Health Nuts
They surround us. The governments of Alberta and Florida are great examples of administrations that spout garbage about vaccines and lockdowns.
For the record, Florida had double the mortality rate when compared to Canada. Remember the videos of them crowded in the bars having a great time when the rest of us were huddled in our basements? 80,000 died. 30,000 more than all of Canada! In a warm state where you could go outside. Half of our population. Look it up? Their governor goes around now saying how he got his state up and running early, how he showed the rest of the country how it was done? Really?
There's a new measles epidemic breaking out in the southern states and out in Alberta. Why? Those regional governments have been talking trash about forced vaccines for the last five years. Good luck with that. Measles.
Tylenol causes autism. What? Yesterday, I read a headline. Texas is suing Tylenol for compensation for children diagnosed with autism. First witness for the prosecution ... the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Amazing!
So Neil DeGrasse-Tyson has a clip on YouTube that I love. From the dawn of our species and for tens of thousands of years, half of everyone born was dead by thirty. By 1840, that number had only grown by five years to thirty-five? And they were eating organically! Free range! Low pollution. No refined sugars. All whole wheat. No preservatives. No red food dye? Clean water. Here is the short ...
To that, I would suggest that you look at old film clips. How many fat people do you see? They were in shape. They walked to work or stayed on the farm. With all of that trendy living ... life expectancy barely grew. Why? Well, infant mortality remained high, and a whole raft of diseases that we have all heard of but have never experienced ... ravaged our populations with brutal regularity. Tuberculosis, mumps, smallpox, yellow fever, plague, flu, measles, malaria, cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery, leprosy and scarlet fever took a steady toll . When was the last time someone you know had dysentery? If you had a major illness that chicken soup and bed rest couldn't fix, you were doomed. Health nuts today are feeding us (excuse the pun) a bunch of nonsense. Life expectancy for your grandchild born today in Canada is 82. That's hygiene and drugs and modern medicine. It's maternity wards and vaccines for babies. Homogenized milk and food preservatives. That is science!!! So yesterday, I got my COVID booster and flu shot. I may get hit by a bus tomorrow, but at my funeral, no one will stand there saying; "Damn! Scarlett Fever got him."
I.B.A.T.
I tried to buy a RAV4 made in Canada; I really did. "Do you want a dull grey one or a dull silver one? Ah, what colours do you have? "Dull grey or dull silver." But I see a blue one in the brochure? "We sold the blue car last year. You should have called us last year if you had wanted the blue car." What if I ordered a 2026 in blue? "We completely discontinued the 2.5 engine in 2026." You mean the most reliable engine configuration in the history of Toyota auto manufacturing? "Yes, that one. We will only make hybrids and EVs from now on." What about interior colours? You can have black or black. How much. $48K. Out the door with my trade? $27K. Cool. Thanks.
I then found a great deal on a CX-5 (according to Clutch) in Barrie. Nice guy on the phone. They had sold the car in March. It came back in September and was traded for a CX-70. The guy has two teenagers playing hockey, and the CX-5 just wasn't big enough. It only had 1,800 clicks, three grand in upgrades and three grand off the price for a new one. Factory undercoating, bug shield, tinted glass. So I gave him the spiel. The one I give every car dealership. Give me an out the door price, no bullshit, no sales pitch, no dance of the seven veils with the sales manager when I get there. He gives me the number, in writing. $17K. I can do that. I can put that on my MasterCard. I am ready to pull the trigger.
I had left a message with Mazda Toronto as a courtesy, just letting them know I was looking. Nothing on their site jumped off the page for us, and they couldn't touch the Barrie deal. So, I get a call from the guy who sold us the original CX-5 in 2022 ...
Dave: Hey Mitch how's it going? What'dya need?
Me: A red one or a black one this time. Kuro. Upgraded wheels, red interior.
Dave: Any damage to your trade?
Me: One little nick in the rear bumper, but we do smoke in it.
Dave: Lightly?
Me: Ah, let see. SWMBO smokes one on the way to Tim Hortons every day. One on the way back. Chain smokes on every trip we ever took and uses the car as a heated or air-conditioned smoking lounge once we arrive or stay with anyone. So, three and a half years, that's three and a half times 365 days, times twice per day, plus ten for each direction on a trip plus a pack in the "lounge" at each destination. What's that? Thirty-one hundred and fifty large regulars while fully inside the car with the passenger window cracked. Oh, and I smoke the occasional cigar. But we did have that green tree Christmas tree thingy you hung on our mirror in 2022?
Dave: So, lightly smoked in?
Me: Absolutely. Remember that Subaru we traded for our first CX-5 back in 22?Now, Mom and Dad. They knew how to smoke in a car!
Dave: Yes, Mitch, we remember. Our detailer still talks about that one with reverence. I think there is a plaque somewhere. Give me an hour."
He comes back, $16K out the door. Film at eleven. BTW - When the Barrie guy tried to close the deal, I told him we bought a new one for $16K OTD. His price then came down two grand. They never learn.
Our Optimum Week
Remember that list I gave you last year about the nine things that I almost always buy from Costco. I did that run this week. Spent five hundred bucks in about twelve minutes. One lap. Then I got a hot dog! I take my own sauerkraut and onions in a little Ziploc bag. I almost always get the long face when I ask the girl for them at the counter. It's on a white bun, so I make it into a little screw diabetes' event. I want it to be perfect.
The flyer and the offers were very ordinary this week so, but there was a couple of interesting things put up. Shoppers does have a one-day 15K for spending $75 at Shoppers plus your seniors discount (RC). Those leaves flying around make me think about stew or Vindaloo! Remember inside round at Zehr's is just stewing beef that has not been cut into pieces. Apples for less than a buck a pound. Buy em, peel em, cut em up and freeze em. You can make apple crumble all winter! Chocolate Truffle Ganache or Crème Brulee for two bucks in individual containers? Sound like a dessert shortcut for when you are entertaining. One of those heated beside a scoop of vanilla ice cream? What could go wrong. Well, something can always go wrong. Buy one extra and cook it for yourself as a private trial ... before you have an audience! Saves drama on the day of? You are welcome.
Here ya go ....
I Am Reading
Jack McDevitt
We Are Watching
Season Five of Slow Horses on Apple. One of the top three shows on television.
Season Three of The Diplomat on Netflix. Seeing Bradley Whitford reunited with Allison Janey thirty years after The West Wing is such a blast.
Now we need Season Two of Landman to complete the holy trinity.
Blue Lights on Brit Box. Filmed in modern day Belfast. Gritty and funny with complex characters. Our cop shows can't touch these. Well, not since NYPD Blue anyway?
Black Doves on Netflix - I decided it was time to forgive Keira Knightley for Pirates of the Caribbean 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Remember how I raved about Sarah Lancashire in Happy Valley? She is back in this as Keira's calculating spymaster. It's pretty great, but it does drag you through the last couple of episodes. Be ready with the FF button. Four stars.
... and finally
I wanted to report back on a couple of minor projects that didn't go so smoothly as predicted.
Somehow, I screwed up the salt content of my Frog Balls. I think I overdid it when I was parboiling them; they just sucked up the sodium. I am eating them as green salt infusions for other dishes. Pho soup, chop a couple up and add to the broth. A BLT becomes a FBBLT. They are also fantastic in any salad or stir-fry. I hid two of them in SWMBO's spaghetti sauce yesterday! They show no signs of degrading in the fridge, so it's something I will make again (with less salt).
Some things do not react well to my all square glass bottle conversion in our new fridge. Milk and cream are not happy being agitated in the door all the time and seem happier in their original containers. I have resorted to buying liter cartons so they fit in the foam cutouts I have made for glass bottles in the doors.
I also had a service call on the new GE fridge. The freezer was frosting up. GE sent a local guy out, who ordered and replaced the gasket. Problem solved. No BS.
SWMBO is shrinking before my very eyes. When I reorganized the kitchen (following the loss of a cupboard to a dishwasher), I did not take this into account. Now she jumps up and down like a toddler trying to reach a cup, a plate, a glass, the peanut butter. If this keeps up, the cutlery drawer is going to be out of reach in a couple of years. I am going to put all her essential supplies in a sack and leave it under the sink!
Mitch & Maddie