Odds and Ends

I'll start out with some replies to a few of the comments I've received.

Nancy1340:  I have no doubt that in certain situations a gun can be a life saver.  I was just never interested in carrying or learning how to use them, and now at my age (and with my reduced vision and reflexes) this isn't the time for me to start.

Kathy Kelly:  Yes, I put ham in the pea soup.  I use a ham steak and just cube it in small pieces.  I also add onion, carrots, and celery.

RunNRose:  I have looked several times at Walmart, and this morning at Safeway, but the local stores just don't carry Endust.

I neglected to mention that a tent footprint is a piece of lightweight tarp (or Tyvek if you can find it) that is cut just a tad smaller than your tent.  It serves as a ground sheet, keeping out the moisture and chill from the ground, while also offering some protection to the bottom of the tent from small stones and sticks.  Most tent mfrs make a "footprint" that matches a particular tent they sell, usually costing in the neighborhood of $40-50+.  The advantage of this kind is that it allows you to skip the tent and just attach the rain fly to the footprint and use hiking poles to hold it up, which is a quick set-up.  The downside to this is that insects can get inside, as can crawly things.  The tent, being completely enclosed, prevents these things.

I drove to Lowe's this morning (after visiting Walmart again and Safeway).  Lowe's doesn't have Endust.  Drove on over to Costco to pick up my Rx sedative to be taken before my root canal work.  Anyone who shops at Costco knows that they set up sample tables allowing you to taste a product in the hopes you will buy it.  Well, buy it I did!  They were offering samples of Greenlee bread, cinnamon and raisin are the two I bought.  The samples were toasted and smeared with whipped butter.  At a ton of calories per slice I am going to enjoy eating them - I already had one slice of each after my lunch.  Note:  In 5 weeks I've gained 6#, although I've only been really working seriously at it for 3 wks.  Too slow for my liking but it will have to do.  Let's see, 20 more pounds is my goal, so that will be around the end of April.

Donald just delivered a box of strawberries for Valentine's Day.  I've already eaten two of them.

I had a couple more stops to make but was just too tired and hungry to continue.  

Don also brought me a big box of fresh strawberries, so I just made a quick run to the grocery to get bananas to go with them.  My favorite breakfast is strawberries and bananas, even better than coffeecake (well almost).   Guess what I found at the store - one lonely can of Endust sat on the shelf so I snatched it up.  Somehow I was pulled past the   ice cream cooler on the way to the cashier, and two small containers of Hagen Dazs fell into my cart.  I'd be pretty happy if I wasn't so full from eating today.