crazy old world

Well, our heat advisory got extended so I think I'm going to write my Sunday School lesson this morning and then go shopping....I need to figure out an alternative for small "populations" to do mark-and-recapture (the local pet shop quit selling crickets, and I don't feel like buying crickets in Sherman and trying to keep them alive into next week, especially not keeping them alive in my hot car as I run other errands - I HAVE to do the grocery shopping last). I'm thinking small beads, and having the students sub in a different color bead for the "marked" individual.

(This idea has some precedent: I have read that Basque sheepherders arrange to put a certain number of black sheep per 100 white sheep in their herds, because they can quickly count the black sheep to see if the herd is more or less together)

Also, I just need to get out to JoAnn's to roam the aisles of craft supplies, which makes me feel better even if I don't need anything for myself.

And I don't want to shop at the wal-mart again this week. Because weird or bad things are happening at our local wal-marts:

1. one of the ones in North Texas, a woman was nearly sexually assaulted, in broad daylight, in the parking lot. (she fought back and screamed and apparently some people came to her aid and her attacker ran, but still)

2. There is apparently a bunch of guys roaming around with cell phone cameras trying to get into public restrooms that aren't closely monitored, and then filming women who are in there. One guy has been caught and if he's the guy, I hope the book is seriously thrown at him. (Conversation I had with a colleague back when cell phone cameras first came out: Me: "Who needs a camera on their *phone*?" Him: "Pervs." Though there are other good uses of it - if you're in a minor car accident, you can take photos right there and send it to your insurance agent. But still, there are too many pervs out there, and one is too many)

3. Some guy found a baggie of pot (! or so he claims, he found it) in the Ada wal-mart and he tried to get the crew at the service desk to call police, but they wouldn't. (I would not have picked something like that up, had I seen it: his prints are now on it. I'd be concerned about it being linked to me by some overzealous investigator even though everyone who knows me (including the local DA) know I am not that kind of person. And yeah, I get wanting to keep a child from running across it, but still: I have no interest in having to prove to someone that I'm innocent.)

But yeah. The world has got a lot more uncomfortable of late and some of that seems focused on our local wal-marts. Granted, that kind of stuff can happen ANYWHERE but I have not heard of stuff like that at the Kroger's. (And the place I will probably stop, if I need to, for a public washroom, has one with a door that locks.)

I dunno. The summer crazies are starting way too early, along with the summer heat.

Also, a lot of hay is being made on local news about the bankruptcy of the Hastings' chain and how the stores will all close "if a buyer is not found." Hastings is one of the two bookstore outlets near me - the local used-book store closed, I'm pretty sure the used-book store in Denison closed...there is a small store in Ardmore called The Bookseller (I *think* they are still in business), but still....

I will say in my opinion Hastings has gone far down in quality since I first visited one; the stores I've been in lately seem grubby and ill-kept up. I THINK I heard that they had been sold a few years back, and at the time I heard that I thought, "That's about when they started to decline." But still, it makes me concerned to see more and more outlets failing. (Borders, not that I ever had one near me, is long gone. The paperback exchange in my downtown is gone. Hancock Fabrics is gone, the little quilt shop in my town is gone). And yeah, I get that most people don't read "physical books" any more but I kind of need places that aren't work or church to go....otherwise I hide in my house and become more and more hermit-like. 

(There is still Books a Million in Sherman, and that's usually my go-to place when I want to browse books, but now I guess it will be the only place short a trip to Ardmore or even farther (I think McKinney has a Half-Price Books, but McKinney is awfully far))