Urban Rambling -- November 9, 2023

Locator: 46007ARCH. 

Usual disclaimer applies. There will be content and typographical errors, and those errors are more likely in a long note like this. Read at your own risk. It's not meant for readers but for the grandchildren as an archival document to remind us what "things" were going on today.

Wow, I'm in a great mood. 

IRS: has just published new tax brackets. Whoo-hoo! I'm sure every change was made in favor of the taxpayer. LOL. IRS publishes new tax brackets for tax year 2024 on November 9, 2023. These new brackets are for tax year 2024! Because of inflation, the changes are actually in the taxpayers' favor.

Oilprice.com today: 

Inflation. I just returned from Target to pick up a few items. Target still has logistics issues; many shelves with empty spaces.

But having said that, it felt like prices have stabilized, and, in fact, dropped a bit. Sales everywhere, including a big sign, 10% off total bill for orders greater than $50. Or was it $10 off for orders greater than $50. I forget now. Whatever.

Apparently Target does not carry McCormick Cinnamon Sugar. I've never seen it there. Will continue to look. I love it on my French toast for breakfast. The French sure are clever, more on that later, if I remember. So, I'll order from Amazon. I'll start ordering my vanilla extract from Amazon, also. It's slightly less expensive than Target and much more convenient. Just a click away. 

But eggs! OMG. $5.00 / dozen last year at this time and Biden was getting all that blame for the high price of eggs (avian flu, of course, was the real cause, and poor logistics in some cases) but now at the high end stores (see yesterday's note), a dozen eggs cost $1.69 and today at Target, $1.39. Are you kidding me? $1.39 for twelve eggs. I hope folks are sending "thank you" notes to the White House. LOL. 12 cents an egg.

Seriously, grocery prices at Target have that feeling that we have simply seen a "reset." We're now where she should have been had there not been a Covid-19 lock down. So, we'll see.

The freezer coffins are over-stuffed (pun intended) with huge Butterball turkeys and their prices are starting to go up. Earlier this year, they were $0.99 / pound. Today, at Target, Butterball turkeys are $1.49 / pound. There was one honeysuckle turkey -- wow, it was huge -- for $1.19 / pound.

Every year for the past several years we've dropped off 10 - 15 turkeys at Sophia's elementary school for the annual Thanksgiving turkey drive, but not this year. I noticed that no one seemed to care one way or another how the drive went, not even a note in the school's weekly note with a summary of last year's drive. I'll donate the money to the "red kettle." Salvation Army.

 

Post-Covid: speaking of groceries, we're also "saving" a lot of money by drawing down on all the grocery and paper supplies we squirreled away during the Covid-19 lock down. A lot. 

Disney: had a great day. 

One Disney analyst, who is not a Disney bull, says Disney still has problems, but says that one exception is Disney Parks. Apparently the parks are reporting explosive profits / explosive growth. Not surprising. People say Disney park tickets are expensive. My response: "compared to what?" One can easily fact-check this; I did and, yes, Disney parks are doing great. I continue to add $200 / month to the 3-y/o twins Disney fund -- held in a Schwab investment account. They are three years old; they will go to Legoland, San Diego, when eight years old and Disneyland, Anaheim, California, when they are a bit older. The fund was started not long ago and now has over $5,000 invested.  

RSV: I mentioned that I got my RSV vaccination yesterday. Absolutely no cost to me: no deductible, no co-pay. Cost to insurer? $210.78. But we did get a coupon for 10% off on one grocery trip -- no limit on the 10%!

New car: with all the money I'm saving by shopping at Target, I was able to buy a new McLaren.

Jews not welcome? Sign of the times? On another note, DFW Kabob and Gyros restaurant, here in Grapevine, Texas, has excellent / outstanding Mediterranean / middle Eastern cuisine for really good prices. 

My wife and her best friend, who happens to be Jewish, were in line for lunch there today when a Palestinian (most likely) customer ahead of them, in a loud voice, shouted "yea, Palestine," to the DFWKAG proprietor who returned a "go, Palestine, from the river to the sea."

Needless to say, our Jewish friend was unable to have lunch there and they left. There are a gazillion restaurants from which to choose here in our local area. This will no longer be one of them.

I will send DDFWKAG a note to let them know of this incident and that I'm willing to make an 8x10 glossy / laminated sign, "Jews Not Welcome," for their window, if they would like. I wonder if they bake cakes.