Tag Archives: inflation

Funky lobster, outrageous oil and bots.

October 3, 2026 Rivergirl 35 Comments

Lobsters are greenish brown when alive and scurrying around on the bottom of the ocean. Though every once in a while a fisherman will haul up a genetic mutation cotton candy blue, a yellow or an orange.

Those are rare, 1 in 10 million to 1 in 30 million.

But the other day?

Now that’s rare.

And wonderfully bizarre.

People have been bitching about high gas prices for months, but in Maine…. where most houses have oil furnaces? We’re going to start bitching about heating oil now. Last year it was $3.42 a gallon…. today? It’s almost $6.

Our house uses roughly 200 gallons a month in the dead of winter … December through the end of March… and that’s set to a median temperature of 69 degrees, not the 73 my always cold husband would prefer. At today’s price of $5.96?

That’s $1,192.

A month.

Can we afford it? Yes. But it still hurts. And how about all the Mainers who can’t?

Something’s got to give.

Heat shouldn’t be a luxury.

The hummingbirds are gone and these silly sparrows have taken over the feeders I need to bring in. Sorry guys, you’re too big.

Since no one has ever said my weekly useless news posts “highlight crucial nuances”? I’m guessing the bots have started commenting.

🤣

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Talk about inflation!

January 8, 2023 Rivergirl 46 Comments

Our wallets are all feeling the sting of inflation, be it at the grocery store or the gas pump… but after receiving the monthly newsletter from our little rural town the other day? I had a serious WTF moment.

A bill that jumps from $50,000 a year to $65,000 a month is the very definition of insane. Increase aside, how is it even legal to break the existing contract and give the town no time to find alternative service?

😠

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Lord Dudley Mountcatten and princely sums for liquid holiday cheer.

December 27, 2022 Rivergirl 38 Comments

We will start and end this post with photos of His Lordship.

Seen here giving me the evil eye for lowering the blinds and blocking his morning sun.

I had a birthday recently… yay me, another trip around the sun and straight down the road to decrepitude.

The husband told me to pick a place for dinner but I’d skipped lunch and decided we should go cocktail hopping early.

Enter Royal River Grille, one of my favorite spots.

We settled happily at the bar… but were presented with brunch menus since it was a Sunday. I’m not a breakfast person so the thought of scrambled eggs with my Cosmo at 4:00pm did not please me, not one little bit. Brunch until 5:00pm? Come on.

We decided to move on and got the check.

With tip, $30.92 for a drink and a beer. What’s the world coming to?

Next stop was Goodfire Brewery, a new place I’d been wanting to try. On arrival we discovered they were almost out of beer and only had three left on tap. Thankfully one was a blackberry currant sour, but at $9.50 per for the small pour and a virtually non existent menu, we paid $24 for two beers and moved on again.

We ended at a nice seafood place we hadn’t visited in a while and I had a lovely crab, shrimp and scallop lasagna which I didn’t photograph.

So we end with me another year older and a very innocent Lord Dudley Mountcatten.

Well, maybe not that innocent.

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A new twist.

April 21, 2022 Rivergirl 29 Comments

During a recent shopping trip with a friend, we ducked into Macaroni Grill for lunch. It wasn’t our first choice, but after trying four other restaurants and being told it would be an hour wait due to short staffing…. we figured any port in the storm would do.

After a mediocre lukewarm meal that arrived late and with the wrong vegetables, the bill was presented. Now I don’t know about your part of the world, but here in Maine restaurants are having a hard time staying afloat since no one wants to work. There are no waitresses, no hostesses, no busboys, no cooks. Every where you go has the same issues. They apologize for it when you enter and we’ve come to expect the worst. What I didn’t expect was this:

A little inflation surcharge they sneak in without telling you.

And hey, don’t get me wrong…. I understand prices are up everywhere, and naturally the increase in the cost of food has to be passed along to the consumer. But this sure seems like a strange way to do it.

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My solution for high gas prices.

April 17, 2022 Rivergirl 13 Comments

I think we’re allshocked when we pull our cars up to the pump these days. And while I’m lucky enough to drive a vehicle that gets good gas mileage, I almost fainted when my husband filled his ~~old as Methuselah~~ new truck the other day. Dual tanks? We may have to remortgage the house.

So in the spirit of giving… because that’s just who I am… I bring you a tried and true solution to saving money at the pumps.

Economical, low emission and environmentally friendly.

You’re welcome.

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Sky high and going higher.

October 29, 2021 Rivergirl 37 Comments

I went grocery shopping yesterday…. and while I usually just buy what I want regardless of the cost, gazing down at the pot roast in my hand made me audibly gasp.

A quite small, unimpressive rump roast had a $36 price tag… and damned if I didn’t leave it right there.

May I just say, what the utter f*ck?

I paid $17 for a pound of 80/20 hamburger and almost fainted when I saw this…

Yes, it’s a rib roast. But so small I doubt you’d get 4 good slices. And while I used to cook them quite often… if I’m paying $25 per plate? I’ll go out to a restaurant, let someone else cook it and be served thank you very much.

Beef prices are certifiably insane right now.

And if you think it’s any better in the seafood department, think again.