Phones, chicken necks, and coffee

Wednesday, 3:40 pm

By Kate

Feb

08

2006

As I was about to clean the bathtub and shower late this morning, I discovered that there wasn’t enough cleaner to do the job. I generally use a paste made of borax and it works just fine. It has enough of an abrasive quality to get soap scum off and it’s gentle enough not to scratch acrylic. Makes the fixtures really sparkly, too. I love borax—it smells wholesome and clean, and it’s environmentally friendly. So anyway. I sat down and made a list of any other items I needed and errands that should be done and discovered there was more than enough to warrant a trip into the great throngs of people on lunch break.

I don’t usually go to the grocery store in the middle of the day. I like the peace and quiet at the store in the late evening. As anticipated, the store was a mad house. And, I swear, every other person I met in the aisles had a cell phone glued to his or her ear. Moms with kids, business people, teenagers on lunch break. The whole world was busy gabbing with each other in the store. I just don’t understand it. It’s not that I’m an anti-social sort of person, but I really can’t think of anyone I’d want to have an in-depth private conversation with while I am grocery shopping. I’m too busy reading labels. But, I got to hear several private conversations. That was sort of interesting. Some things that people probably wouldn’t want strangers to hear. But, somehow, talking on the cell phone in a public place doesn’t seem to register as public. Wow. There was at least one husband and one teenager whose ears must have been burning.

Then I stopped at the meat counter to see if I could buy some chicken or turkey necks for Terry. The butcher came out to see what I wanted when I rang the bell. I asked about chicken or turkey necks and he kind of looked at me oddly and said they don’t have such things. Well, okay. I asked if they had chicken wings in large packages. He took me over to the chicken section of the meat coolers and pointed out a smallish package. I said it was a little small for my needs, didn’t he have anything larger? Couldn’t he put together a larger package for me? Well, no. I guess not. They don’t do that at the store. Which left me wondering what exactly they do there, but I didn’t ask out loud. I’ve never yet been able to get the ‘butcher’ at the store to get me anything that wasn’t already packaged in the meat coolers.

That meant a trip to the other side of town to the real butcher shop. I asked them if they sold chicken or turkey necks and the woman behind the counter asked if it was for my dog. Yes! They sell 40 pound boxes of chicken necks at 59 cents per pound. That will last Terry at least 3 weeks, maybe the entire month. So, they are ordered and will be ready for pick-up on Tuesday. After a quick scan of the meats they had available, I decided that I’m crazy to buy any meat cuts at the grocery store. They’re overpriced and puny compared to what the butcher shop offers. I’ll figure that into my next shopping trip.

All other errands were also completed on the way back home and, I’m happy to say, the bathtub is finally cleaned. Which is what started it all. That is the extent of my wildly exciting day so far.

Oh, I was out of coffee so decided to try a couple of new brands… Seattle’s Best Blend Organic (and Fair Trade) and Green Mountain Organic FTO Sumatran Reserve. I’ve already made a pot of Seattle’s Best Blend and it is just so astonishingly good. I had to sink back into the sofa and pay attention to every sip. I think that we who live in these little backwaters are starved for good coffee and when an especially good cup comes our way, it’s a momentous occasion. Seattle’s Best Blend is assuredly a four star coffee in my book.