State St. and Ellsworth Rd. Roundabout Open, World Keeps Spinning

The roundabout at State St. and Ellsworth Rd. has been open for the last few weeks and it really helps keep traffic moving. If you want to see how Darth Vader would say roundabout, check out this YouTube video from the GPS company TomTom.

Craft Beer and BBQ Brisket Sandwich

It's good to see some more variety in the beer section at Costco. There's an expanded beer section in addition to this new Craft Beer display made up mostly of 750 mL bottles (1 pt. 9.4 oz.). Many of the brands you'd expect are represented as well as smaller breweries. Brands include Dogfish Head, Stone, Rogue, Sam Adams, Goose Island, Ommegang, Sierra Nevada, Unibroue, Chimay and others. 

In this post of new additions, the food court introduced a BBQ Beef Brisket Sandwich with coleslaw. I tried it today and thought it was pretty good. Overall, it was a bit sweet for my taste, but a good way to get a BBQ fix anyway. The construction is pretty neat as they use a paper ring to keep all the stuff inside the sandwich. 

Tomato Plants, Tomatoes and Hornworms

I found a few hornworms on my tomato plants. These are nasty little pests that will strip tomato plants clean in a matter of days. The best way to get rid of them is to pick them off the plant and dispose of them.

Picking the hornworms off the plants reminded me of the plants I saw at Costco this spring. They were very large planters, probably around 6 or 7 inch. They would have been ready a bit earlier than the 4 and 5 inch planters that I started with this year.

So far the crop has been pretty good. The plants are sucking down enough water that I have to fill the earthboxes twice a day.

Here's a picture of a small hornworm, about the size of a pencil. Larger worms get to be the size of a persons little finger or larger.

A Little Love for My Dog

After eating lunch at Costco, polish sausage and a drink, I picked up dog food. The 50 pound bag of Iams large breed was $39.99.

While looking around I came across the Jerky Treats advertised in the mail piece. It is a BOGO offer, no coupon needed. This comes out to 7 pounds (2 x 3.5 lbs containers) of dog treats for $9.99. Since I tear these up into smaller pieces, this should last into next year. It's a good thing the expiration date on the treats is in 2013.

Gas Price Comparison

Costco $3.449

Citgo @ State St & I-94 $3.699

Costco Construction and University of Michigan Basketball

This picture of the Ann Arbor Costco was taken a few days ago on 1/18/12. Since then we've been hit with days of sub-freezing temperature and snow. Construction has not slowed down at all.

The bad weather didn't stop a sell out crowd from packing Crisler Center in Ann Arbor to watch the University of Michigan men's basketball team beat Michigan State University. (link to ESPN) It was a tight game that came down to the last possession. Michigan State missed two shots in the closing seconds to seal their fate against Michigan. At the buzzer, the crowd went crazy. It was a great night for Wolverine Nation that ended with a victory and the singing of the Victors.