Weekly Personal Note -- March 3, 2024

Locator: 46662ARCHIVES.

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Inflation Watch

Groceries: food prices coming down very, very quickly in our neighborhood. Mentioned that yesterday. Now, today, to pick up some things I forgot yesterday, all at Target, the high-cost choice in our area.

• white bread: $1.39
• Spam: on sale at $3.49; regular price, $3.79
• eggs still expensive at $2.79 / dozen; can find them elsewhere for $1.99 / dozen; but don't need any today
• Unfortunately I don't need any of these and didn't buy but it was hard to pass up:

• Campbell's soup? I'm used to paying $1.79 for some choices; now down to a dollar:

• CNBC says $7 for dry cereal in NYC. How about $4.50?

• Oreos. Last time I bought Oreas, years ago, $2.50. Refused to buy them when they went over $2.50 but I continued to follow. Aghast when they went over $5.00 -- only Girl Scout cookies were / are more expensive. But, now, down to $4.00. From $5.19 to $4.00 that's almost a 25% drop in price.

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Family Notes
For The Archives

See this post for background. 

This is an indulgence I would prefer not to do. I don't "do" Facebook so this is my way of keeping friends and family informed of personal events.

Illness: I can't provide the name of the individual right now -- maybe a year from now -- but we came very, very close to losing an extended family member this past week. 

Some might think I'm being a bit dramatic, but I don't think so. Hospitalized with a diagnosis of rule out kidney abscess, diagnosed with severe bilateral pyelonephritis, viral pneumonitis, influenza B, and EV virus (infectious mono). Covid-19 negative. Two week illness; three-day hospitalization; back home this weekend. 

Weather: 90°P weather earlier this week, then winter came roaring back for two days; now back to 80°P this weekend.

More weather: there is a push to change the term "Fahrenheit" to something easier to spell and something more appropriate for US weather. 

Some would like to see "Patriot" degrees. So, today, not 80°F but rather 80°P or 80 degrees Patriot. LOL. The conversion rate "F" to "P" much easier than from "F" to "C."

Birthdays:

• May is in Portland, OR, celebrating birthdays for Judah and Levi. Four years old.
• Carl and Ruth's great-grandchildren birthdays this month: Judah, Levi, Kaitlyn, Gemma, and Avery.

Economic activity: in the DFW area seems to be incredible. 

May and I spent the four-day weekend, about two weeks ago in San Antonio.

Driving through Ft Worth was amazing, and the growth around Rose Glen was amazing.

Absolutely zero talk here in Texas about the "southern surge" including almost no mention of the immigration issue on all the political advertising now going on. If there is any mention of the immigration issue in political ads, it's less than what it was four years ago, even with the dueling visits by a president in his ninth decade of life and an opponent in his eighth decade of life. Is that right?