Chicken Instead of Politics

I got up this morning ready to hammer politicians and particularly Republicans. I was ready to rant about the financial crisis. I was prepared to do more research into the martial law threat and the Northern Command. First, though, there was laundry to do – you can’t rant effectively in dirty clothes. But for some reason the drive to hammer and nail the bad guys was lacking – not enough to fuel it? Surely that wasn’t the case. Roger Cohen had an interesting article, “History and the Really Very Weird”, Paul Krugman, our new winner of the economics Nobel Prize, had a great column praising Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, and the Brown government for being willing to think clearly and act quickly regarding the world financial meltdown – I won’t even mention Paulson in that regard. But for whatever reason, I was lacking inspiration, or maybe I was just tired of being pissed off from sun rise to midnight. Whatever, I couldn’t stir up the anger, disgust and frustration, and since that has never been a problem for me, I reached for the thermometer; I must have collided with a virus from the kiddies in the Jump Start class. But, no, my temperature was quite normal. Hmmmm

It was gray and chilly and windy and suddenly I was already hungry for dinner and decided to make a trip to one of my great finds here in our neighborhood – Better Meat Store. We don’t eat a lot of meat, but when we do, I want the good stuff and I only want to buy what I need, not packages of four to six.

The store occupies a small building made of concrete blocks in the middle of a residential neighborhood where it has been in business since 1949. They’re not open on weekends – and, as I found out this morning, on national holidays either. Today is Columbus Day and they weren’t open.

When they are open and you step inside, it isn’t exactly impressive; small offices to the left, a counter down the middle of the relatively small room and a chopping block. Two doors side by side lead into two huge freezers. And that’s it.

They primarily sell meat – all natural, no preservatives – to restaurants, some grocery stores and to the public, those of us lucky enough to find them. It’s a family business and they take great pride in their products.

It’s been a great find and, if tomorrow I still can’t locate my zest for the political scene, I’ll take my shopping bag and load it up with meaty treats for Adam and I and cut to order, perfectly sized bones for Sam and Mojo – it’s their favorite store, too.