Not a Great Day, Winco and Jim's Dad

Today has not been such a good day.  We were up at 8:00 to prepare to leave for the doctor's appointment we booked a month ago.  Apparently, although there are many hospitals in Spokane, there are very few family doctors.  Our first attempt required two months before we could get a new patient appointment, two days before we were supposed to go, they informed us that the doctor was moving into one of the high rise buildings in a very crowded part of town with limited parking.  We cancelled.  Anyway, today was scheduled with a Physician's Assistant in a small practice.  I went into the office to turn on the agave's grow lights and nothing happened.  Many, but not all, lights were out in the house.  Worse, the garage was dark.  Since the garage door had been locked last night, we could not raise it manually.  So we called and cancelled our 10:00 appointment, and they rescheduled for two weeks out.  At 10:00 exactly, the power that had been out, came back on.  I'm feeling a little defeated by all of this.  We need a primary care doc to write prescriptions, it we don't find one we're going to end up driving to Tucson to see our doctor there in May.  I would really prefer not to do that.

We got our second booster yesterday, and this one has really whooped me.  My arm hurts into my wrist, over to my collar bone and into my shoulder.  I also have sore throat and a headache.  Hopefully this will be gone by tomorrow.  This has been my first bad reaction to the Pfizer vaccine.  I think my malaise is not helping my disappointment with not getting in to see the PA and two more weeks of not knowing if we'll have a local doctor.

Yesterday we went to Winco again.  It's a pretty cool store.  They don't take credit cards, and you have to bag your own groceries.  Generally the lines move fairly quickly.  We got behind two elderly ladies who were making a career out of emptying their cart, and then bagging.  We switched lines, as we left the store they still were not done.  Anyway, Napa cabbage is $2.50 a pound at Safeway, it's $1.00 a pound at Winco.  The shredded cheese we bought at Safeway was $5.30, it's $1.99 at Winco.  Some prices are not as astounding, but nothing is any higher.  We don't like their meat counter so much, so I guess we'll be going to the Yoke's we recently discovered.  It's so much better than the one near the house. 

Asparagus $1 a pound.  $4 to $5 at Safeway.

Here is our Napa cabbage.  It did require washing, the beets above it had dripped onto it, depositing some sand.  I washed it, and then rolled it up in my lovely towels hand woven by Joanne and let it dry in the refrigerator.  I was feeling very domestic.  It's the first time I've cooked it, they're very heavy so I would not buy it at Safeway prices.

They have a huge bulk food section.  You can buy bulk cornstarch, Red Mill flour, sugar and etc.  There are also bulk Moon Pies.  When I was a kid, the snack of choice was a Moon Pie and an RC cola.  Southern, very southern.

We also picked up this photo of Jim's Dad from the framing lady.  It turned out really well.  We carried the photo around in the bus for about eleven years, so it was nice for him to see the light of day.  It was taken after Pierce returned from Europe after WWII, at a wedding he attended.

In news of Ukraine, it appears that the mobile crematoriums the russians brought with them were never for their dead.  They were brought to cover up evidence of their planned genocide.  These people are horrible.

Thanks to Hans for telling us to try Winco.