Snake and Strawberry Season

Just after I wrote Sunday’s blog post, I went out to the garden and spotted a snake! Unfortunately, I may have shrieked with joy and startled it, and it slithered away before I could get my phone out for a picture. I was happy to see it. I hope it has relatives.

The strawberries are coming on:

Yum.

I took the BMW to town bright and early yesterday morning to get the summer tires put on. Technically, the studded tires needed to be off by May 31, but I hadn’t yet had a chance to do it. The benefit of waiting was that the tire place was empty and they had my car in and out within 45 minutes. I drove home, dropped off the winter tires, then went back into town to make a Costco run. Apparently, we are getting a new Costco—the third one in 25 years. The new location will be a bit further north of the current one, in a newly-developed area. I heard a rumor that there is supposed to be a Safeway going in at the same location as well.

I had to stop using Costco’s Kirkland dishwasher tabs. They seem to have reformulated them recently because I have been using them for years with no problem. This last batch, however, imparted some kind of weird smell to my stainless steel pans that became apparent as soon as I heated the pan. It was a strange chemical-y floral/lemon scent. All I know is that I can’t stand the smell—and I don’t want whatever is causing it in my food—so I threw out the rest of the tabs and sent Costco an e-mail.

More first-world problems. 🫤

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Joanns announced on Friday afternoon—which was a strange time to let the world know what is supposed to be good news—that they have appointed a new interim CEO and board of directors. After reading the bios, I am cautiously optimistic that Joanns is making an effort to elevate itself above the glorified Dollar Store it became over the past decade. At least one of the new board members appears to have some retail clothing/fashion experience (Macy’s and Bloomingdales). Perhaps she will help steer them back toward building a sustainable customer base of people who want to sew their own clothes.

Or I could be completely delusional and none of that is going to happen.

I’ve got a podcast interview at 9 am and then I am hoping to get out to plant a few more things in the garden. The husband is pouring concrete at 6 am, so both of us were up at 3:30 this morning. That’s easier for me than it is for him.

And if I get all of that done, I’m going to sew after lunch. I need to mend a couple of pairs of the husband’s work pants and I’d like to finish some bag projects, so it would be a good day to spend some quality time with the Juki 1541.