I don't often go shopping beyond the local WalMart and Brookshires, so I seldom get a real feel for how busy other stores are. However, today I drove into the big city of Tyler...population 91,000...to make some purchases I've been putting off for a while. From the heavy traffic and the number of people in the stores, you would never guess the economy is bad. Traffic in many places was bumper to bumper, restaurant parking lots were full for the noon meal, and I had to stand in line to pay for my merchandise in every store. Maybe there are fewer clerks working the checkout lines, but I couldn't tell the difference.
What I did notice is that almost everything has had a significant price increase since the last time I shopped. A few months ago, I could get a 40# bag of dog food for $35, but now it tops $45! If it keeps going up at that rate, I'll have to train the dogs to hunt feral hogs for their meals. Bonnie might like that, but poor old Belle's legs wouldn't allow her to do much chasing.
It was a pleasant surprise to see the price of a pound of coffee beans dropped, so not everything has increased.
During these rare shopping trips, I usually treat myself to a Sonic-burger and a chocolate shake, and that's something else that has gone up in price. Not long ago, I could hand the carhop a $5 bill, give her a tip, and get some change back, but today it was almost $6. Guess I better get back on my diet.
Stopped at the gun store and once again took advantage of the Second Amendment before the socialists in Washington repeal it. Got a good buy on a new series 80, 1911 Colt Commander. I even picked up a box of Winchester .380 ACP ammo. It's the first I've seen on a store shelf since last spring. The ammo shelves were much better stocked than they were only a few weeks ago, so it appears that situation has improved.
I also bought a 23,000 btu kerosene-fueled heater to use in the garage when I'm working on the car this winter, and since it doesn't need electricity to operate, we can use it for emergency heat in the house. We've had the electricity go off several times since we moved here, so at least now we're covered for winter.
It certainly didn't look like a bad economy out there today, so maybe our part of Texas will be spared a severe recession. We can only hope.
2 comments:
Hi Gary. I appreciate your stopping by my blog and posting the good info for my search. Thanks to you and a database I didn't even know I had access to (through my library), I now have a print of the actual 1920 census page for the correct Lars Twedt. I do have some work cut out for me, but probably won't go much further now until after the first of the year. Thanks again for the suggested resources.
"Got a good buy on a new series 80, 1911 Colt Commander. I even picked up a box of Winchester .380 ACP ammo." !!!!
I gotta move to Texas! Here in "civilized" New Yawk State (highest exodus rate in the country, by the way) it will cost me $250 for a concealed cary class (8 hours) then $125 just to apply for a permit. Then a 3 day waiting period when I go to buy a sidearm.
Boneheads!
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