Just need to talk to my friends (203)

Thank you

Good morning Porch Friends,

Final prep is underway here for our maiden RV voyage. Going somewhere close by accompanied by my SIL and BIL. I've got brownies, a spice cake and a peach cobbler baking. That's the last of the cooking from home. Everything I'm taking for supper meals can be done on the grill or in the crockpot. It's all loaded. Just have to stop to get fresh bread tomorrow.

The babies will go to Huntland for Granddaughter to look after and feed. They will be in a stable, so warm and dry. Grandson will come by each day to check on the rest of the herd and feed Lilly and Jake and the chickens. My daughter will come to feed the bird and Oliver. Our little circus, lol.

Went to the Tax Guy yesterday. Will have to file extension for my FIL, which I expected as the Estate Deadline is April. Got a list of the bonds calculated and will deliver that to the Tax folks today. Then, I'm free for a few days. Well, I guess I'd best get up from here. The washer/dryer is going, the oven is baking and I got more chores to do… Ya'll have a good day!

up and out to Del Taco to use some coupons…after lunch my daughter is coming to cut 2.5 inches off my hair!

Iris…love the pics.

JeriLynne…where are you off to and for how long?

David…did everyone sing along with "Elvis"?

That's the trouble with Wal Mart. They destroy the small businesses that make a small town worth living in. When WM comes to town, the stores close, the unemployment rate goes up, and the average wage goes down. I shop at WM to avoid driving miles out of my way, but I don't like going there.

Customer service is getting worse all over. I was in Lowe's the other day to get furnace filters, and there were no checkout clerks. I had to ring it up myself, which wouldn't be so bad if self check were consistent, but it seems every store has a little different machine. Lowe's could afford a commission salesman to badger me about getting my water tested while I was looking for the filters, but not a cashier. Springfield has Menard's and Home Depot, maybe I'll visit them next time.

Yes I did "BLUE Hawaii "that was the name of his movie

Rolla is more than 100 miles from my home, Lorita. I've driven through Rolla many times on my way to and from St. Louis but have never had a reason to stop other than maybe at a service station.

GG, if you don't have a tornado shelter, you get to the lowest part of your home that is the farthest away from windows, with as many walls between you and the exterior of your home. A bathroom is often used here. We're expecting severe weather Sunday. We'll be back home by then. This is just a little short trip to test out the RV.

DH is already talking about everything we need to get done when we get back, lol. Let's see: the flower beds, the pool deck, the barn (where he tends to collect and strew anything/everything), repair the backyard fence the grand dogs destroyed, barn work at the Huntland place, the chicken house expansion, put up an interior barn door in my pantry, and the list goes on. 😕

We like to shop local as well. Except I do go to WM, Costco for major grocery hauls. DH sits in the car for the WM trip. He does load and unload the groceries for me. And I use Amazon for things like bulk chicken stock, TP, PT and kleenex. But then, you know I have grandkids that "shop" my pantry so I keep more than we need for just us.

good morning

JeriLynn hope you and DH have a safe, peaceful trip and get a little rest.

GG you were given good advice on what to during a tornado. I will give you two good YouTube channels to watch when you’re having bad weather. One is max velocity, the other is Ryan Hall y’all. They are on any time there is a significant weather. If it’s just small area, they may not be on. A lot of times they are both on, but then sometimes one of them will be on and not the other so it’s always good to check both. They track the tornadoes and they can make you very aware of where they are . Sometimes they can even be very specific in your area as to where it’s going to hit, not always. Sometimes they can just tell you it’s headed toward your town. Two other things that are good to do is if you have a motorcycle helmet or a bicycle helmet to wear it because frequently what happens if you get hit by something is a head injury and so that protects you a lot. The other thing is, you should always have on a full enclosed shoe one that it would be safe for you to walk over glass with.

For many years I did not shop at Walmart. We have two Walmarts in our area, but I really have not seen in our area that they caused the closure of anything other than maybe Kmart. Then the pandemic happened, I started using them because they would bring your groceries out, they were close, they opened early so I could go before many people were there once I got a good mask and went in. I was very happy with the service and I got and the groceries I got. So after the pandemic, I continued on with them. I cannot get everything there, but what I get there is almost always quite a bit cheaper and as a retired person was important to me. I still go to both of the other grocery stores, too. Walmart carries some things they don’t carry, and they carry things Walmart doesn’t carry so I have a lot more available to me by using them all.
Then my nephew got a job at Walmart the one with ADHD and dyslexia. It was a very good experience for him not great pay but it was better than where he was working. Also, after a year he had insurance available, he had 401(k) available and he could have moved up there and made more money. But he has chosen to try and get his CDL instead. If that doesn’t work out for him, then he will go back to Walmart and they will take him. They told him that when he left. He got a good amount of paid time off. I was kind of surprised by it all. Here is what I’ve noticed in our town, I would say there’s a very different class of clientele at WM compared to the other two stores in general. You get a much rougher crowd at Walmart especially later on in the day. That is not so true in the morning when I go. A few times though I’ve had to run for something later in the evening and that’s when I observe it especially. I’m glad that poor people have an option that is cheaper than the other two stores. Almost everything at the other two stores are $.50 to a dollar higher than they are at Walmart. I can see in really small towns though what you guys are talking about happening. I will say this, though my families from a extremely small town in Kentucky. Walmart tried to get in there, but they would not allow them in. Their Kmart closed anyways, and they now have to travel quite a distance to do any major sort of shopping including even going to Walmart. If the town would’ve allowed them in older people, disabled people, etc. would have Walmart. Now they pretty much have access to nothing locally. I really enjoyed using the Walmart pharmacy. It was close. I found them to be very cooperative and it was very convenient to use. I felt like they babysat me, I didn’t have to babysit them. This year due to having to change my drug plan I can no longer go to them. They’re not a preferred pharmacy. I’m not sure how much I trust the new pharmacy. I seem to kinda have to babysit them. I’m not even sure they’re going to automatically refill my prescriptions and notify me. I think I’m going to have to keep up with that and notify them. Couple weeks ago when I went to pick up prescriptions from them for the first time their computers were down. I couldn’t get my prescriptions I had to come back later. They’re not as near as Walmart was. I never had to do that at Walmart and I’ve been there quite a few years now also, I’m not real happy. I would like to be back at Walmart. I just feel they’re not going to be as timely and accurate. Hopefully I’m wrong.

Ron hope you are doing ok

I pretty much have to use WM because it is the only nearby source of really cheap, shoddy clothing for my disabled son. If I buy him anything good, like Levi's, it will be stolen the first week by other residents of his RCF. With the closing of the two good supermarkets near my home, I have started buying some of my groceries there also to avoid a 20-mile round trip.

HB, do you get the haircut and wine at the same place? That sounds like really good service!

The salesman wore a Lowe's vest, so I thought he was a Lowe's employee. It could easily have been part of the deal with Lowe's, though. He was young, tall, and had tattoos and piercings all over his face. I'll bet some people sign up because they are afraid not to.

up and out to have my hearing aids cleaned…

Thanks to everyone for all of the advice. The thunderstorms will start within the next half hour or so and tornadoes are not out of the question, unfortunately. I think the threat ends at around 10pm.

We have a couple of places in our house where we can go. We don't have a basement, but we do have a downstairs. It's kind of weird though. I think our house is officially known as a "daylight rambler", which is sort of a ranch-style house, with a "basement" that is on the ground floor and has windows. But there are a couple of rooms downstairs that have no windows, so I'm thinking that may be the place to stay for a few hours.

I'm good for knowing what to do with fire and earthquake prep, but tornado and hurricane prep are not in my wheelhouse.

JeriLynn - here's hoping your severe weather turns out to be not so severe.

Mint - You know what? Oddly, I do have a motorcycle helmet! I didn't even think of it! A friend of mine had a motorcycle and every once in a blue moon I used to ride on the back with him. He got rid of the motorcycle, but I kept my helmet because it is so not me. I'm already wearing my tough-guy hiking boots.

HB - that's kind of what I've seen in some of the towns where Walmart has moved in. It's really sad. My old neighborhood in San Francisco (the Castro) is still really strict about letting in any chain store within a several block radius. As a result, the shops and restaurants tend to be unique. Of course, Covid killed off a few of them…… but that's a different story.

Other stuff — no auroras last night. On the plus side, I just got a new pair of stability gym shoes (as opposed to running shoes). I'm so happy. I really needed a new pair.

Okay — I'm off. Think positive thoughts (no tornadoes, no tornadoes, no tornadoes).