Sometimes it’s hard to tell.

Yesterday morning I drove the rust bucket twenty minutes south of here to Walmart.  FYI I’m in denial over the rust and plan to carefully drive the car through next Tuesday, when the inspection sticker runs out.

I didn’t need anything, so why make the effort to shop?  Well, I was thinking ahead.  To the fall.   To the possibility of a worldwide wheat shortage.  To whatever fresh hell is coming next.

In the fall we’ll be dealing with Banjo Man’s cancer treatments (whatever that will be)  and shopping for a “new” car (again, whatever that will be).  I refuse to add grocery-shopping-amidst-empty-shelves to the list of things to stagger through in October.

Walmart was packed with shoppers!  I’d forgotten about Memorial Day weekend and the end-of-the-month welfare shopping.  I filled my cart with the basics:  flour, yeast, sugar, dried beans, rice, canned tomatoes, toilet paper, napkins, paper towels.  The pasta shelves were decimated and there were few bags of dried beans.

And then I got in a very long line at register #6.  I had plenty of time to chat a bit with the man in front of me and see his photos of last summer’s bus trip from the Grand Canyon to Yellowstone.

It looked awesome.

A very old lady in a wheelchair went past and screamed about “these damn New Yorkers” getting in her way.  I hope I never get like that.

At first Banjo Man thought I was a bit nuts and didn’t dare say anything as I hauled the bags of supplies inside the house.  I could tell by the looks he kept shooting me.  But once he realized I was simply being prepared and had not turned into an insane hoarder, he actually acknowledged that my shopping trip had been a good idea.

The world is insane right now.  I’m just trying to cope.

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