Stocking up on that single-use plastic and source seperated organic waste 🍎

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Grocery shopping at Walmart this morning, that was kind of my thought, all those plastic wrappers soon to be compressed and used for getting a rip-roaring fire going while I crack open a cold one and listen to some country music with my cowboy hat on. Recycling you might call it although I rarely separate out and wash out those plastic containers anymore for designated scrappage bin, especially in the summer months. Just don’t tell Pete Grannis and his gestapo.

I have much less packaging trash then most people, especially these days,  🥦 🫘 🍌 as I tend to buy raw ingredients in their natural form then anything processed, though a lot of things like beans and rice come wrapped in plastic, along with the plastic containers that kefir, milk, cottage cheese, parmesan cheese and spices come in. The sardines, canned tomatoes and pumpkin are in tin cans, which despite being a pain to wash out, will be saved for the transfer station, because I’m green and I don’t really like the landfills. ♻️

$110 bucks later of food and supplies I’m good for next week — I don’t generally go to any stores or spend money mid-week if I can avoid it. 💸 Maybe if I head out of town on Friday I’ll stop and get some missing supplies and fuel, ⛽️ but you won’t see me doing that quick processed food that comes in all that plastic. Truth be told, if anything I’m more annoyed with how much plastic and non-plastic crap you buy that supposedly is a durable good, but quickly falls apart and needs to be discarded. Especially that stuff with the fancy label,  🏷️that you think are buying is quality but is e-waste garbage in a few weeks of use. The stuff you know that should really be recycled but is basically impossible to do without going way out of your way.

Lunch today was sardines plus fried asparagus, onions in olive oil coated with a light coating of whole-wheat flower. 🧅🥒🐟️ I get that sardines are smelly but they are so tasty and filling, a good source of omega-3 fatty acids that aren’t high in mercury or persistent organic pollutants. Relatively cheap too. Asaparagus is good this time of year, and I’ve had a thing for breading since I last night when I was at my parents house and had onion rings 🍔 with the burgers they had. Sometimes I’ll have junk food, like at my parents house, but I generally avoid it especially at home. Since getting into being healthy, I have developed kind of weird tastes, but I also like things that fuel my body up without killing me, taste good, don’t have excessive garbage attached, and are relatively affordable in these inflationary times. 💰️

This afternoon I am going to head down to the library. 📚️ I want to work on the blog a bit, and install R Studio on my work laptop so I have access to the scripts I use for processing data exports on the laptop. Maybe I’ll check out some books, though mostly I am reading E-Books at this point as they are more portable, don’t have to worry about them getting wet and damaged. I love the Libby and Hoopla app. Between the two you really have a good selection, plus audio books can be listened to while you ride. 🚲

Then later in the evening I am going to ride out to Voorheesville and maybe Altamont, 🚵‍♀️ or maybe jsut Five Rivers. Anywhere off-trail is bound to be pretty wet though for riding. Figure get some good exercise in. Then come up and fry up some of the zucchuni I bought at the store. 🍆 That’s always a good meal. I’m just waiting until I can get it fresh and cheap, as that’s the time of the year really to be enjoying it until your tired. Or maybe I’ll just go out to Five Rivers on the bike to read. The one thing I do have to worry about is random rain showers that could leave me quite wet.

Mom’s last trip to Long Island

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My mom grew up on Long Island. She has not been back there since college, except for my grandmother’s funeral. She asked me yesterday to take her to her childhood home this fall, as dad is pretty old at this time and not up to driving in city traffic. I haven’t driven on the Island since my grandma’s passing in 2014, yet I am younger and probably more able to deal with the traffic.

I think it will be a nice a trip. I do value the remaining time I will be spending with mom and dad, as I know it won’t be long — within the next few years I’ll probably be without them. Mom’s health is probably worse then I am willing to acknowledge, and even my dad has gotten more frail. I would like to see a little bit about their childhood, have learn a little bit more about their lives before it’s too late.

Having known many older people who have passed, you think you have forever to share that last minute with them. At the end, you are in the most denial of the inevitable. When the decline is steepest, it’s hardest to admit it will soon be over. Many questions will never be asked or answered, forever a mystery, because you don’t really know what or how to ask them.

I concede my relationship with my parents isn’t always perfect. I am not them, and they are not me. My own mental health struggles also makes it hard at times to fully apprechiate them. I know they sometimes take advantage of me and I probably do the same in kind. I am not perfect but neither they are either. Still I want to do a few more trips with them — share places I go and explore — and learn a few places they’ve been in their lives too.

What price the glory of one man?

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It always bothers me that it seems like every other street is named after some dead government worker, but true American hero like William Moore rarely get any kind of monument, are mostly a footnote of history. There are parades and whole celebrations for dead government workers, but rarely do ordinary courageous citizens get much commemoration. While William Moore, nearly 50 years after his death, got a monument to his life in Binghamton, it’s rare that you hear much about him compared to endless streets and monuments to long dead soldiers and politicians.