Tomorrow, it's supposed to feel springlike, but today was another late-winter day with cold wind throughout. Not as cold as it has been, granted, but when I decided to go for a walk after finishing off the last of a pint of Graeter's Black Raspberry, I layered up and was glad I did.
Just before the last right turn into the home stretch, I looked across the street and saw two rabbits in the yard of the house on the northwest corner. Encouraging, as was hearing robins at two separate times during the walk.
Also heard a favorite song right after walking in to the Macungie Weis (aka the Nice Weis) this afternoon. PG looked and sounded much better than she has in the weeks since she came down with a virus. It was a good day, pardon the expression.
After losing weight, my XL clothes are overly loose. I picked up long-sleeved Woolrich t-shirts at Costco in size L, which are heavier than the average and which fit well. When I put them in the closet, I saw two pairs of casual pants and two sweatpants that I realized I'd also found on large flat display tables at the Costco down the street. Functional good-quality clothing, that's what I'm after.
Tell you the truth, that long winter underwear in one of those closet cubbies also came from there.
A day in a hospital, a day visiting the TP cats, and then three days down with some kind of virus. Still hacking, but appetite is coming back, as is energy.
Sunday morning, I woke up in a dark bedroom. It was darker than usual because the power had gone out. The electric company's website said the reason for the outage was unknown, but that it would be back online by 10:00 a.m., or eight hours later. It was hard to get back to sleep, so my eyes were closed when it came back on at 2:35. At that time, PG's iPad lit up, making the room bright enough to get through my closed eyelids.
The headline read, "Coke’s $7 Billion Bet on Milk Hits Big, But Wall Street Wants More". Turns out all that expensive Fairlife brand milk in the dairy section belongs to Coca-Cola, Inc.
QUOTE: "Fairlife filters its milk to boost protein, reduce sugar by half and eliminate lactose, while also, according to fans, being creamier."
And this: "Despite being about three times the price of traditional milk, retail sales topped $1 billion in 2022." I was at Wegmans today and can confirm that. $2.42 for a half-gallon of whole milk, or $1.21 a quart, and the Fairlife on the shelf just above it was going for $3.30 a quart.
But here's what got me: "The US milk industry...has been facing declining demand for decades as kids aged out sooner and cereal’s popularity waned. US per capita milk consumption has sunk nearly 30% since 2010." Also during that time: "Since 2000, data analyzed by Beverage Digest, a trade publication, shows that the total amount of soft drinks consumed each year in the US has sunk by 37%."
Well, my weight and blood sugar levels have forced me to cut way back on soda, so that last part is understandable, but I've been a fan of whole milk ever since grade school, when it came in half-pint cardboard containers and cost 2 cents. Here it is, 60 years later, and I'm still drinking whole milk, putting it on my cereal and making homemade pudding with it. For all I know, 2 cents in 1965 dollars is worth 30 cents a half-pint today. (However, now the president wants to stop minting pennies, and I'm with him on that.)
A week and a half without anything to say. Winter in these parts. Late sunrise, early sunset. Multiple weather systems passing through, one after another. Snow thrower is in the garage, but isn't much good when the storm brings freezing rain.
The PC updates appear to have been successful, and all 13 DVDs of home videotape have been HandBraked into MP4 files. Still need to document the activity on them. After that, maybe offer a copy of certain footage to family members.
Most of the time, though, it's retirement. She and I shop, we go to doctors' appointments, we play games on our iPads and sometimes play games together on her iPad. We appreciate each other's company.
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