Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Surprise, They Are A-Changin'

Since the end of our Stay-At-Home-Down, the deli at Country Mart has offered more variety. I got The Pony some giant fried shrimp the other day. He loved it! So did I, since it meant a meal I didn't have to cook. I stick with the chicken strips, and the fried chicken. But I got Farmer H a dinner of spaghetti with meatballs, plus green beans, mashed potatoes with brown gravy, and a scrap of garlic bread.

I went back on Tuesday, hoping there was more shrimp for The Pony. Nope. But they DID have little half-chickens! Like a roasted chicken that I got there raw, but sliced in half. It looked done, so I got it. Plus sides for Farmer H. It was actually delicious. Even though The Pony took one of Farmer H's rolls.

Anyhoo... as I entered the store, I noticed a sign on the sliding door. CLOSED on Wednesday, May 20, for inventory. Well. I DO know that the chain has been bought, so that makes sense. I even asked the cashier the other day if they were ever going to have lottery tickets again, and not just a smattering in the only machine that still worked.

"Oh, I'm sure we will at some time. But we're switching owners."

AHA! Lottery mystery solved!

Anyhoo... the deli guy was polite and chatty. I told him I'd been hoping for shrimp.

"Oh, we have some shrimp. We just didn't cook it today."

"I never know if you have specific items on certain days, or if I'm just lucky that I come in on a day that it's out here."

"Well, everything is going to change anyway. New owner. We're closed tomorrow."

Yes, just when I thought I'd found a good food source to shirk my duties, the store has to go and CHANGE OWNERSHIP!

Let's hope it's a change for the better.

6 comments:

Sioux Roslawski said...

You, Madam, are not Dylan.

Does Country Mart have a soda fountain? If so, might they tear them out to make room for more food items?

Something to ponder...

Kathy's Klothesline said...

It's like the grocery store resetting the layout just when I have the location of everything memorized!

Hillbilly Mom said...

Sioux,
Note-to-self: Don't count on Sioux to give you shelter from the storm.

They DO have a soda fountain! Yet like a cotton-headed ninnymuggins, I walk right past it, not even noticing if it has a Diet Coke spigot! They just reopened it this week, because the yellow tape was gone, and a deli employee was filling a soda. I may have a back-up source of my magical elixir!

***
Kathy,
Oh, no! They might reorganize! I hate it when the Devil's Playground does that. That affects my shopping list.

Sioux Roslawski said...

I read your other post today. Wow. The Pony really threw you under the bus. (That kid sounds like he is a bit intellectually deficient, or he's a true weirdo. The "They're good dogs" comment made me prick up my ears.)

I'm sure The Pony is thinking that even though he didn't hang around to make sure you were okay, he figured, "I shall be released" if anyone tried to blame him. He might tsk-tsk-tsk and remark to his father that it's "Just like a woman" to talk to a perfect stranger (and a strange stranger, at that). For a moment, he might have considered helping you, but then decided "Don't think twice, it's alright," figuring you would end up okay. He's forever young, so he doesn't always think that a single encounter, a simple twist of fate, might have you knockin' on heaven's door. If The Pony DID think about what might have happened, once he abandoned you in the garage, he might have realized that it might have been that it's all over now, baby blue (sweatshirt)...

River said...

Giant fried shrimp? Oh Yum!
But... a spaghetti and meatball dinner PLUS mashed potatoes and gravy? Does Farmer H have a cast iron stomach? That's a lot of food, a lot of carbs.
I hope the new ownership does well and you are not too inconvenienced.

Hillbilly Mom said...

Sioux,
The Pony is a fair-weather son! Left me to my own devices. I hope that Kid didn't have the subterranean homesick blues! He'd better watch out, too, and not be popping up in the garage of any rainy day women. Especially #12 or #35.

I think the Kid is just socially awkward, from the way he was raised. His dad is the guy who drove down to ask Farmer H to move a pile of gravel for him, for FREE, with no reciprocating work.

***
River,
Those shrimp were HUGE! Bigger than an old 50-cent coin, but smaller than a cardboard drink-coaster. The batter was really crispy, too.

Farmer H always chooses the same sides: green beans, and mashed potatoes. As he said, he could have easily gotten by with eating HALF, but he wanted it all.

There was an article in today's paper about the store takeover. Many of the commenters said they hoped THE EXPIRED FOODS WOULD BE THROWN OUT! So it's not just me, heh, heh.