I had a similar problem back in November. My truck was in the shop for 2 weeks, waiting on parts from all over North America to arrive. I’ve never had that problem before. Previously it might have taken a day or so, but all the parts were at least in the same city.
Supposedly, eggs are scarcer and more expensive - due to avian flu. I have not personally noticed a scarcity, and I admit I don’t look THAT closely at the price. I don’t eat them often myself, but a housemate really prefers Eggland’s Best which is spendier anyway.
Eggs are definitely getting more expensive. BEST price I’ve seen recently for store brand large is $5/dozen. Used to be $2/dozen or less, and I live in California, which routinely has higher prices on everything than the rest of the country.
I just checked the Wegmans app.
- Egglands Best, 18 count, 4.79 (12 count 3.49)
- Wegmans Grade AA, 18 count, 7.48 (12 count 4.99)
Egglands Best is cheaper at both the 18 count AND 12 count sizes. Strange.
They may be less in-store - there’s about a 15% markup on the app since it’s designed to feed their Instacart business. This is DC metro area, also an expensive area.
Checking websites:
Walmart: Great Value (house brand) 12 large 6.96, 18 large 10.28
FoodsCo (one of the usually cheapest stores I shop): Kroger (house brand) 12 large 4.99, 18 large 6.89
Winco (regional chain, also typically cheaper): I’d have to physically go to check, but I do recall noticing last time I was there that 12 large were about $5/dozen (didn’t take note of prices for 18ct)
There are some strange things afoot in pricing. I’ve mostly stopped buying potato chips, because the prices have gone up to more than I’m willing to spend. I recently saw a “sale” at my local grocery store, where it was 2 bags for $10. Meanwhile, I could get one such bag for $4.79 at the convenience store. In what world does it make sense for grocery store prices to be higher than a convenience store?!?
Forgot to mention that last time I was at Costco, they had signs up stating they were completely OUT of eggs. COSTCO was completely out of eggs.
Our Costco was out last week, but had eggs this week (although only a couple varieties). About $3-3.50 a dozen. The avian flu is crazy, farmers have to kill entire flocks.
I remember that, clearly, hearing them mention fentanyl, as they were working out how to get me out of the building. At the time, it was prominent in the news, fentanyl as a drug that was killing more than its fair share of drug addicts, and here the paramedics were talking about giving some of it to me.
But I wasn’t afraid of it. I trusted them to know what they were doing, and I was well aware that there was not going to be any gentle, smooth way to get me out of that building in my broken condition. They were going to have to carry me down a few flights of crude stairs, and over some rough terrain, to get me to the ambulance.
On thing I read a couple of months ago is that in many cases the price of storebrand products is outpacing name brands. It does seem to be true here and there, I’ve personally observed that Walmart breakfast sandwiches now cost more than Jimmy Deans’, and Target’s paper plates are a few cents more than Dixie’s. The store brands of those two things used to be at least a dollar cheaper.
I’ve been experiencing this since late November, I think. I’ve taking to buying a package of any decongestant when I see it. I have a couple of boxes of NeoCitran without antihistamine to tide me over, but they all have Acetaminophen 
My wife has a Ford C-Max plug-in hybrid. There’s a pump that circulates coolant around the battery while it’s charging, and it failed recently, leaking coolant all over the garage floor under where she parks. She took it to the dealership and they said they cannot find a replacement anywhere. They told her they might have to put her on a waiting list with Ford if they can’t find one. So, we’re down to one vehicle for who knows how long. (On the plus side, it’s still under warranty so we don’t have to pay for it. )
Since this is a warranty issue, can the dealership provide a loaner vehicle?
Good question, we should check on that. She did ask if it was OK to drive it while they’re waiting for a part, and they said they wouldn’t recommend it.
My problem was also leaking coolant. The tank was pretty much dry when I noticed the puddle under my trunk. They said I could drive it if I filled the tank pretty much every day, but that sounded like a lot of coolant ending up on my garage floor.
The last time I had to leave a vehicle for service (December), it was implied that there was a shortage of loaner vehicles available. I have had a situation many years ago where a dealer had sold off too many of the cars it was using as loaners, and ended up using a local car rental place, but it seems like that might be problematic now.
The water shortage in western states is still an issue with produce. Why lettuce is mostly grown in CA is beyond me, as it grows everywhere. But that’s the problem. I just got new lights in my utility room, and they are incredibly bright, and the electricians joked about building me a grow-room. Maybe I should take that seriously, and plant lettuce and tomatoes in containers down there.
Lots of sunshine and controlled water make for a consistently clean-looking product that can be grown on a precise schedule. Lettuce doesn’t store well, and people want it year-round. It doesn’t hold a precise size for long in the field, and many purchasers want it at a consistent size (my market customers, thankfully, don’t seem to care.)
Lettuce likes cool and moderately wet – but too much wet causes rot. Some varieties are more susceptible than others. Those very tight iceberg heads tend to be more susceptible, as do butterheads; but varieties of any type are liable. Also, producing consistent size on a fairly precise schedule is easier to do where temperature and rainfall are less variable.
And, of course, in most of the country you’re not going to get lettuce all year unless you grow it indoors with artificial lighting (during short days), artificial heat (during overly cold months), and/or artificial cooling (many people think of lettuce as a summer crop; but most varieties bolt to seed rapidly in heat, which makes them bitter, tough, and unsalable.)
But we’ve been growing huge amounts of our produce, not only lettuce, in California, because consistent sun makes a lot of things easier. Unfortunately, “consistent sun” means “little or no rain” and the problems with that are becoming increasingly apparent.
How hard do you think it would be to grow it in my utility room?
Very easy.
Lettuce is shallow rooted, it doesn’t need extremely large pots. You do need decent light, but it doesn’t need to be special grow lights or extraordinarily bright, as you’re only trying to get vegetative growth, not fruit; but you do want enough light so the plants don’t get too leggy. Get a container at least several inches deep with some sort of drainage, good potting soil (not one with human waste biosolids in it – problem’s not bacteria but other contaminants), seed of some variety or varieties you like recommended for container growing (I’d try Pinetree, as you probably only need small amounts, but there are plenty of other sources), and some source of light over the container, close on top of the plants – up north a window won’t be enough in the winter. Light 12 to 16 hours a day. Don’t bury the seed; lettuce needs light to germinate. Scatter it on top of the soil, get seed and soil wet but not sodden, cover container with something transparent to keep seed moist until it germinates; then uncover. Harvest as it gets big enough for you. Go light on fertilizer (with some potting soils you won’t need any for a while); you don’t want high nitrates in your lettuce, either for the lettuce or for you.