Deals Only

Saturday, April 28, 2001
One year ago: Ghost Dog
Two years ago: Upgrade
Three years ago: Not Hiding

I went home Friday morning, stopping at a Walmart on the way. Since these stores are usually right next to the highway, it's convenient! I actually bought myself a new bathing suit without trying it on. I think I might have the chance to go swimming at a science fiction convention that's coming up, and my old suit has seen its best days. That's the one that gave everyone a free show when we were at the water park two years ago. Last night I spent the evening enjoying myself, watching TV, and working on decluttering.

I drove back to Bellingham this morning, to help Jack work on his office. I was surprised to find him still sleeping when I got there around ten! I think he's feeling rather overwhelmed with job concerns, his daughter moving in with him, the convention he's chairing, and moving later this summer.

He said, rather than work on his room right then, he wanted to get stuff to make beer! I was a bit nonplussed, but went along with this. He looked up the location of the brewing supply store, and I drove us over there. We did have to do some casting about to find the exact location, but finally succeeded. The store was bright and sunny, with shelves full of carboys (the large bottles for brewing), tubes, bottles, and gadgets. Jack picked out the ingredients he needed, and got lots of good advice from the guy working there.

Jack wanted to look elsewhere for the big 24 gallon stockpot he needed, so we first headed off to a local sporting goods store. Turns out that those sets designed for deep-frying a turkey work well for brewing! They include the pot, the stand, and a burner, along with a thermometer and other stuff. We looked, but Jack wanted to also look at Walmart and Costco for a cheaper price.

At Costco, no go -- they had had such sets earlier, but in that wonderful Costgo way, the sets had sold out. We lucked out at Walmart, though, and here Jack actually bought. It wasn't until he looked carefully at the box thathe realized the pot was aluminum, not stainless steel. Apparently this could affect the taste of the beer!

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On our way back towards home, I suggested we stop at that grocery discounters for the food purchases we wanted. We drove by a store with the intriguing name of "Deals Only" and stopped in on impulse. Now this was a store full of bargains, even more than the discounter! Loads of spices, cans, gadgets, candles, hair thingies, and more, all way cheap! We bought a bunch of stuff. I told Jack he should get some of the pork rinds, at 99 cents a case! They'd be good for the hospitality suite at the convention. But he said he might get them later.

We did some more normal shopping at the grocery discounter, only a few blocks away, then headed home. My car was really full of stuff.

For dessert tonight, we had plum pudding with brandied hard sauce, from the Deals Only store. Tasty and rich, and easily heated up in the microwave. I'm tempted to go back and buy more.