Another trip around the sun. in A small but passable life.

The new year started with an inch and a quarter of rain. A very pleasant all day and evening steady rain. Definitely won’t remedy the megadrought, but can’t hurt. It rained another quarter inch the next day on the 2nd.

I renewed the annual membership at Instacart. I placed my first order of the year on the 2nd. I had to return to the nearly $5 loaf of bread. Eggs are still $6.69 a dozen. No eggs purchased. The “out of stock” list is growing longer. No tartar sauce for my frozen fish. It was $68.53 for two weeks worth of grub. I have eleven bags of coffee left out of the thirty-three I started 2022 with.

My new Mueller electric kettle is supposed to be here early tomorrow. When it arrives I plan on a test. The old tea kettle vs. the new kettle. I’ll put two cups of the same temperature water in each of the kettles and see which one boils first. I’m betting on the new kettle. And just maybe the new kettle will not use as much electricity as the electric range and teapot. The dozen legal pads I’d ordered at the same time arrived in two days. I use free standard shipping.

I’ve been trying to cancel the Lifeline screening membership. Been calling the so-called “VIP” hotline for three days now. Left a message on their website. Called my credit union to see if they could block the payment from going out. Learned something new in that even though I’ve just been issued a debit card renewal with a new three digit security number and a new expiration date, the payment MAY still go through because it is a recurring payment. I’ve got nothing better to do so I’m just going to keep calling and leaving very long rambling messages, requesting that my membership be cancelled.

(Well, I’ll be go to hell. I just answered the phone and a very nice woman and I chatted for a bit. The membership is cancelled. There will be no payment of $239.40 coming out on the 10th. I did tell her that I may be rejoining next year, depending on what Medicare tells me later this year.)

I only read seven books last year, And two of those were re-reads.

I just finished “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson. A re-read. That’s one book read for 2023.

Anyway, 2023, here we go.