Yesterday's adventure and what the hell???

OK this weather is just....well....wierd. Friday it pored rain all day. Yesterday it was almost 70 degrees. We spent the day driving around, and the digital thermometer on the mirror read 68 most of the day. When we went to bed last night, I noticed that it seemed pretty windy, no big deal. Lisa wakes me up an hour ago and tells me the canopy/carport that I use for storage was on its side. I get up, get dressed, go feed and water, and take a look. Yep.....the back and right side (towards the orchard) are pulled out and flopped over, like someone just flipped it on it's left side. After the big summer windstorm, I added more 12 inch stakes to this thing, one every 2 feet along it's 16 foot length, 4 down each end, and 4 down the center. What kinda wind in Ohio rips this thing out? It's not in grass, it's in the old driveway area. It took a 2 lb hammer to get those things driven in, and this wind flipped it over like it was nothing. This is just wierd. It's Ohio, it's December. It shouldn't be windy and 70 degrees. I'm not much of a believer in global warming, but I'm really beginning to wonder.

Yesterday morning, we set off on a bit of an adventure. A few years ago we stayed at a bed & breakfast in Zoar (amish country) for our annivesary, and during that stay we traveled the backroads to Lehmans. During that drive, we found an amish bulk/dry goods store. The kind with bulk foods, canned goods, amish owned and ran, lit by lanterns....our kinda place. The goal for yesterday was to find this store again. We started in Kidron at the antique store I saw the Rolls Razor at. After realizing the shaving handle was missing, I passed on it and ended up getting a pipe pocket tool. Kinda like a Leatherman tool for pipe smokers. It has 3 folding accesories-a metal pipe cleaner, a pipe scraper, and a single blade, and the outside end of the stainless case is a pipe tamper....pretty cool! It was only $7, so I picked it up, and we set off to find the old store. We traveled winding country roads past countless farms and small homes, from Kidron to Strasburg,( close to 20 miles by backroads), and couldn't find it. I doubled up 77 to Zoar, and head back....still nothing. We ended up back close to where we started and ended up going to Berlin. (another 25 miles) I hate Berlin. It's turned into a giant tourist trap, and people eat it up. I sware you could pick up a horse turd off the road, label it "amish made", and these idiots would pay top dollar for it. I never imagined it would be so busy on a weekend in December, but the place was packed. There were cars parked along the road through the entire 10 or so blocks of "downtown". As I drove by disgusted, Lisa spotted a sign on a side road for "bulk foods". We turned around and went to check it out. To my surprise, the place had a few things we wanted to get. We had stopped at a few stores along this journey, but in all of them, "bulk foods" were 2 pound of this, 1 pound of that, and 3 pounds of the other. This one was a bit different in they had things like flour, sugar, and oats in bags of 2, 5, 10 and 25 pounds. We settled on a 25 lb bag of white sugar, and a 25lb bag of brown sugar. I asked about bulk coffee beans, and their only suggestion was the coffee shop across the street.

UGH I hate those place, and especially this one. These people come from god-knows-where to visit "amish country" for a day, but they sure can't live without their fancy coffee. I roll my eyes several times, drive across the street, and walk into my version of hell. Yep....it's a starbucks with a jolt of hippy wannabe's and other people that have so many reasons NOT to be in this neck of the woods. First of all, I walk in the door to Bob Dylan on the speakers. (oh please kill me now) The place smells of fancy pastries, flavored coffee, and cologne I'm pretty sure men shouldn't wear unless their loafers are kinda light. (if you get my drift) It's an endless sea of sweater vests, eddy bauer and l.l. bean coats. Please tell me they have bulk coffee so I can get out of here. I need to run out to the street and rub my face in a big pile of horse manure just to get the burning odor of yuppie out of my nose! We look around and see some bins of coffee beans, over 20 to be exact. C'mon people, there's only 2 kinds of coffee....french roast, or regular old wake 'yer ass up....thats it. UGHHHHHHHHH I decide to get a bag of the most regular roast I could find and get out. $11 a pound and I walk to the counter, only to be greeted by a young guy ( I refuse to say MAN to this), wearing a sweater vest and beret. It took every bit of energy I had not to laugh. If it weren't for Lisa's sore knee, I would have ran out the door. Thank god, I'm back outside...I survived and live to tell you people about it.

I still haven't been able to locate a source for bulk coffee beans. I really don't want to go to the store and buy 25 of those little 1 pound bags, but it may come to that. I've tried everywhere I can think of. Later today I'll look online, but I've tried that before with no luck. If anyone has suggestions, please pass them on.