We’re sort of settling-in here in Junction City for the wait on service, While we do, this backwoods gang of two has temporarily returned to the urban jungle — and we’re having a blast. We have missed such urban conveniences as the upscale grocery, Market of Choice. Also Public Television! We have been missing our episodes of Midsomer Murders and Father Brown, and of course
Last of the Summer Wine cast
Last of the Summer Wine and New Tricks.
There is a part of us that wonders if we can ever be truly happy if we can’t get a decent state public television feed. And I’m not sure I’m even the littlest bit joking. We really enjoy our PBS.
Nowadays groceries have so many pre-prepared entrees and speciality foods.
One of our weaknesses is the salad counter — something that we didn’t find in S. Texas
Deli Meats? I love sausages, specially braunschweiger (smoked liver sausage) and we don’t eat them often — but from time to time I just need a fix.
A grocery isn’t a GROCERY without a fully stocked CHEESE section!
Even Safeway, of all stores, has a pretty decent desserts selection!
We like being out with the critters. We didn’t mind being in the heavily Hispanic S. Texas social climate and living with their unique dietary options. But what we missed, and I mean really missed, were comprehensive deli’s and great European style bakeries. Being back in OR means that we once again have access — even if it’s at some distance removed. For special occasions we can find once-in-a-long-while niceties that make special occasions special.
And so it was that after getting our Brake Buddy shipped by FedEx that we continued on with our shopping. (which shipping experience was enough to choke a horse: E-X-P-E-N-S-I-V-E, if you want to get it there in a hurry!)
Peggy broke her alarm clock — not that we ever use the alarm but with her sleep habits she usually wakes up in the middle of the night and wants to know what time it is. So we found a replacement.
While she was looking for a new clock I walked over to the Goodwill to look for a pair of bicycles – to no avail. One of these days we’ll find a pair. I’ve been kicking myself for 2 years for passing up the pair of practically new bikes at a Goodwill in Crosslake MN for $
25.00 apiece. Peggy is going to be hard to find for…. she wants simple — no derailleur gears if possilble. Grrrrrrr.
Then on to Market of Choice for a few items and Safeway for the rest of our needs. For various reasons this is really the first time we have gotten the fridge reasonably full since our last Norcold episode. All is well and cooling nicely.
We did succeed in spending over $100.00 so we have $0.10 off per gallon for part of our next fuel fill. We will have to break camp once while we are here — to dump our tanks. The plan will be to use our discount for as much fuel as it will buy when we dump (right here at the campground) and then go to the grocery again to re-stock the fridge after emptying it out over the next couple weeks so that we can finish fueling when we are ready to leave and then use whatever discount we have earned by that time. Safeway fuel rewards expire with the month’s end. So we’ll try to be smart about when we buy and how much. It’s a small amount, but hey — if they are willing to give us a break why not use it?
And there you have it. Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll talk with you tomorrow.
P.S.: We’ll keep you posted on the question of whether any place to settle down in will have to have good Public Television — that is seriously on the table.
Embrace Serendipity 
I’m totally clueless on this, Peter…is there no public feed available via satellite? I haven’t watched PBS since I stopped watching This Old House.
With our satellite, we didn’t change our service address since moving north, and we still pick up the Grand Rapids stations. That’s fine with us, as we get our weather off the internet…and we get a Traverse City newspaper every morning.
Those deli shots look delightful. 🙂
Jim
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Jim,
We had Dish. I assume Direct TV is the same. The dish feeds are the satellite STATIONS + your personal (dependent on your zipcode) “local stations” — how large the circle of “local” might be depends on the area where you live. You’re only a couple hours away — in Wisconsin that small of a distance would be enough to cause us to have to telephone DISH, talk to their customer service and tell them a new address. There is no charge but it’s something we have to do whenever we move — and which I choose NOT to do while we are still in transit. Just too long on the phone. PBS stations are all local.
There was a time when DISH had an override system for DISH ANYWHERE customers that gave them (basically) New York City stations as ‘local’ I don’t believe that is available any longer and you had to submit a hard copy form requesting it. and then you got THAT only.
I don’t worry too much about news. I have global news feeds that I peruse each morning (data) and weather I get from my iPhone. I don’t feel wanting — except for PBS. 🙂
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Sounds delightful. I love the selections at that grocers. I would probably spend $300 / week there!
You know, my bedside clock broke a week or two ago. Luckily I had a replacement handy, but it’s not as nice as the other one. Maybe there’s something going around between bedside clocks?! 🙂
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We try hard not to give in too often, but I’ll pay dearly for a really good loaf of artisan sourdough, and a morning bun, and a truly excellent cheese. Deli salads are nice — sometimes I get inspiration for a recipe of my own from deli salads.
But it’s nice to just have them available even if I don’t use them all the time.
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We use Netflix for watching things like Midsomer Murders and Doc Martin. Streaming them can be done while traveling if your connection is good enough. Or you can get discs by mail when parked long term somewhere. We’ve done both.
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I haven’t gotten bit by the NetFlix bug yet, Linda. I know it’s convenient. Our Interweb connection is MiFi most of the time and that’s usually not good enough for streaming — and for that matter I can’t afford to be streaming movies — Even though I buy 30 gigs a month I’d go through that in just 3 or 4 movies, maybe not even that. If we were to return to some place like Palmdale where we can get wired internet it would be a different story. Good idea. The disks by mail are a possibility. Of course what I like about PBS as a broadcast service is that someone is actually programming the broadcast and I don’t have to think about what to watch. I know…. I’m a lazy bugger. 🙂
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Glad to hear you kids are having some fun and the grocers…food is high on the list of permanent stakes for me. I do miss certain foods that were readily available in California. Fruit does not tast the same here in Florida. Is it my imagination or has it changed because of production variations? Don’t know…but I sure miss sweet fruit, the stuff here seems watered down.
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Yup — considering that we’re ‘stuck’ here waiting — you’d never know it! 🙂 🙂 🙂
I have never lived in CA long enough to really say that I know CA fruit tastes better than elsewhere. I did have the experience of really fresh fruit — and CHEAP — in S. Texas — that was wonderful. And fresh lemons and limes for $0.10 ea.! Outstanding!
We were disappointed during our 10 month stay in OR that the fruit on the COAST was as poor as it was. Not enough people to warrant great inventories and not enough purchasers to support FRESH inventories. Here in the valley, with the combined Eugene/Springfield population it’s much better.
Same with meat. Much better beef here. LOTS of lamb here. More pork here — in cuts I know.
I suspect that production and shipping have made a lot of difference. And with warehouses that are injected with nitrogen to keep product from ripening at the wrong season even the ripening process isn’t what it once was. Nothing is shipped ripe — for good reason — and there’s nothing like fruit picked when it’s RIPE or even just a bit over.
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