Bargains and Bites

Lately have been scoring some bargains that I can't help crowing about. Last week the grocery (Kroger, just in case I refer to it again) put a bunch of spiral sliced hams on discount for 99 cents a pound. I guess they overbought for the holidays and they were about to meet their date. We have been eating, well, off that ham for quite a few days. Except the oldest, who we joke about being Jewish. Then again, a lot of southern blacks also avoid the flesh of pigs...it isn't religious, but perhaps they are emulating somebody Muslim and they don't realize it.

Anyhow, the other day back at Kroger (see, there I did it) and they had one left, so I grabbed it. 10 pounds, $10. Except at the register it rung up at $4.01. Deep discount! And today at Target I grabbed up 750ml of Bertoli Olive Oil for $2.06. No clue why it was so cheap. And 24 oz of honey for 96 cents. And some jars of olives for that same price. Although I ate an olive when I got home...whoa! They are stuffed with what the label calls Bari Bari peppers. The whole thing is imported from Greece. Well, the peppers are tiny, bright red and whole, not sliced like the pimentos most people are used to. And they are HOT. I didn't even eat the pepper, just the olive. Coming from me, this warning is serious, since I usually don't wince at such things. Maybe I was just not prepared. Can't wait to eat more of them.

Swam again for the third day in a row. Into the rhythm now, breath, stroke stroke stroke, breath. Although today it got to be every third instead of every fourth. Then I also realized I was just flutter kicking, so I put my legs into it, and wow, what a difference. Course, I also had to roll the windows down on the way home, I was so hot and nauseated from the strenuous exercise. Can't wait for morning to weigh in and see what progress, if any, has been made. I know I am building muscle and that probably offsets the weight loss, but I am now comfortable at the 2nd belt notch, when before that would have been a stretch.

Now for bites...Purl the big dog (Australian Shepherd/Border Collie mix) is younger than our Meredith (Jack Russell) by a few years, but her temperment makes her bossy. Meredith is more vocal and she will start things, but can't back them up due to size. Purl has been extending her pecking order to things like walks in the morning, and exiting the doors to the deck. Lately Meredith has been hiding under the bed until Purl settles before leaving the room in the morning, and sometimes they get in snarling/barking matches, which Purl wins due to size intimidation. A few times she has been bloodied by a tooth or claw. Today they really got into it loud on the deck and I had to break it up. Meredith has a shallow scratch under her jaw/neck that is a couple of inches long. What is worse, though, is she has really been skittish and shy since then, hiding in a packing box, slinking around. I know cats will work out dominance issues, but I am not sure Meredith will buckle under, having been top dog before we brought Purl home.