Pita reclaimed

I stand corrected.
Ames does have pita, in a variety of forms. SORRY.

I was at Pammel's international grocery and came across this.

I realized they actually have an ENTIRE restaurant sized freezer of PITAS.
Like white & wheat and some handmade Lebanese stuff.

So, my apologies for the slander against the city of Ames.
Ames does have authentic pita bread. Let us set the record straight.

I know everyone is greatly reassured now.

half an hour down and 30 cents behind...

Yesterday went to Ames Redemption again. I don't know if you all are as fascinated by the recycling conundrum or lack thereof that exists here. The saga and so forth.
Well, the recycling place started charging $2.00 a car for using their recycling facility.
We decided after putting off our recycling for the last month or so, the pile had built up quite high in our closet, so we should finally take care of that.
Now due to the craptastic bottle/can exchange facilities that exist in the supermarkets, we decided to just wait til we returned there to get our precious nickels back.
Last time, if you'll recall, we wound up being dissuaded by the lines and not feeling like dealing with the wait, what with the people who bring in their $20-garbage bagfuls of Icehouse and Bud Lite, we did not get to see all that action.
However yesterday we were there much earlier and the smell factor was considerably reduced.
I was surprised to see however that all the can/bottle counting is done by hand. Nothing too sophisticated about this operation!

Well, we got into line, feeling a bit out of place with our paltry dozen or so wine bottles and a few assorted soda cans to show for our efforts. Compared to the garbage-ful people.
The line went surprisingly quickly (only about 15 minutes) even with those folks who had to have their hundreds of cans counted and sorted.
At the end, our grand total netted us: $1.70

Then we went to the other building to deposit the non-redeemable plastics and glass containers and recycle any newspaper.


And pay $2.00.

So, at the end of us this, figured we spent half an hour, and were down $0.30!

Dogs and Cats

Living in harmony...
My neighbor with the crazy dog(s), yes this dog is a bit out of control, also has a cat.
Apparently they get along.
Haven't seen the cat but have heard it.

Pie, redux

To follow up on the pie story, should we want some pie, need go no further than
The Village Inn, which is pushing its pie big time.
They have a Free Slice of Pie on Wednesdays promo, that they are really eager to tell you
about, multiple times.
Dunno, Village Inn seems roughly equivalent to Denny's/Bob Evans/Perkins.
AND why are they SO eager to give away that pie?!?

Seriously. If you eat there, they will tell you a minimum of 3x about the free pie on Wednesdays.
Oh okay, apparently they are a Mid-west chain which started in Denver, CO.

Although I have to say we had just about the friendliest waitress ever!

pita and a diner that doesn't serve pie...

Well, finally found REAL pita, in a halal grocery store in Des Moines. Time to stock up!
Very exciting, since Ames doesn't seem to have any pita...

Also had some very tasty BBQ. Then tried to finish it off by stopping by the Drake Diner, because what are diners known for-- pie, right? Those revolving display cases with the obscenely high dollops of whipped cream and meringue pies? Isn't that standard fare of diner-ville? But perhaps my diner dreams will be shattered, this diner had NO PIE.
Even the server admitted this was strange- apparently they USED to have pie, but pie did not sell well. How bizarre.

Death, smoking a cigarette

Yesterday night, walking down our main street, here is the scene. Party-ers in costumes, singing loudly, at the dive-y type bar. People are on the outside patio, despite the low temperatures.
The bus is coming down the street. Standing there is a guy in a grim reaper type costume, smoking a cigarette.
Somehow, that seems apt.

Happy Halloween.

Our apartment complex is also home to a pack of dogs. I'm pretty sure the people across the hall have 4 or 5, or just two or three really loud ones. Which they take out in multiple trips, in which you hear a racket of human and animal footsteps running down the stairs and doors slamming.
If they wouldn't let the doors slam, might not be so bad. But as it is, the door noises reverberate and it's a pretty noisy affair.