Notes From A Bear's Journey

     As soon as I lifted the post hole digger, I knew.  My neighbor had just gotten bids from different fence companies for his fence, and had settled on one he liked.  And here's what I saw on the section of fence which we shared: the old fence was down and removed, the post holes dug, the new posts put in and the concrete poured, all in a day.  One day!  Hmm, maybe I should call that same fence company, which I did, and before long, I also had a new fence (the owner did tell me that I had done a good job of maintaining our nearly 40-year old fence).      When you think of a fence, you tend to think of something meant to keep things out (or perhaps in, as with prisoners and cows).  A fence also hides things, maybe you sunbathing in the back, or people peeking at your kids or animals (or, nefarious characters planning to break into your home via the backyard).  But as long as we're talking about hiding, let's peek a...

      My wife returned to her childhood home in Cornwall, a place we typically returned to each year together.  But things came up with the dog and alas, it was decided that I should remain at the house to ensure there were no hiccups ( our dog, because of his legs , can no longer be boarded, and it's been difficult to find a sitter willing to take on a protective and partially disabled 93-lb. German Shepherd).  But shed no tears for me since a few weeks alone often finds me doing things I normally wouldn't do...watching a few Pixar or kung fu movies (the animated feature UP proved especially timely for me as it showed the passage of time and one suddenly becoming alone in later life), power-washing a few outdoor items, eating some of the foods my wife doesn't really care for, all enjoyable pursuits, at least until the loneliness kicks in (my wife, back in her coastal home of tidal beaches and cheery pubs, will undoubtedly be feeling the same at a later point)....

     Recently there have been more and more non-alcoholic products making the news.  When magazines such as Bon Appetit and Bloomberg Businessweek start to devote entire sections to the products, then something is indeed hitting the shelves.  All of which led one magazine to ask, who are the people asking for such "drinks?"  Some are speculating that Gen-Z (those grouped as now being 12-27) are the driving force, although I often wonder if social "analysts" are just looking for a simple stereotype.  I say that because in my state (Utah), the Mormon culture practices avoiding both caffeine and alcohol, which has given rise to a chain of "dirty sodas" as defined by the Swig franchise and recently featured in The New Yorker ; drive around this state and Swig drive-throughs are nearly as numerous as Starbucks, if that makes sense.  But non-alcoholic products have moved way past beer (Miller and other brewers tried "low" alcohol beer for a bit...

Graphic:  Roadkill Tees       Other than magic or illusions, nobody likes to be conned.  This can be something small, like when the sale price doesn't ring up at checkout; or it can be huge as in your life savings vanishing in a flash (or after an election).  But those are financial, and there are many other ways of being fooled...think the car salesperson, or the timeshare, or the politician; the "forked-tongue" of yesteryear suddenly becomes an apt description for most of those cases.  But the grocery store?  Picture this headline from The Guardian : Major egg companies may be using avian flu to hike US prices ; a related piece had this: US’s biggest egg producer’s profits triple as prices soar... Cal-Maine’s profits nearly eight times as high as at the start of the bird flu outbreak.   In the fascinating book by Benjamin Lorr, The Secret Life of Groceries , the world and history of our markets is explored with extensive research and p...