I’ll open today’s post with a graph:
Care to venture a guess? Whatever it is, it cost less than $4.50 in 2020, and now it’s up to almost $8.00, including a recent, near-vertical spike.
I was having breakfast at my kitchen table yesterday morning when I remembered something I needed to add to my grocery list. I launched the Walmart app, pulled up the product, and was stunned at the price — $19.72 for a 33.7-ounce canister of Folgers Black Silk coffee.
That’s $9.36 a pound, up 20% from $7.82 less than four months ago. Over the same span, according to the graph, the average retail price of a pound of coffee jumped from $7.38 to $7.93, or 7.5%.
Why the increase? Two reasons — crop failures and Trump’s tariffs. The first is beyond my control, both the acts of Nature and the fundamental forces that govern free markets. As for the second, I agree with this president’s trade policy, even when it hits me square in the wallet.
Like everything else, coffee costs what coffee costs. It’s not as if I’m gonna give it up.
The good news, at least for me, is that I keep a backup canister of Black Silk in my pantry. I also have a couple of cans of Folgers and Maxwell House put back in my deep stash. So I won’t run out of coffee anytime soon.
Eventually, though, I’ll have to pay the higher prices. It might make sense to go ahead and pick up another canister of Folgers while it’s still under 20 bucks.
The first half of the “partly to mostly cloudy” Tuesday I anticipated was disappointingly sunny. (Yeah, I’m that guy.) Before the cabin heated up, I got the week’s housecleaning done — the usual, plus laundering bedding and minus vacuuming.
These are some odd-ass living arrangements, I’ll grant that, what with bare-stud walls and plastic shelving and such, but dammit, the place is clean and picked up. I love this life — everything’s just so.
I also got ’round to mounting a toilet-paper holder to the side of the vanity.
Even the simplest thing makes a difference.
Doing that freed-up a small wheeled utility cart (another item reclaimed from the camper) to hold laundry supplies on the other side of the room.
Notice, too, the little step-on can. It’s the one that once sat next to the camper’s commode. Over the course of a month, I successfully and completely de-funked it with wood ash.
Satisfied that I’d been mildly productive, I took the Heeler outdoors and had big fun despite the heat and humidity.
Casting an eye to the sky, I could see clouds approaching from the west and south, but our relief was taking its sweet time getting here.
It never did arrive. We had a day of passing fluffies that helped somewhat, but only a little.
It was still a great day on The Mountain.
My phone rang just before 4pm. It was the veterinary clinic.
With Smudge along for the ride, I drove to Gassville and brought my girl Scout back home to The Mountain.
The act came with a mix of sadness and peace. I’m comforted knowing that her earthly remains rest with me. I’ll honor them, and her memory, just as I honored sweet Scout every day of her life in my care.
I kept my promise. I keep it still.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable