Monday, September 1, 2014

Where's The "Real Food" ?

Really...It Seems To Be Vanishing

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End of summer rose

It may just be part of the usual corporate management cost cutting, (eliminating products and services to provide the bottom-line impression of increased profits), but some of my favorite “real” foods are disappearing from the supermarkets in Redding.

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Morning Glory on the rocks

I have been buying half gallon recyclable glass bottles of Straus organic milk at Raley’s and really enjoying the real cream flavor. So, when I bought the last jug a little over a week ago, I thought it would be restocked and I looked forward to fresh milk being there this week. The space was still empty yesterday, and today I noticed that someone had moved a couple of skim milk bottles over into the empty spot.

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View from the Treehouse dog play area

I drove to Sunset Market, (now Tops market), yesterday to get a half gallon of Straus organic whole milk. They only had 3 lonely quarts. I grabbed one quart and figured that I could make the trip more worthwhile if I picked up some organic fruits and vegetables.

They used to have a big selection. Now they had none. Their apples were bright shiny pesticide laden perfect looking worthless poison pommes. At least Raley’s still has a fair selection of fresh organic fruits and veggies, so today I returned to get bananas, a Michael Angelo vegetable lasagna, and some Haagen Daz vanilla ice cream.

No vanilla quart size. Phooey! I didn’t bring my magnifying glass, but I got some Tillamook vanilla because I could just make out the words “Cream” and “Milk” and figured it would do temporarily.

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A carton of crap

It tasted awful. Not like milk. Not like cream. Not like anything from the natural world. Completely unsatisfactory in every aspect. Then I read the label with a magnifying glass.

I will give it away to someone who eats cool whip and likes Dairy Queen.

If Raley’s isn’t restocked tomorrow, I can get some Trader Joe’s vanilla ice cream. The only non food item they add is guar gum. It makes the ice cream sticky and gooey, but it still tastes like real food. That will be okay until I can find more Haagen Daz.

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Agapanthus gone to seed

At Raley’s Lake Blvd store the very popular Michael Angelo’s frozen entrees have been taken away from their consumer convenient location and hidden in a small space on the very top shelf of the freezer section.

They put some fake food loaded with artificial ingredients where the Michael Angelo's entrees used to be. I am guessing they have a bigger profit margin on the “not really food” frozen stuff, so by shoving it in our faces they are hoping it will trick us into buying that highly processed goop.

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Astounding agapanthus seed pod

There are some new ‘Natural’ Michael Angelo’s frozen entrees that are just now being shipped to markets. They profess to be even more particular about using organic ingredients with this new line of dinners. ( At the Michael Angelo’s page I found out that Safeway in Redding carries their products. I will try them tomorrow to see if they have the new “Natural line”)

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Spider bite on my leg

Saturday morning as I was out taking pictures wearing shorts I got bitten by a spider. It was the first time in several years that I've experienced a spider bite. I never saw the spider but I felt the bite. Another reason to look forward to better vision following my next eye surgery.

I'm writing this portion of tonight’s blog from my iPhone using the Verizon LTE network. The reason for that is the ATT network is down.

I called the AT&T support number and a disembodied voice assured me that their technicians were trying to fix the problem as I was sitting here without my network service.


Honor Labor

Today, Labor Day, was fun at the Treehouse Monday Music Jamboree. It was interesting to learn that many of the people there didn't know why we celebrate Labor Day.

This gave me the opportunity to explain a bit of American history starting with the year 1923. There was a strike for safer working conditions at the Pullman Railroad car plant. The Pullman Company didn’t want to do anything that would cut into profits so they called their friend the governor for help. The governor called in the National Guard who, during their energetic strike breaking beatdown, killed some of the union workers.

As an apology for that murderous attack on Americans, the federal government instituted a Labor Day parade and this national holiday to honor labor unions and American workers.

Okay. The AT&T internet service is working again and I am back at the MacBook Pro where I can tidy this up and do a few fancy things to make it more fun to look at before I publish it so you may receive it.

Today’s Video;


The Pipes Are Blowing

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