Costco is a big box store that I have belonged to for a long time. They often check my tires for air and will also rotate my tires for free. I don’t buy a lot there because most of the portions are too big and it would take me forever to eat or use whatever it is, but I really like their hamburger. I take it home and divide it into stew-sized, hamburger-sized, and meatloaf-sized portions and freeze it. I buy just enough that my “reward coupon” for using the American Express card covers my yearly fee.
However, it bugs me that when I get their big coupon selection through the mail, some of them list the “Instant savings” with a Warehouse Price and the Instant Savings subtracted from it so you can see what the actual cost is. Then there are a good many of them that say “$70 Off” in big red letters so you feel like you are getting a bargain but they don’t tell you off of WHAT! The good thing is that you are no longer required to clip the coupons – that is done automatically when you check out.
Excitement reigns! A new “high performance” dual flush toilet with a two-flush-choice was installed this week. One flush is 1.6 gallons for solids and 1.0 gallons per flush for liquids. I suppose you could have lived for years without hearing about that. Just another way I am trying to live “green” like the characters in my novel, Winter in the Wilderness.
I wish the insurance companies lived as green as I try to. I get more advertisements for all kinds of insurance and it is all “affordable.” Affordable to whom? Have they been peeking into my Quicken program? But what really bothers me is all the paper and envelopes that are wasted with all their “exclusive Issue” offers. They’ve probably only sent it to 3.5 million others. And, “Member Loyalty Cards” don’t mean much. If I could get whatever they offer cheaper somewhere else, how long do you think my loyalty would last? This unnecessary mail has, however, made me a little more recycle conscious. I have a specific container by my desk just for this kind of mail, after chomping out my name of course.
Now AAA is offering to provide a spouse with insurance for free. That would be fine if they provided me with a spouse! Oh well. I would be delighted to have AAA Ultra or Deluxe Insurance – but then I wouldn’t eat. Maybe that isn’t such a bad idea come to think of it. If I run out of money because I’ve lived too long, I’ve thought about giving my body to science but what if the University refused it. My kids would be mortified!
In November, 2012, I had Carpal Tunnel Surgery on both wrists a couple of weeks apart and I am happy to report that since they have both healed, I do not have any middle-of-the-night numbness to keep me awake and my wrists seem to be stronger. I can actually paint but then again, I don’t do much of that any more.
My eight hammertoes had surgery in December last year and have now healed. If I had known what I know now, I’m not sure I would have had that done. Doc said they weren’t too bad now but would get worse so it would make sense to have the surgery now. I asked him why I had hammertoes and he said it was my choice of parents. Hmmm. Now he tells me. Now my kids can blame me if they get hammertoes.
Surgery was not a big deal, not even stitches, just Band-Aids to hold them in place. Have had several shots for neuromas, which they didn’t mention ahead of time but I refused the last shot and now my only problem is that the toes, with no tendons to hold them in place, tend to climb over each other and cramp in my shoes. Is nothing perfect?
Well, despite my picking everything apart, life is good. Spring has arrived here in the desert if it hasn’t elsewhere. A big bull snake was found under the dryer down in the Activity Center yesterday. Hope all is well in your world. God Bless until next week.
Winter in the Wilderness, the first e-book novel published by Minshall, is offered at most Internet book sites. A print edition may be obtained from Amazon, or you can order an autographed copy from the author at Box 1040, Congress, AZ for $7.95 plus $3.50 for postage and handling. The fourth edition of RVing Alaska and Canada is available through Amazon.com. 
At 45, Widow Minshall began 20 years of solo full-time RVing throughout Alaska, Mexico, and Canada. Sharlene canoed the Yukon, mushed sled dogs, worked a dude ranch, visited Hudson Bay polar bears, and lived six months on a Mexican beach. She lectured at Life on Wheels, published six RV-related books and wrote a novel, “Winter in the Wilderness.”
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