Things Sure Getting Expensive, A Saturday Afternoon Band and Da Bears Da Stink

FRIDAY, JANUARY 6

.After finally getting the "Smart Phone" smart, we drove over to 'Cuda's on Grasslake Road and enjoyed their beer-batter fish fry.  It is now AUCE for $12.99 and was $9.99 before the virus hit.  Draft beer was $3 and had been $2 before.  Things sure getting expensive.  Gas it going up fast again as well.  I paid $3.20 on the way over to 'Cuda's

We then went to the Fox Lake American Legion for 50/50.

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SATURDAY, JANUARY 7

Met Kevin and Kelly, Glenn and Barb at the Fox Lake American Legion for their first Saturday band.  Where else you gonna go in the middle of winter on a Saturday afternoon and get some band entertainment.  Performing today was Aging Teen Idols with out friend John Piet.  They play a whole lot of oldies, originals and Beatles songs.  Plus, draft beer is still just $2 a pint.

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 8

Went to the McHenry American Legion and saw the Bears lose their tenth straight game to finish the season 3-14.  Da Bears!!  Were sure bad This Year!!     Oh, well.  At least we get the very first draft choice as a result of being the worst in the NFL.

--RoadBear

Still Using Cassettes (Hopelessy Behind the Times)

FRIDAY, JULY 1

Went to Quality Tire in Spring Grove to check on the Malibu and then to McHenry to check out some garden centers at Wal Mart and Home Depot and then bought three 5-pack Maxell cassette bricks and a Sony Radio, Cassette and CD boombox player using a 30% off coupon.  Nowadays a cassette brick costs $9.99 at Meijers which is the only place I know of to buy a brick.  The boom box usually cost $69.99.

Gas on Illinois Highway 31 was $5.15 and $5.05.  Getting better, but still way TOO expensive

Stopped at the Spring Grove Jewel on the way home and bought six 12-packs of Diet Coke for Liz at 3 for $10, a real good deal these days of inflation in pretty much everything.  (Sale prices on these used to be 4 for $10.)

I see that USC and UCLA are going to join the Big 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.  That will make it the Big 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.  Time for a name change.  Another case of the rich get richer among the so-called Power Conferences.  I liked the old days where conferences were based on regional location, but not no more.

Picked up the Malibu which ended up with $460 in repairs.

Met the usual suspects at Johnny's Cafe in Fox Lake and then went to the Fox Lake American Legion.

But, I Like Cassettes, and, Even More Important, Know How toUse Them.  -RoadDog

JSS: Ukraine Flag-- Come On Weather!! -- Inflation Gets Personal-- Sad Sox, Sad Hawks & Sad Bulls

JSS--  Just Some Stuff

1.  UKRAINE FLAG

I saw a Ukraine flag in the Jewel parking lot earlier today.  Come on Ukraine.  It is amazing what they are accomplishing against such overwhelming odds.

2.  COME ON WEATHER!!

No breaks from the weather  After a wonderful weekend with temps in the lower 80s, we now have 44 degree weather with a strong wind blowing the cold on us.  Is there going to be a spring?  Freeze warnings for tonight!!  

3.  INFLATION GETS PERSONAL 

Today at our local breakfast spot, we were getting ready to order from the specials list when a waitress ran over and quickly gathered the specials pages and replaced them with another one.  We saw that the new one was $1 more for everything.  Ouch!!

4.  SAD SOX, SAD HAWKS & SAD BULLS

Rough time to be pulling for Chicago teams.  The Sox are in the middle of a seven game losing streak and the only thing happening more often is the loss of players to injury.  Seems like a new one every day.

The Blackhawks can't end the season soon enough.  And, I remember when they won their 3rd Stanley Cup in five years back in 2015 that they were talking about a Blackhawk Dynasty.  Little did we know we were seeing the end of it.

At least the Bulls showed the first improvement since those wonderful 1990s and made the playoffs this year, but will most likely be eliminated tomorrow.

--RoadDog

Holiday Gobbles More Cash-- Part 1

From the Nov. 11th Chicago Tribune by Jeff Wilson.

The cost of a Thanksgiving dinner will jump more than 13% this year, the biggest gain in more than 20 years. A meal for ten people rises to $49.20 from $43.47 last year. Turkey is the biggest increase.

I will give the item, 2010 price,2011 price and increase.

16-pound turkey: $17.66, $21.57, $3.91

Milk 1-gallon whole: $3.24, $3.66, 42 cents

Pumpkin-pie mix, 30 oz., $2.62, $3.03. 41 cents

Whipping cream, half pint: $1.70, $1,96, 26 cents

Cubed stuffing, 14 oz.: $2.64, $2.88, 24 cents

Green peas, 1 pound: $1.44, $1.68, 24 cents

Rolls, 12: $2.12, $2.30, 18 cents

More increases coming.

Thanks GRBs. --RoadDog


PARAPROSDOKIAN SENTENCE: A bus is a vehicle that runs twice as fast when you're after it as when you are in it.

Prices...Ouch!!! : Now Milk

Just went shopping and was taken aback by the $3.50 a gallon for milk!!! Our dairy farmers must be getting like the good ol' boys in Big Oil. That $3.50 a gallon for milk is just about the same as a gallon of gas. However, I realize that the increased gas prices have sent the cost of everything up. Strangely, I don't hear much about inflation, but it is evidently here.

Went to Des Plaines today and saw gas in that area at $3.40. It is still at $3.30 (that's $3.29.9) around here. A friend I was driving with said that Mobil-Exxon had posted a whopping $500,000,000,000 in earnings this last quarter. He said something about that being the biggest earnings any US company had ever made. How can everybody be hurting as badly as we are, and some people are making profit off that hurt?

Who do these guys think they're fooling? I, for one, do not believe any of their excuses or reasons. How much longer must we endure this ridiculous situation?

Gettin' Burned at the Pump and at the Dairy Section!! --Poor Ol' RoadDog