“Buggies” and Self-Sufficiency

My first home in the south was in Georgia in the fall of 2007. I moved there from Washington, DC where I lived downtown and walked 2 blocks to the Giant grocery store or one block to one of the bodegas. In Georgia, there was a Publix grocery store just down the street from my apartment, but the road was highway, so I had to drive.

I took my canvas bags to the grocery store and did my shopping. After I paid, the bagger took the handle of the cart (or “buggy”—I’ll discuss this more later) and started walking away. I stood there for a second while I watched this teenager walk off with my groceries. He turned around and looked at me and so I followed him out the door and walked him to the car. He loaded the groceries into the car and refused the tip I tried to give him.

I felt inconvenienced which I believe is an odd reaction to such kindness! However, I didn’t want a stranger handling my groceries never mind the logical mist-step that several strangers had already handled my groceries from production to the checkout clerk!
Additionally, I felt this custom was outdated and sexist. What? I can’t carry my own groceries? (Back in the day, I carried my own groceries 2 city blocks stopping only occasionally to rebalance the load on my shoulders.) Plus now there was an awkward span of time from the door to the car where the bagger and I attempted small talk over the noise of the cart wheels rolling over pavement.

Eventually, I came to see this custom as part of Southern living that I could choose to take advantage of or politely decline. I gave up the notion that it was sexist after witnessing enough men allowing a bagger to push their cart of groceries.

I have to admit though that on occasion I struggled to politely decline the bagger’s assistance and made the excuse that I needed to stop by the lottery counter and didn’t need the bagger to wait when I really just wanted to walk the groceries to the car myself. Making an excuse eased my guilt that I might be putting this poor kid out of a job.

It’s interesting to note that in my short time here in Louisiana, the Market Basket grocery store that I’ve shopped at has not offered cart service. Maybe they were just short-staffed.

The other oddity about grocery shopping in South is the use of the term “buggy.” Some people call grocery carts “buggies.” The first time someone asked me if I was using “that buggy” my mind immediately pictured a baby carriage—a pricey New York City pram with chrome parts and rubber wheels. When I came to and wiped the confusion off my face and said “yes, yes I am.”

Lovebugs

Hurricane Gustav caused my flight out of Louisiana last week to be canceled 3 times. Finally, I changed my itinerary to fly out of Houston, TX. On the several hour drive there, I met many, many "love bugs" when they plastered themselves on the windshield and grill of my car. During stretches of the drive the bugs were hitting the windshield with such consistency it was as if it was raining. Before dropping the car off in the airport parking lot, I stopped by a gas station to clean the windshield. I was afraid that when I got back the heat might have baked the bugs on the car and made it difficult to clean.

When I drove back to Louisiana 5 days later, the bugs were just as thicker--maybe even more numerous. I drove up to a fast food drive thru and I had to shout my order through a cracked window because when I rolled it down the bugs started flying in the car, so I quickly rolled the windows back up. I considered stopping to clean the windshield rather than waiting until I made it home, but after a long trip I just wanted to get home.

When the bugs splat on the windshield they leave a whitish film. As the bugs add up, it becomes difficult to see. I noticed cars coming in my direction that had windshields that were nearly all white. It looked dangerous!

Eventually, a neighbor explained to me that these were "lovebugs" and she showed me the grill of her car. Lovebugs?!!

According to Wikipedia,

"For most of the year, lovebugs are beneficial in that the larvae (maggots) live in grassy areas and feed on dead vegetation within the thatch^[1]. This results in not only the eventual release of nutrients back into the soil, but also decreases excessive thatch which can be detrimental to grass growth and serve as a protective cover for serious grass pests.

The adult lovebug feeds on the nectar of flowering plants. Upon reaching maturity the lovebug spends almost the entirety of its life copulating with its mate, hence its numerous romantic nicknames. The male and female attach themselves at the rear of the abdomen and remain that way at all times, even in flight."

It almost makes these insects endearing a la emperor penguins in "March of the Penguins." Until you read on...

In fact, after mating, the male dies and is dragged around by the female until she lays her eggs. . . .

Lovebug flights can number in the hundreds of thousands. . . .

Because airborne lovebugs can exist in enormous numbers near highways, they die en masse on automobile windshields, hoods, and radiator grills when the vehicles travel at high speeds. If left for more than an hour or two, the remains become dried and extremely difficult to remove. In the past, the acidity of the dead adult body, especially the female's egg masses, often resulted in pits and etches in automotive paint and chrome if not quickly removed^[3]. However, advances in automotive paints and protective coatings have reduced this threat significantly. Now the greatest concern is excessive clogging of vehicle radiator air passages with the bodies of the adults, with the reduction of the cooling effect on engines, and the obstruction of windshields when the remains of the adults and egg masses are smeared on the glass^[1]."

I wish I'd taken a photo of the windshield but the battery died in my camera. I managed to get this photo before driving the car through the drive wash.

Thankfully, lovebugs aren't not too bad around our town!

Preface

I pondered blogging for months before deciding to join the Blogosphere. Although I consider myself fluent in the internet and hardly remember how to dial a telephone for pizza delivery, I have shied away from using the internet to voice my point of view beyond the occasional letter to the editor.

Why the hesitation?
1) Privacy. There are tools that allow users to limit who can view their blog but that idea has never appealed to me. Why not just send a mass e-mail to your friends and family? It's not as pretty but then you save them a step of having to go to your page.

Creating a open-to-all blog has its problems. There is already a lot of information about me available publicly, so I'm hesitant to add more. Much to the consternation of some friends, I don't use social networking sites. To be honest, I'm afraid to commit to the work involved in upkeep with the hot new song or snapshots recently taken. My page would be plain and factual and, honestly, who needs more of that on the web? Joking aside, I like my privacy--it gives me a space to feel comfortable and secure--and I don't want to give it up too willingly.

2.) Intellectual Property. I am by nature a writer. Someday I intend to publish. Although I am sharing them now, I consider my thoughts and writing in this blog to be intellectual property to which I maintain the rights.

3.) Censorship. In my everyday speech, I don't censor myself much and feel comfortable talking about things that others consider T.M.I. However, I generally have the sensibility not say things that would make the conversation uncomfortable to the point of offending the person I am speaking with. This means I will choose to write as if my boss would read it and not just my best friend.

4) "Don't Send that E-mail!" Maturing at a time when e-mail became available literally at my fingertips, I've learned the hard way the importance of sometimes letting an e-mail sit for a while and re-reading it later before deciding to send it. It's easy to become emboldened by the one-way conversation and say things that are hurtful and untrue. When the only way to do this was to write a letter, there was a natural passing of time that occurred as the letter was prepared to be sent but the click of mouse has erased that time and replaced prudence with convenience.

Although I can delete a post after I've made it, I still want to be aware of what I am writing and make sure it represents how I truly feel. Plus, once it's been posted it's a bit like a judge asking the jury to "disregard that statement" after an zealous attorney has stepped out of line. Everyone heard it and few people have the ability or the problem of just erasing things from the memory.

5) Commitment. It's annoying to me to check a blog awaiting news of the next adventure or word only to find nothing has been posted. I assume that reading my blog won't be a waste of time but checking to see if something new has posted when it hasn't sure as heck would be. I don't want to inflict that kind of annoyance on people.