheers and Best Wishes, and many more 🙂


Comment from Sabrina Chase
Time: February 16, 2021, 1:00 am

Another ebook resource for the financially pinched:
*nicely* formatted free classic ebooks https://standardebooks.org


Comment from DurnedYankee
Time: February 16, 2021, 11:26 am

Hey, we’re now the test site for the new low power lifestyle that the greens want! Though they’ll probably want our batteries too. We’ve had electric power for 3 hours in the last 30, about 45 minutes at a time.

Outside temp has been between 5 and 7 F.

Fortunately the hovel has no effective working fireplaces, which is good since we can’t burn things and cause carbon that we’d need to buy offsets for. Pretend we’re not using small propane burners every couple hours to keep the inside temp at slightly better than 50.

Nothing like your pseudo prepper field test right in the luxury of your own home though!

And not like we’re alone on this. The Idiot Republicans could use this as an example of Joe Kamal’s freezing @ss cold brave New world plan though.


Comment from Deborah HH
Time: February 16, 2021, 4:53 pm

I wondered how you—DurnedYankee—and Lester were doing. I think Lester is just north of Austin. JavaMan and I are ok. We had one shower water pipe freeze but it was not a problem. Amarillo broke a 126 yr.old record for low temp: we dropped to -12 degrees. So far we have not had a planned blackout at our house, but I know of two areas that have in the city. We got about 4 inches of snow, but low wind so drifts were minimal. Bonus though. I’ve lost track of my days, but one morning I discovered bobcat footprints in the snow on my front porch and down the side of the house 🙂 I’ve been looking at pound dogs—I think I’ll go bigger than I originally planned. :-/ More snow coming tomorrow.


Comment from durnedyankee
Time: February 16, 2021, 8:14 pm

@Deborah –

Heh – Rolling blackout, this was more of a rolling barrage. This outage (ours) wasn’t planned, or administered.

30+ hours. It’s finally back and up long enough for me to type this. It came and went 5 times since Early Monday morning, no longer than an hour any one time prior to 12:40 today.

33 years here, worst I’ve ever seen it.

I think SomeVeg may be caught up in this as well if I’ve read some of his past comments properly. Over to the west and south of us only a few miles.

The Durned Pack refused to set foot outside after their first venture into the snow. They sit at the door and tremble before turning around to go back into the house.

Frozen windmills, frozen gas lines, and an introduction to the world the greens would like us to live in because we’re generating too much carbon dioxide, and we’re not wealthy enough to pay for the offsets you see.


Comment from Anonymous
Time: February 17, 2021, 4:37 pm

@Deborah – maybe think about a Maremma, happily lives outside and guard/herd the crap outta everything. While family-friendly Maremmas are not inside “pet” dogs, they need jobs.


Comment from BJM
Time: February 17, 2021, 5:03 pm

Anonymous above is me, BJM, forgot to log in .

I enjoy my Kindle too, but buy physical books if you can. One day, not as far into the future as one might think, un-woke digital books will disappear from your devices.

I’m all for self-reliance, especially growing what one can, buying local, farm-to-table if possible. However, keep in mind that supermarkets run on a very thin margin, usually less than 3%. As their customer base tightens they will order/stock less. That results in a supply line contraction that will eventually reach your local shops too.

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