A thief visits my campsite, and more

DONATING TO A NONPROFIT IS NOT THE SAME AS HELPING THE HOMELESS!

By Max R. Weller

I’m always looking for ways to improve the level of comfort in my homeless burrow overnight, and one of the changes I made recently was to put my camping pad on top of my sleeping bag, but underneath my blankets (I’ve haven’t needed to crawl into my zero degree-rated bag since last April). In case rain comes in around the edges of my tarp, as it does when the ground is saturated, this keeps me dry even if my sleeping bag becomes soggy.

Yesterday evening, unfortunately, I threw back my tarp and blankets to find that the camping pad was MISSING. Nothing else was gone. And whoever stole my pad took care to leave no outward signs of having disturbed my gear. It made for a miserable night, because of the cold steady rain during the afternoon and early nighttime hours.

It’s one more item I need to pick up at Walmart along with a new 10′ x 12′ tarp, jeans, T-shirts, and thermal underwear. I’m hoping that “Sally” will let me hitch a ride with her to Lafayette on Friday, since she’s headed there, anyway — and I’ve offered to buy lunch. If that doesn’t work out, however, I’ll have to call on another friend who would be going out of her way on my behalf, AGAIN. This tends to make me feel guilty . . .

Maybe I can dry out my gear today, before rains come again tomorrow. See forecast.

I respect and admire the CU-Boulder PD because they don’t put up with any baloney:

Jermaine Sillemon, 25, is restrained on a stretcher after being shot with a Taser inside the University Memorial Center on CU’s Boulder campus. Police say he was caught attempting to shoplift, and brandished a pen as a “stabbing instrument.” (Sarah Kuta / Daily Camera)

I’m almost certain this clown has been at Boulder Shelter for the Homeless recently. CU’s University Memorial Center has long been a favorite hangout for bums who want to lounge around all day watching TV, but who have no affiliation in any way with the university. No, the Homeless Philosopher has never been to the UMC.

Back in KC, Jermaine probably would have been shot with a police officer’s pistol — NOT a Taser (which has little or no effect on some who are under the influence of drugs).

“Hey! Help your fellow Americans! Register to vote!” Indeed . . .

BTW, I’ve witnessed a mentally ill homeless woman use a sharpened pencil to stab a homeless man in the face; missed his eye by about an inch. The amount of force used by police against suspect Jermaine Sillemon was reasonable and proper.

Tonight at my campsite: corn dogs, made healthy with ORGANIC mustard and ketchup.

A bit of sanity from NOAA researchers, and more

DONATING TO A NONPROFIT IS NOT THE SAME AS HELPING THE HOMELESS!

By Max R. Weller

Read Boulder researcher: 2013’s flood-triggering rains not caused by climate change in the (gasp!) Daily Camera. Quoting from the article below:

The historic rain that shattered records across Colorado’s northern Front Range last September was not made more likely or intense by the effects of climate change, according to a study published today that was led by a Boulder-based meteorologist.

“There’s clear evidence that, overall, our greenhouse gas emissions are making the planet warmer and moister, but we found such climate factors had little appreciable effect on the frequency of heavy five-day rainfall events in this area during September,” said Martin Hoerling, a research meteorologist in the Earth System Research Laboratory at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder.

Hoerling is the lead author on “Northeast Colorado Extreme Rains Interpreted in a Climate Change Context,” to be published today in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

The study found that climate change would not make such storms more likely along the Front Range during the month of September. It also indicated they may even become less likely — even as climate models show an increase in the intensity of five-day precipitation events in other regions around the globe by the end of the 21st century.

Also, in Colorado’s limited historical weather record, the 2013 storm was not without precedent.

Researchers said it bore many similarities to a “strikingly similar” September 1938 storm, “long before appreciable climate change,” which struck this area.

In footprint and duration, it also resembled the June 1965 Cherry Creek flood, which, at about $3 billion in current-day dollars, is still the state’s most costly.

The new study made use of a NASA climate model containing information about how climate factors such as ocean temperatures, sea ice extent and greenhouse gas levels have varied since the late 19th century.

Run many times, the model produced occasional heavy September rain events in a 30-year period from 1870 to 1900, as well as the 30-year period from 1983 to 2013.

Comparing the two 30-year periods, researchers found that lower amounts of sea ice, warming oceans and added greenhouse gases did not increase the likelihood of a storm such as Colorado witnessed last year.

The report concedes that, “A weakness of our study is that results are based on a single model, and thus require confirmation using additional models.”

It’s refreshing to see such an unbiased approach along with the caveat above, rather than the dogmatic pronouncements of climate change doomsayers competing for grant money . . .

The flood that devastated Lyons and much of northeast Colorado in September 2013 was not made more intense, or more likely, by the effects of climate change, according to a new study led by a meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder. (Greg Lindstrom / Longmont Times-Call)

Why is U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, the Democrat, afraid to debate his token Republican opponent in November’s election? Seems to me it would be at least as entertaining as this stunt:

Here’s something that Boulder, CO should consider: A no-serve list isn’t radical if you live and work in Fairview from the Alaska Dispatch. STOP SELLING BOOZE to those who consistently abuse it, to the point of creating chaos to all those around them.

I’m very disappointed that the powers-that-be at Boulder Public Library are backing off of rules which were already less than strict, compared to other public libraries across America. It’s almost as if they sit up late at night to think of new ways to piss off the majority of library patrons. And it doesn’t seem to matter who is Boulder Public Library and Arts Director in recent years, it’s one lamebrained idea after another . . .

Consider this commentary: Sean Maher: Do we want to freeze Boulder in time? in the Daily Camera. I’d answer YES! — if the time was 1914, long before any of the dork-knobbed trust fund babies came along.

That’s all for now, folks.

The latest ‘charity’ scam, and more

DONATING TO A NONPROFIT IS NOT THE SAME AS HELPING THE HOMELESS!

By Max R. Weller

Read Boulder police: Woman sexually assaulted by door-to-door solicitor in the Daily Camera. Quoiting from the story below:

According to police, a woman living in the 1800 block of 22nd Street — a stretch inhabited largely by college students — answered the door at 6:25 p.m. Wednesday after a man claiming to be collecting money for a charity knocked. The man said he was a neighbor, but the woman did not recognize him.

The woman told police the man pushed his way into her house and began groping her. She thought that if she gave him money he would stop, but when she went to her bedroom to get her money, he followed her into the room and sexually assaulted her, according to police.

The victim told police she was able to fight the man off, and he left in an unknown direction. While canvassing the area, neighbors also said a man matching the suspect’s description had approached them for money.

My online comment is copied here:

Which “charity” did the suspect claim to represent? And why isn’t this info a part of the article above? Smells very fishy to me.

How’s the current smoking ban working here in Boulder? See:

(Credit: This is Boulder Colorado)

Good weather continues, according to the National Weather Service forecast here. I just hope the rain holds off until I can get over to Walmart, probably next Friday, to buy a new 10′ x 12′ tarp and new clothing for the winter season.

Very peaceful in my north Boulder neighborhood these days, except for last weekend when a couple of Travelers with a pit bull were briefly panhandling at the corner of N. Broadway & U.S. 36. Froot Loops, both of ’em. One guy was out there barefoot, and he’s missing all of the toes on his left foot; this may explain why he didn’t make much money. The fact that he was barking and howling in an effort to get the pit bull to join in a duet didn’t help matters, either. One of his signs:

THE END IS BEER

This was NOT well received by passersby, in view of recent homeless deaths from alcohol poisoning in Boulder, CO.

At any rate, they’ve hit the road . . .

Tonight at my campsite: corn chips and salsa.

Big Rock Candy Mountain: Boulder, CO

DONATING TO A NONPROFIT IS NOT THE SAME AS HELPING THE HOMELESS!

By Max R. Weller

Almost every day, I see new faces of transients arriving here, all of ’em expecting to find the Big Rock Candy Mountain:

On a summer day
In the month of May
A burly bum came hiking
Down a shady lane
Through the sugar cane
He was looking for his liking
As he roamed along
He sang a song
Of the land of milk and honey
Where a bum can stay
For many a day
And he won’t need any money

Oh the buzzin’ of the bees
In the cigarette trees
Near the soda water fountain
At the lemonade springs
Where the bluebird sings
On the big rock candy mountain

There’s a lake of gin
We can both jump in
And the handouts grow on bushes
In the new-mown hay
We can sleep all day
And the bars all have free lunches
Where the mail train stops
And there ain’t no cops
And the folks are tender-hearted
Where you never change your socks
And you never throw rocks
And your hair is never parted

Oh the buzzin’ of the bees
In the cigarette trees
Near the soda water fountain
At the lemonade springs
Where the bluebird sings
On the big rock candy mountain

Oh, a farmer and his son,
They were on the run
To the hay field they were bounding
Said the bum to the son,
“Why don’t you come
To that big rock candy mountain?”
So the very next day
They hiked away,
The mileposts they were counting
But they never arrived
At the lemonade tide
On the big rock candy mountain

Oh the buzzin’ of the bees
In the cigarette trees
Near the soda water fountain
At the lemonade springs
Where the bluebird sings
On the big rock candy mountain

There are other versions of the lyrics, by various artists including Burl Ives, but you get the idea.

Sad to report, there ain’t no such place . . .

Max’s Journal 9/24/2014

DONATING TO A NONPROFIT IS NOT THE SAME AS HELPING THE HOMELESS!

By Max R. Weller

Read Boulder to expand smoking ban . . . in the Daily Camera. Quoting from the article below:

The smoking ban that already covers the Pearl Street Mall and the municipal campus area will expand next month to the southeast, encompassing Boulder High School and some residential areas.

The new smoking ban area will stretch from the corner of Broadway and Arapahoe Avenue southeast to University Avenue and 17th Street.

And the expansion likely will be the prelude to a much broader ban that would cover all of the downtown business district and most city-owned property . . .

The new no-smoking area will include the “horseshoe,” a spot at the west end of the Boulder High campus where many homeless people who smoke have started hanging out, now that the lawn between the main library and the Municipal Building and Central Park are smoke-free.

The broader ban will be introduced in the form of an ordinance later this fall. It would include the downtown area, including alleys, all city parks, multi-use paths and an area 15 feet from either side of those paths, within 25 feet of any RTD bus stops, within 25 feet of a library facility, in all city-owned open space, including leased agricultural lands and any associated houses, and anywhere in Chautauqua. The ban would apply to flammable tobacco products, such as cigarettes and cigars, as well as e-cigarettes.

Boulder’s new smoking ban area (Cliff Grassmick / Daily Camera)

Smokers have brought this on themselves, of course. As a group, nicotine addicts are the MOST inconsiderate and obnoxious people you’ll encounter in public — and that group includes aggressive panhandlers, buskers, and those gathering signatures on petitions. Screw ’em all, I say!

She can’t feed or clothe herself and stays in emergency shelters, but she has $$$ to buy cigarettes, thanks to those do-gooders who give her life’s necessities for FREE.

Also see Homeowners ask judge to force Boulder County to pay for road repaving in the DC. Stop spending on social services for transients from Denver and elsewhere! Almost every day, I see new bums getting off the SKIP bus at the “welfare system” campus at Broadway & Iris — and I have no doubt that bureaucrats in other counties are sending them here to sign up for every available benefit, all on the taxpayers of Boulder County. Fix the roads and screw the transients, I say!

The Girl’s Guide to Homelessness: A Memoir by Brianna Karp on Goodreads. She’s a fake, as far as I’m concerned.

Tonight at my campsite: pumpernickel bread with cream cheese.

Boulder Public Library wimps out, ‘King’ fails to appear, and more

DONATING TO A NONPROFIT IS NOT THE SAME AS HELPING THE HOMELESS!

By Max R. Weller

Read Boulder Public Library narrows code of conduct as it targets ‘disruptive’ behavior in the Daily Camera. Whoever made this decision is an imbecile; what BPL has done now is make rules more vague, to the point where there’s little or no chance they could survive a legal challenge. Quoting from the report below:

The Boulder Public Library is seeking public comment on revisions to its code of conduct that remove many specific rules while giving library staff broader discretion to intervene to stop “disruptive” behavior.

Gone are explicit rules about eating, having large bags and washing hair and clothes in restroom sinks. Instead, the proposed new code of conduct opens with a welcome message that states the purpose of the code of conduct and the appropriate uses of library space.

My online comment is copied below:

Time for some civic-minded library patron to begin leaving bars of soap at random locations in the Main Library, since the powers-that-be at BPL consistently refuse to deal with the issue of offensive body odor.

Other libraries across America aren’t afraid to risk confronting the stinkers. Example: http://www.spl.org/about-the-library/library-use-…

Note “Category A (Library Specific Violation) •Having offensive body odor or personal hygiene so as to unreasonably interfere with other patrons’ ability to use the Library and its facilities.”

Send your comments by e-mail to brayj@boulderlibrary.org. You can bet that I’ve done so.

Richard Grant a.k.a. King

Yesterday, I spent a wasted morning in Courtroom F at the Boulder County Justice Center, waiting for the arraignment of Richard Grant a.k.a. King. I knew he wasn’t in Boulder County Jail, despite rumors to the contrary, and it was up to King to show up in court on his own. Now he has a warrant for Failure to Appear. I wouldn’t have gone there at all except that 1) “Sally” — who made the Harassment complaint against King — asked me to; and 2) I thought it might make for a good post on my blog. Rumor has it that King has a slew of other charges involving his unlicensed and uninsured vehicle and his lack of a driver’s license, and I hope these rumors are true. Maybe he’s fled Boulder for good; he hasn’t been seen around N. Broadway & U.S. 36 in weeks.

BTW, on my walk along Boulder Creek Path from the Justice Center to the Main Branch Library, then on to Broadway to catch the SKIP northbound, I was happy to see fewer bums hanging out to no good purpose. However, at several spots I caught a whiff of the stench of human waste. Without doubt, it’s the bums who remain in Central Park who are the culprits; and these are the characters that BPL wants to make feel “welcome” with relaxed rules of conduct? NO! Power washers should be used to scrub down the worst spots — such as the underpass below Broadway. Peeing/pooping in the bushes along Boulder Creek, with a porta potty available nearby, is just another way for the sociopathic transients to give the finger to society. Why tolerate it?

The latest homeless person to die outdoors in Boulder, a man I defended here because the Daily Camera lumped him in with known substance abusers who have died “on the streets” recently, was in fact a registered sex offender (Sodomy, Sex Abuse First Degree). Scroll down to page 15 of Boulder PD’s Registered Sex Offenders online for Klavoon, Paul. Strangely, the DC failed to disclose this detail BUT they implied that his death was due to alcohol poisoning/drug overdose in initial reports. Coroner ID’s Boulder homeless man found dead behind shopping center. It’s very difficult to understand the thinking of the Daily Camera’s reporters and editors.

Good news: New-look McDonald’s opens in Boulder in the DC.

Tonight at my campsite: Halloween candy, already on sale everywhere . . .

Max’s Journal 9/19/2014

DONATING TO A NONPROFIT IS NOT THE SAME AS HELPING THE HOMELESS!

By Max R. Weller

With all of my health problems, it wouldn’t be too surprising if I die in my sleep at my homeless campsite, or simply fall over dead while reading a book in my shady spot in the 4900 block of N. Broadway. I’ve long accepted my own mortality, and I don’t fret about it.

What greatly disturbs and ANGERS me is knowing that my passing would be exploited in the guise of news by cub reporters at the Daily Camera — and then exploited some more by the greedy do-gooders trolling for dollars to support their corrupt nonprofits. To me, this makes no sense; I might just as easily die in a house or apartment of my own, and it won’t be due to alcohol poisoning or drug overdose, so why is the fact that it might occur OUTDOORS even relevant? Most ignorant Boulderites would assume I’d been just another homeless drunk/dope fiend, and those in authority would do nothing at all to correct their mistaken belief.

Where is the integrity we have every right to demand from “journalists” and “charities” alike?

Makes me want to head into the mountains, ALONE, so nobody will know of my demise when it comes.

Housing First even allows for clients to continue drinking in their subsidized apartments, known as permanent supportive housing, which are costing $200,000 apiece at the 1175 Lee Hill site. Isn’t that the REAL STORY? Dead is dead, regardless of whether the Grim Reaper comes calling indoors or outdoors. Thus, there is nothing positive resulting from spending millions and millions of $$$ for only 31 HF clients who will reside at this new facility.

It’s truly a travesty of compassion . . .

That’s all for now, folks.

Nonprofit fundraising strategy: Exploiting homeless deaths

DONATING TO A NONPROFIT IS NOT THE SAME AS HELPING THE HOMELESS!

By Max R. Weller

Read Boulder DA orders review of homeless deaths in the Daily Camera. Quoting from the article below:

After what appeared to be Boulder’s sixth homeless death outdoors this year on Saturday, District Attorney Stan Garnett said a “fatality review” team will try to determine how the community and local agencies could prevent similar deaths in the future.

A group of representatives from local law enforcement and service agencies already reviews certain elderly and child deaths, but Garnett said he has decided the team will now also examine certain homeless deaths.

The process is separate from the investigation into whether criminal charges are warranted. Instead, Garnett said the purpose of the fatality review team is to see if any lessons can be learned from the deaths.

“The point of it is to analyze in a non-judgmental, after-the-fact, troubleshooting capacity whether there are instances in which the community could have responded better to a person dealing with some difficult situations that led to their death,” Garnett said.

His office for years has done the same with some child and elderly deaths with a team to review the facts of the case, examine systemic problems and make recommendations to improve communication and investigative tools.

My online comment in the DC copied here:

The only good thing the DA’s team could accomplish is to put an end to the conspiracy theories about local homeless deaths — and to avoid giving them any credibility whatsoever, I won’t repeat any here.

The main thing homeless people need to do is ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY AND WELFARE. Stop being so helpless and needy; the do-gooders can’t save you.

Which brings me to the point of this post. Continuing excerpt from DC report:

Isabel McDevitt, executive director of Boulder’s Bridge House, said the team could lead to some valuable insight into how to help a vulnerable population.

“I think we need more information on why people are dying in the streets so we can better prevent those deaths,” McDevitt said. “If the DA is going to take the lead on it, that sounds like a very worthwhile effort.”

Garnett said the team — which meets about every two months — has already selected some cases and will review them when it meets in October. He said he will reach out to agencies that deal with the homeless to see if they can put representatives on the team.

This opens the door for greedy do-gooders like Ms. McDevitt to exploit these homeless deaths, which in fact are not unexpected even when the coroner is unable to determine the “manner” of a particular death, after “cause” has been established.

The executive director of Bridge House (downtown Boulder magnet for the worst-behaved transients from Denver and elsewhere) cleverly adds this:

McDevitt said she is not sure if a fatality review team will find all of the answers to helping local agencies better coordinate, but she said it might help.

“I think it’s certainly a step in the right direction,” she said.

Tranlation: “Please donate to Bridge House today!”

My online DC response:

Go away, Ms. McDevitt. DONATING TO A NONPROFIT IS NOT THE SAME AS HELPING THE HOMELESS!

Let me recommend this insider’s account of what the local nonprofit industry is really all about: Bowling for Bums: My Life as a Charity Whore: And the Great Colorado Flood of 2013 by A. Price. You’ll never again look at any of these money-grubbing tax-exempt organizations in the same way you do now . . .

“The Homeless Philosopher is heartless and cruel, implying that I don’t earn every penny of my $70,000 annual salary. We serve everyone who shows up at our door; it makes us all FEEL GOOD about ourselves!”

Pardon me, Isabel, while I go to the restroom and barf . . .

Hickenlooper on the way out? And more

DONATING TO A NONPROFIT IS NOT THE SAME AS HELPING THE HOMELESS!

By Max R. Weller

See Poll: In big shift, Beauprez posts 10-point lead on Hickenlooper in the Denver Post. Quoting from the report:

Republican Bob Beauprez holds a 10-point lead against Gov. John Hickenlooper, according to a new poll, marking a major shift in a governor’s race deadlocked for months.

The Quinnipiac University Poll, released Wednesday, found that 50 percent of likely voters support or lean toward Beauprez and 40 percent back the Democratic incumbent.

The Libertarian and Green Party candidates each took 3 percent with another 4 percent undecided or supporting another challenger. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.8 percent.

“Pundits were predicting that Gov. Hickenlooper faced a close race for re-election,” said Tim Malloy, an assistant poll director. “Instead, he’s got a mad dash to make up a double-digit deficit.”

I oppose Gov. Hickenlooper because of his support for the money pit known as Fort Lyon, which is spending over $360,000 for each homeless person going through substance abuse rehab there. Compare this to private inpatient treatment programs at about $30,000 per month. Where’s the advantage to Fort Lyon? If intensive inpatient treatment for substance abuse doesn’t take hold after a month, there’s no point in letting clients lounge around for almost a year as they can at Hicklenlooper’s Haven. Read Controversial Fort Lyon homeless facility sends alums into world in the DP. Probably 9 of those 11 “graduates” have already relapsed, if results are similar to other programs.

Maybe Mr. Spotted Bird will return to Fort Lyon for another extended vacation on the taxpayers’ dime:

Richard Spotted Bird spent 10 months at the former prison, now a rehabilitation center. He is one of 11 people to have graduated from Colorado’s first state-supported homeless program. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he shows up at Boulder Shelter for the Homeless on October 15th, just four weeks from today, when emergency overnight dorms open for the winter season through April 15th, 2015. Richard, you’ll only get 90 nights at BSH . . .

And while we’re at it, let’s get rid of Sen. Udall, too. I wonder if Jed Udall, the Senator’s wayward son, will end up at Fort Lyon:

(Boulder County Sheriff’s Office)

Nah, probably the Betty Ford Center for Jed.

Looks like good weather ahead, with only a slight chance for thunderstorms as the weekend arrives.

After fussing at myself to remember to buy ibuprofen at King Soopers yesterday, I forgot it again. Another chance today . . .

Sycamore Row by John Grisham on Goodreads. Another $5.99 discounted bestseller from King Soopers, and worth every penny.

More on tiny houses for the homeless: Tiny House Villages Become Sustainable Housing for the Homeless. I can see it now, on Open Space here in the Boulder Bubble. LOL!

That’s all for now, folks.

Max’s Journal 9/16/2014

DONATING TO A NONPROFIT IS NOT THE SAME AS HELPING THE HOMELESS!

By Max R. Weller

Please note the new motto for this blog (above).

Read Body found behind Arapahoe Village likely Boulder’s 6th homeless death of 2014 in the Daily Camera. Quoting from the article below:

Boulder police are investigating what appears to be the city’s sixth homeless death outdoors this year after the body of a man was found behind the Arapahoe Village shopping center over the weekend.

Police dispatchers received a call at 10:20 a.m. Saturday from a passerby who saw a body under some evergreen bushes behind Jo-Ann Fabrics & Crafts, 2440 Arapahoe Ave.

There were no obvious signs of trauma, police said.

The Boulder County Coroner’s Office will work to identify the man, and conduct an investigation to determine the cause and manner of his death.

“It is being investigated as an unattended death,” Boulder police spokeswoman Kim Kobel said Monday.

Investigators believe the man was a transient, as the body was found near what appeared to be a homeless campsite, Kobel said.

My online comment follows:

Word this morning at Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, from an individual who knew the deceased personally, is that he had pancreatic cancer (the disease that has taken the lives of several members of President Carter’s family).

Presumably, he would also have died in a hospice care setting.

It’s really inappropriate for the DC to lump a homeless cancer victim in with known substance abusers who died from alcohol poisoning/drug overdoses. And as to Isabel McDevitt — her constant trolling for donations to Bridge House is disgusting.

That’s all.

Why give so much as a penny to Bridge House, anyway?

She’ll never be as despicable as convicted rapist Jim Budd, but Ms. McDevitt (above) is certainly trying to plumb new depths of rotten behavior.

Aren’t we going in the wrong direction size-wise with public library services here in Boulder, CO? Recently, we had the opening of the NoBo Corner Library, and now it’s a Library Book Bike as reported in the DC. I’m still amazed, after 6 1/2 years as a resident, that our public library system gets shortchanged in the city budget. How about a full-size branch library in north Boulder? And a full-size bookmobile, too?

(Credit: City of Boulder)

Speaking of books: A lady runner in my neighborhood, who has seen me in my shady spot reading in the 4900 block of N. Broadway, gave me a Barnes & Noble gift card (I just checked the balance: $40). I LOVE runners! I’ve been purchasing books, including current bestsellers, at King Soopers at my own expense, then donating them to BSH when I’m done reading; this gift card will help a lot.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn on Goodreads. Thank goodness I only spent $5.99 plus tax.

I hope I can remember to buy ibuprofen at King Soopers this morning. My short-term memory isn’t what it used to be, thanks to creeping senility . . .