Nasty Weather and what its like to shop a discount store.

The Weather in this part of the country really is really nasty.

I have been trying to get down to the Dayton area to pick up some things from the trailer, and talk with Keith on some things we will want to do for next season whenever we decide that our season will start. But every time I plan it, either I get sick, or the weather gets nasty again.

It is hard to think about racing when you have two feet of snow being covered now with icy rain.

What it is like to shop at a discount store.

We have chain around here called Marc's. They don't take credit cards and have an express checkout line, so it usually isn't too hard to get in and out. They offer name brand products at good prices, and often have some strange or odd items that people like me just can't resist.

On Monday evening, an hour or so after I finished Chemotherapy and was just starting to "feel the effects", for some reason (Oh, I remember, I was out of soda pop) I decided that I would run into Marc's and then get home to rest.

But as I went around the store I found more and more things, I "needed" and my cart got to about half full. So I wasn't eligible for the express checkout line. I looked up and down for the shortest line, and then tried my best to be in a very long line and not block the aisles. I got in line behind a group of people, that were behind the folks checking out. One of the people in the group ahead of me was a girl about 18 with a year old child. She was extremely loud and obnoxious telling her life story to the world as if anyone cared. The lady going though the check out also had a one year old, and took time from attending to her purchases to chat with the loud one about when her baby walked , etc. Well, her check out was going very well at first, she was big woman, with a tall thin man, and her baby.

They all looked healthy, and even sound somewhat intelligent. But then there was a problem with her welfare card. It didn't have enough money on it, so she had to decide what to put back, so she could cover the costs. Five minutes or more and she found a few dollars in her purse, the man with her just held the child and and offered nothing. So finally she got finished.

And then, up to the register steps this group in front of me. They had a pretty full cart so it took quite a while just to ring them up. There were a couple of little delays as they decided or argued about whether the items in the cart belonged to the loud girl with the baby, or the overweight couple pushing the cart.

Then it happened, with the loud girl narrating the action loudly, their welfare card did not have enough money on it.. Deja vu. All over again... Once again, I have to wonder why these folks qualify for welfare (can you say, abuse of the system?) But come on, why fill a cart, if you can't pay for it. Here we go again. They start going through the cart and the things already bagged, deciding what they can leave, and what they can afford.

It took nearly a half hour to get through this check out line. And in case you want to project race into this situation, the first folks in line were African American, and the next group were White with Red Necks. And the scariest part of it is that they are both bearing children, and their children will probably be on welfare too.

It just makes you wonder what kind of future we have in this country. How can we break the cycle? Put people back to work, and get them off the welfare roles. No wonder we are going broke as a nation. Too many people at the well to drink, and too few there to pump it.

Maybe it was because I felt like crap after my chemo, that it bothered me so much. I don't usually do much after chemo but go home and take a nap, But I felt like I could accomplish something with very little effort and then get home. Thatwas a mistake, and is one that I will not make in two weeks when I have chemo again.

The good news is that I got four twelve packs of Pepsi products for $10. But somehow in spite of that my total bill was over sixty dollars. I was a bit hungry, and they say you shouldn't food shop when hungry. I guess "they" were right. Imagine what my bill would been at one the big grocery chains!

David