The Sword
Live by it. Die by it. I hate hypocrisy. You got to hand it to our American friends. They get so many things wrong, and yet, they are adamant that "no one is going to tell us what to do." Of course, we all love it when that thinking results in a head slap moment. Canadians looked on in awe as Floridians packed the bars during the height of COVID. Ignoring government restrictions, they appeared to be having a good old time. They paid for it ... heavily. In droves, they became infected. Nine million cases. Took it home to grandma and grandpa and killed 87,000 of them! I will resist the urge to make a Dachau reference. So Florida has half the population of Canada and had nearly twice as many deaths from COVID. They should have dragged DeSantis into the streets and shot him? Not likely. He won re-election in a landslide.
Now to the larger stage, speaking about re-elections. How did Trump escape impeachment over his federal COVID response? On a per capita basis, he killed 500,000 people who did not die in other countries. How is that not mass murder? Your answer is in the paragraph above. Americans don't care. Just DON'T TREAD ON ME as it says on the confederate flag. Now, today, with hindsight, the political right is trying to change history? Even in Canada. Trudeau and provincial premiers (of all stripes) had a world beating COVID response. Ignoring that, today, the headlines are: "We should not have closed schools." Isolation orders should never have been given. No one should be forced to vaccinate." Really? Alberta is trying out that policy. They have more measles cases than the entire U.S.!
So, present day, this mindset is all over the front page again. Elon Musk took his chainsaw to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). He forced key staff into retirement, including the long-serving Texas state meteorologist in charge of warning coordination. That position remained vacant last Monday when it started raining. He also fired 20% of paid staff and canceled online courses for 7,000 first responders. I suppose when there is no disaster going on, they all look like pikers. Much like firefighters or heart surgeons? You know, when they are not spraying water on flames or reconstructing a heart valve? Camp Mystic was on the Guadalupe River in an area of Texas called Flash Flood Alley. The camp had pursued an expansion project six years ago. It placed six new cabins on a spot mapped as a high-risk flood zone. In Canada, your town council would laugh at your request for a building permit. Once built, you would never get an Occupancy Permit and forget insurance (not that the camp had any). They are raising money on a Go-Fund-Me site. So Texans will stand on that riverbank. They will remove their hats, place their hands over hearts and thank God that at the very least, those little girls died free ... from government overreach.
My Optimum Week
It was very quiet as we spent most of Saturday sitting on the 400 wondering what Lake Muskoka would look like if we ever got there. Then four days with SWMBO's favourite person in the world ... my sister. I dream about breaking into her top five list, but she has suggested I don't get my hopes up. There is an Indian lady at her favourite Tim Horton's drive through who is "very nice". Come to think of it, my dog sat on my sister's knee for four straight days? Little whore. (The dog, not my sister).
Competing flyers always get reviewed and I seldom see enough of a deal that you might give up the points and make a separate trip to another store. It's a close call this week as Metro has three deals that appeal. See how I did that? We like medium ground beef more than lean or extra lean. Zehr's seldom have it on sale but it's on a Metro for $4.99. Rotisserie chicken for $10.99 and six cobs of corn for a dollar. I will probably swing by and stock up.
Zehr's is having a 75th anniversary thing on Saturday and is trying to drive volume. Our list assumes you can be sitting there at 07:00 on Saturday morning with a $150 dollar shopping list. I am not sure you can grab all 40,000 available points and only spend the $150, but I am going to give it that old college try. I gave them to you in pairs. The flyer sale (F) on what you should buy, then the offer (O) with your top up amount to get the points. Here is your list, which I pasted into two sections for readability:
Here's a fun little project that will keep you in your air-conditioned kitchen for a couple of hours. Bernardin jars are on sale with some points. Certo products and Club House freezer jam packets are on sale. Blueberries and strawberries are on sale. One of the mantra of my methods is to "make hay while the sun's shining. Remember pioneer logic? Buy and preserve fruits and vegetables when they are in season. I put project supplies in your list if you want to try it. It has gotta be better for your family than the store-bought stuff?
What We Are Watching
Dark Heart - On Britbox. Remember, we really liked Anjli Mohindra in the Red King? The series about a remote island cult? The plot had some believability issues, but she was great. She had previously had a supporting role in this series about a London detective squad. Sort of two or three episodes per case, so I liked the pacing. Not the entire season playing "dance of the seven veils" with one case. Nor a single episode per murder. Stab, slab, snitch, "cuff em Danno." (Let's see which subscriber (DL) gets that reference?) Worth your time and four stars.
Ballard on Prime - The third Bosch spin-off series? Early days as we are three episodes in, but it's not really clicking. I think it's the casting? Suzy Q is wonderful in the lead, but her squad just feels wrong. The Bear doesn't look like a cop; the psychic is cringe and a Ward Cleaver clone plays a security specialist?Hopefully, they will find their feet before the axe comes down.
... and finally
She is thought to be pregnant in this picture (the fish, not the girl). I read a few years ago that one of Peter Benchley's greatest regrets (after cashing the cheques) was ever writing Jaws. Strange no? He was a struggling free-lance journalist writing speeches for cash to buy family groceries. He had published a pretty mundane children's book and signed a commission to write a book about a terrorized seaside resort town. Jaws was his first major work and it exploded him on to the literary world. Why the regret? Sharks became the big boogeyman for anyone going near the sea. The Discovery Channel is still running shark week, forty years later. 100 million are slaughtered each year, mostly for their dorsal fin (to make soup FFS). Charter fishing for sharks on the US east coast has become so prevalent that every state now has strictly enforced quotas to protect their shark populations. 70% of shark species globally are endangered. We can't attribute all of this to one book and three movies, but in his opinion, it sure didn't help. Here's some video of this awe-inspiring, beautiful old lady. Long may she reign.
Mitch & Maddie