Random Thursday

Hola, amigos. Today is International Laverbread Day; choose your carbs wisely. It’s also National Ex-Spouse Day, a day in which you can either make nice with your ex, or, in the alternative, treat them to some delicious laverbread.

But enough about algae-based foodstuffs. We’ve got some really meaty topics to cover today.

Don’t Be This Person

Disclaimer: First World Problem Rant ahead.

I’m not in the habit of surreptitiously photographing other people’s strategies for loading their groceries onto the checkout treadmill, but I made an exception on Monday.

The person ahead of me in the checkout line — a person of the female persuasion, although that’s not really relevant, but still… — used this haphazard method of unloading her shopping cart. See that huge blank area…the one big enough to house an entire galaxy? Why would you do that, when in doing so, you keep the person behind you from being able to begin unloading HIS cart? Oh, the humanity!

This is simply another sign that we’re living in the End Times.

But Not Everyone Is Inconsiderate

I love OpenTable. It’s one of my most oft-used apps, and restaurants that subscribe to its service (or similar ones…OpenTable doesn’t have a monopoly) automatically go to the top of my list, assuming that the food and service are good. Anyway, I got the following email from OpenTable today:

I confess that I’ve never really considered the possibility that Mother’s Day could be traumatic or triggering for some people. But I understand that it certainly could be for those who have suffered a recent (or even not so recent) loss.

Anyway, this is the first time that I recall getting a notice like this from OpenTable, or from any commercial service, for that matter. I thought it was a pretty considerate thing to do.

I can also think of a number of other holidays to which I’d like to extend this kind of moratorium, albeit for different reasons.

Life Finds A Way

As of today, our back yard has received a total of 1.2″ of rain since December 1, 2021. The normal amount would be 5-8″ (in 2020, we had 9.5″ between January 1 and April 10). The Texas Hill Country is in a drought of epic proportions, and the landscape is suffering.

One result is that our wildflower population is practically non-existent. Bluebonnets are normally blanketing the countryside this time of year, but they’re few and far between in Horseshoe Bay. Still, the flowers are hardy and persistent, and provide happy surprises here and there, such as this one:

And speaking of persistent flora, every time I pass scene shown in the following photo, I can’t help wondering: did the tree split the rock, or did a seed find shelter in the crack?

I hope this tree is still alive and just biding its time before putting on foliage; I’d like to congratulate it for its hardiness, and at the same time, mock the rock.

Meme of the Week

In closing, we need to pause and consider the importance of confection concealing jewelry.