We're Back!

A vicious rumor circulated thru the crowd at the wedding. There reportedly wasn't going to be any cake at the reception.
It was the cause of much consternation.










Speculation was brought to an end when the rumor was found to be untrue. It caused one wedding patron to shout... "Hey guys, there's going to be two kinds of cake and one is going to be my favorite, CHOCOLATE!!"




Having been granted traveling mercies we have returned to the farm. We attended a family reunion in Albuquerque and the wedding of Ralph and Chars daughter in Denver.
The same phenomenon recurred at the reunion as last time. Everyone appears to have aged a bit since two years ago, except Marilyn and I. We played some golf courses that were clearly over my head, ate salsa at every meal and told and retold family stories. A delightful time and a good reason to get together.
The wedding was delightful. We got to repay the Campbells for some of the help they've been to us over the years. We did some cooking, entertaining, and generally had a great time. The wedding was a lovely garden affair and the reception was in a hall next to the garden. All was nicely done and nothing was overblown. I'll leave most of the wedding news to Ralph. If he's too stingy with the pics...I'll have to get involved.
I'm looking forward to the next time we can get together with the Campbells.
The promised date for Blogstock '08 will have to wait a bit. Ralph is thinking the 4Th of July and I'm not sure. We just didn't have time to visit about that.
We had 1.25" of rain the night after we left and another 1.30" of rain the night we got home. If this rain keeps up I'll never get done irrigating.
I have often warned my kids to be careful not to pay too much for gas when pulling off of the Interstate in a remote area. On the way home Thursday we got off of the interstate at Cozad, NE. The BP station had $3.02 on their sign for 10% ethanol. Thinking this to be in line with what I had seen in Denver, we pulled in. The cheapest grade at the pump was $3.59!! I was mad and cancelled the transaction. We went 2 blocks further to the only other station at that interchange and paid $3.08. I had often seen the 50 cent range between stations before, but running a deceptive sign was stooping to a new low.
The weeds have responded to the recent rains quite well. If anyone is looking for me I'll be running my 8 horse, two wheeled string trimmer. Probably out around the grain bins. I'll stop by your blog soon. Come visit, we'll bake a cake.

I'm Picky!

I promised you a rant about two weeks ago. I got out of the mood, you know, I mellowed out

about it but it brought me to the boiling point again last night. I like Iced Tea. I find that while not exactly better than some brewed tea's, Nestea Unsweetened is convenient and fast for me and my preference. It is the 'Original' tea they started selling as instant. I think it superior to Lipton or any of the others. My tea has a dark green band around the top of the label. Nestea also makes the same label with a yellow band for lemon flavored and and light green band for de-caf. I don't want those, I want the original with the dark green band. See picture.

SO, about 3 weeks ago I was down in my supply and stopped in town at our local store. It's a small store but it's where I buy most of my groceries. I tried to buy some of my tea and found that while they had about six different kinds of tea including the Nestea yellow and light green labels that were all well stocked and full to the front, the space where the 'Original' was supposed to be was empty. I mentioned it at checkout. They would tell someone.

A week later, repeat the above. Only this time I talked to someone who was in charge of some of the ordering and she said she would order some, "It's my favorite too," she told me.

Last week, (MY SUPPLY NOW COMPLETELY GONE) same as above only two ordering people said "we have two cases coming in."

Our neighboring town has a big store and a medium sized store. I don't mind spending money in that town instead of my home town once in a while. Marilyn does get the biggest share of her business from there after all. Last week I stopped in twice at the medium sized store. Same as above. Plenty of every type of tea but mine is sold out.

Last night we stopped at the big one thinking that there is no chance of getting it at one of smaller more convenient stores. The big store was SOLD OUT OF NESTEA UNSWEETENED.

So we drive to the smaller store and lo and behold they've gotten in a shipment but have just two bottles left. We took them. Oh sweet victory!

This began about a month ago and Marilyn and I have had occasion to be together in three different grocery stores since that time, and have noticed one obvious thing. Any product that says 'Original' is either in low supply or completely missing while all of the other improved versions are always fully stocked. You can see three or four examples of this down every isle. If you need 'low salt', 'de-caf', 'no sugar', 'nonfat' or 'sweetened' then you are in luck.