Maybe the $1,200 payment is having an affect. Today was the first time, since the lock down began, that there was a line in the post office so long someone came to handle just the package requests.
The postal clerk opened the top of the Dutch door outside the lobby to take slips, shut it, and disappeared. That was useful, but dangerous to the clerk because there was no protective barrier there like the plexiglass shields and barriers than enforce the 6' distance inside.
People were a bit friendlier in other places. Individuals rarely speak to strangers in Española or elsewhere. If someone does attempt a conversation, he or she is treated like a mad person to be avoided. It’s actually a pretty good way to enforce social distancing.
This time a woman in the grocery store asked if she could pass me. The aisles were so narrow, it was impossible to stay apart. Usually people just go by without thinking, leaving it to me to get as far away as possible from them.
I was hesitating at the head of another aisle when a man wanted to get through. He named what he was after, and I said I was trying to find the peanut butter. He didn’t recall exactly where it was but remembered it was with the honey on the right hand side near the back end of some aisle on the other side of the store. It was.
I left the grocery to get something from each of the drug stores. I noticed the long line of cars in the pharmacy pick-up line. I hope people weren’t waiting to get refills until they got money.
I passed a women in the second store who said she’d just seen me in the other.
While the shelves still were bare in the sections with paper goods and cleaning supplies, I noticed one business had a sign advertising it had toilet paper. Another had a notice saying it had "Masks for Sale."
By the way, the search for peanut butter wasn’t some whim. My fingernails got more brittle in the past week. I took that as a sign of protein problems, and that the white rice just wasn’t as good as the brown.
There were two alternatives: mozzarella cheese or peanut butter. I try to avoid dairy products because my doctor has concerns about my cholesterol levels. And, of course, there always are those chemical additives.
The grocery had all the major peanut butter brands, plus the house brand and one geared to the health conscious. In addition to the added sugar, they all had additional oils. Most used palm or cottonseed. The healthy alternative had flax seed oil. None of those added ingredients are healthy.
Pure peanut butter has two problems. The oil and solids separate, and one has to set a container on its lid for them to begin to mix. That’s the reason some chemicals are added to the popular brands.
The other problem is there is something in the peanut supply. I can use one jar with no problem, and react to the contents of another of the same brand. It’s always chance.
I ended up with the cheese, because I didn’t want to drive to Santa Fé just to buy a jar of peanut butter.
No comments:
Post a Comment