thisendoftheswamp

It seems as if any time I find a product I really, really like, the manufacturer discontinues it. Certain soups, candy bars (OK, I honestly don’t need candy, but still. . .) you name it. And now, General Foods has all but discontinued my favorite coffee.

I have enjoyed Orange Cappuccino since before I left Blue Cross in 1983. I even introduced my Mum to it, and she enjoyed it, although she claimed it was too expensive at $2.59 a can. (See my post on August 15, 2018) I’m really glad she didn’t live to see what it sells for today.

The Squire bought me 40 cans some time back, and I have nursed them along, limiting myself to a cup a day. Alas, I am down to two cans, so I went to the Wal-Mart website to order another batch. They still carry it, but they now want $44.99 for SIX cans, plus nearly $8 for shipping.

That, my friends, comes to over $8.00 a can! My Mum would keel over in a dead faint. Actually, I did pretty much the same thing, myself.

No explanation as to why this coffee is suddenly more than twice the price of any of the other flavors. The Squire is more than willing to buy it for me, but I can settle for Hazelnut. Some of the other coffees are so sickening sweet thet make my dentures ache, so Hazelnut it is.

Still I wouldn’t object to find a few cans of Orange Cappuccino in my Christmas stocking.

A little over a year ago, we had some storm damage at our church, and any really good thunder-boomer would cause a leak over the pulpit. After many conversations with Church Insurance, we finally got the money to replace the entire sanctuary roof, rather than just patching the leak.

Last week the roofing company came out, removed all of the old shingles, and started putting on the new ones. When The Squire went over the next morning to unlock the building, he discovered the crew had not covered the roof when they went home. And it had rained HARD the night before.

He could see daylight through the roof. Those two white stripes, one just behind the beam in the foreground, and the sort of double one – – between the second beam and the red wall are open spaces.

He could also see the reflection of the windows in the water that had pooled in the pews.

Fortunately – as these things go – most of the water came in toward the front of the church, and the roofers had covered the altar with plastic to protect it from bits of debris, so there was little damage to back of the sanctuary. The grand piano and the organ were spared, as was the robing room, but a number of pews were damaged and the parquet floor is curling and cupping, and the carpets were a sodden mess. OY!

As it happened the same company also does flood restoration, so they were able to clean up their own mess, and have promised to pay to have the wood floor and the pews redone.

Most mornings we are glad to see a single deer in the clearing, and delighted if there are two – usually a doe and her fawn. This morning, there were SIX deer out there!

There were two does and a fawn, but they were soon joined by three bucks, all chasing those poor ladies all over the place, including into the woods between our home and the house next door! This is a dreadful picture of one of the bucks, but it was still very early in the morning, he was in fairly deep shadow, and we couldn’t get too close for fear of scaring him away.

This is a much better shot, taken before the parade started, and they are standing in a sunny spot.  Both does are here, but one is standing behind the other; the only way you can tell is that there are too many legs!