Big Box

I went shopping at Costco yesterday for the first time in my life. I'm not sure why, exactly - just on a whim, and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

I had no idea it was so regimented. You have to show i.d. (membership card) to get in! And your receipt to get out!

So of course the first thing I had to do was buy a membership, which I got discounted because I have an AmEx card. That didn't stop them from trying to get me a) to buy an "Executive" membership or b) to get ANOTHER AmEx card that would give me further discounts at Costco. The constant pressure to upgrade to "Executive" was a bit tiresome - I was given a spiel at the checkout and then another spiel by a guy who looked up my "shopping history" after I'd been through the till (of course, I had no history until yesterday). With a straight face, they said "oh, it pays for itself; all you have to do is spend $2500 in a year and your membership is free!" Um.

I guess for a family, it would be distinctly possible to spend that much. For me, shopping only for one person? Not likely.

I spent $250 yesterday, but this is what I bought: ( behind a cut to spare delicate sensibilities )

Vermin! Pestilence!

When I went to clear up on the deck this morning, it looked like a scene out of The Amazing Maurice and His Trained Rodents (or whatever it's called), you know, the one where the whole crew of rodents go into a bakery and raise hell.

For the past few weeks, I've been hearing the patter of tiny feet on the deck, and there was some, shall we say, "evidence" of furry visitors. I couldn't think what they were after, except I had noticed a few bite marks in one or two tomatoes, and someone seemed to be Italian, with a real taste for fresh basil. No - that wasn't the real target. I have a very heavy plastic box, in which I store bird seed, and on investigation, I discovered that the little buggers had chewed a hole right through one corner of it, and had been having a lovely time feasting on its contents. So, ready for garbage day, I dumped all the seed and washed the deck. Well. This morning, they obviously came looking for their usual cafeteria options, and not finding any, had what obviously passes for a rodent hissy fit. There were droppings ALL OVER the deck. My tomato plant has been completely stripped (about 8 ripening tomatoes gone). They'd been into a hanging flower basket, ripped bits out of it and tossed them all over the place. It was "Take THAT, human - this is what you get for depriving us of yummy bird seed!" I think tonight I may put Clio the cat on guard duty. She's always telling me she wants to stay outside at night - well she can have her carpetted cat house in a dry corner and hang out there. Let her earn her keep for a while.

Meanwhile, indoors, I've been having a Fall invasion of cupboard moths. When I began to feel like a wrangler for a horror movie every time I opened a cupboard door, I decided it was time to have a purge of old cracker boxes, forgotten bags of nuts meant for cooking or whatever. While I was at it, I had a condiment purge, as well, pouring buckets of old teriyaki sauce, walnut oil and goodness knows what else down the sink and chucking all the bottles in my spare recycling box. There was a lovely sort of Oriental soupy smell in the kitchen and now my shelves are clean, organized and moth-free. A very satisfactory way to spend the morning.