The southern heat gets me. The dew point gets me. The humidity gets me. So I just stay inside with air conditioning most of the summer. No sense complaining. It's Georgia, it's summer, it's hot. Not much is going to change that. The only time I have to go out is church and when I have to do errands. Not a fan of errands.
But they need to be done and I am doing this adulting thing pretty well if I say so myself, so I go.
I decided to head out early before the worst of the heat sets in, like be at the grocery store at its opening at 7 am. I didn't do too bad, I got there at 7:06.
My grocery store of choice is Kroger. The prices are good, they send me coupons, and the variety is excellent for my dietary needs. I've recently even discovered a lactose free yogurt that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
Since it was early I got the first spot, next to the bushes. Crossing hot asphalt in the Georgia summer isn't my favorite thing. The first spot! I felt special, like I won something.
These faux terra cotta pots looked cool all stacked up outside the store. I liked the graphic design.
The Sahara dust storm has reached Georgia now. The haze the other day was quite visible. It was like the floor of the desert had levitated to just above the tree line and hung there, yellowish orangey brown brooding, just hovering. The dust had laid on a thick coat all over the car. I thought it best to get it washed off before the paint got pitted or scratched.
I've always been scared inside of automatic car washes but I just breathed steady and called on the name of the Lord and I was OK.
On my way back out of the Kroger parking lot I saw some mockingbirds flitting where the planters were. I like dhow the gray chairs and the gray table matched the little bird. They know just where to land, don't they?
It's important to maintain the car but I am hesitant to do some of the things by myself, and that includes tires. When I was 16 I accidentally blew up my 10-speed bike tire and I never got over the loudness of the explosion and the suddenness of the bang. Tires Plus guys are kind to do that task for you. They'll check the air and add it if the tires need. I bought 2 new tires from them and they patched another, but I think they will do it even if you are not one of their customers. Since I was in the neighborhood during the day, which is unusual since I normally go to Kroger after church on Sunday evenings, I thought it prudent to do the adulting thing again and have them check. Sure enough, the two front tires were low.
I stopped at the Dollar General store to buy a few hard goods. I didn't need much, just sandwich sized storage bags, toothpaste, and an empty spray bottle. I've ordered some frosted film to put on my kitchen window, and it adheres by spraying water, placing the panel of frosted film on the glass, then squeegeeing the water out. No adhesive, which is good for a rental unit. The review said it was easy to apply, so after I ordered some at Amazon I trotted to the Dollar store to get me an inexpensive spray bottle to do the deed.
I did't find any. It was just after their opening at 8:00 and the store was empty except for me. The three employees were busy cleaning and wiping the front door. I asked one of them where the empty spray bottles were. With barely turning around one of the employees brusquely said in a nanosecond, "We're out." I said, "You're out of all your spray bottles of any kind?" "Yep."
The Dollar store is noted for their low prices, not for sparkling customer service, so I chalked it up and figured I'd check another store later in the week when the frosted film arrived from Amazon. At least I got toothpaste.
Last stop, the bank. The sign is ridiculously large. It's about the same size as the front of the bank. But the ladies inside are very gracious and helpful so I forgive the bank its massive and ugly sign, lol.
The little neighborhood I pass through on the way home has several homes that take care of their front porches and rotate their decorations on them. They are cute to look at. With the 4th of July holiday coming up, this home had decorated with the red, white, and blue semi-circular banners. They looked nice hanging over the large porch and contrasted against the white.
I took pride in winning the grocery game of "bring it all inside in one trip". I can't do it anymore since I started buying a case of seltzer water. But I'm serious about the one-trip thing when I can do it. Apparently so are others! Take a look-
Home at last, I made it back by 9 am. I got my things put away and re-heated the coffee and finished my second cup. Ahhh, the pleasure of having done my jobs!
As I was putting away the groceries, the delivery man knocked and handed me my bonito flakes. At Kroger I'd bought seaweed. Alton Brown has a video on making dashi, which is a Japanese broth composed of soaking the previous two items and then straining. Bonito flakes are made from the bonito, a fish they dry, and make into flakes. Apparently bonito flakes are FULL of protein. I'll do another essay about them when I make my broth. I hope you have a great day and week ahead, everyone.
It's always nice to come home to your cat. What is it with cat in a box?
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