Person of Walmart.

Yes, I went to Walmart, which is always a thought-provoking experience in its way. I was glad to see that the potatoes had not been peed on, and in general the store appeared to be in order. 

I did take out my phone for some pictures, so you could join me in my ruminations. I did not take pictures of my fellow People of Walmart; I leave that stuff to the professionals. 

To quote my late father-in-law: It's August! Summer is over! 

Brach's, purveyors since 1904 of so-so candies that no one can resist, has already dived in with this huge skid of sugar. That's a lot of candy corn, considering that 99 out of 100 people will tell you that they hate candy corn (the 100th person is a major candy-corn devotee, though). What's in the Autumn Mix? Candy corn, pumpkins that taste like candy corn, and "Harvest Corn" (candy corn).

Autumn won't start for another seven weeks, though. But even here, where school doesn't open until after Labor Day, pool supplies and water pistols have been shoved aside for pencils and notebooks.

Sad!

But don't panic, kids! There's still time to shove in a few s'mores. In fact, though amazing marshmallow technology, you can get marshmallows with the chocolate injected in the middle! This way you can just stuff them inside two graham crackers and go nuts.

I would think putting the marshmallows on a stick would be a problem, though; chocolate melts quickly, even cheap chocolate, and I'd think you would be asking for the thing to turn into goo before you could put it in the graham crackers. Was not curious enough to buy a bag and check, though.

Speaking of back-to-school:

I have a friend whose college career was spent in what he and his pals called the Iced Tea Club -- if they could get no more than four C's in a semester, they could stay afloat. I think that gag doesn't work outside the New York area; 4C is based in Brooklyn, and I think it's just a New York area brand, isn't it?

I'm always curious to see brand names with a high-falutin' rep show up in places like Walmart. Godiva was the chocolate of the affluent back in the 1970s, generally sold in its own stores, and in other places where moneyed people shopped. Now? Walmart.

This is a baking mix. Yep, Godiva's down among the Betty Crockers and Pillsbury Doughboys. Smart marketing or total comedown? You decide.

Right here, though, for dessert, we have a pretty standard Walmart item:

It's a "treat." What kind of treat? Well, pretty much a Rice Krispie treat, but flat and tough. It cost a buck and was cheap at half the price.

Actually, as these things go it was pretty good. Yeah, that one I was curious enough to purchase. All this walking around made me hungry.

And so ended my sojourn at Mart du Wal; a pee-free experience and a successful shopping trip. Where else can you get your weekly groceries, a door mat, action figures, weed killer, and tropical fish? Not that I got any of the latter things -- but I could have!

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UPDATE: How sad that on the very day I posted this, some dumb son of a bitch in a Walmart in El Paso killed at least 15 people. God have mercy on their souls; God please stop the next son of a bitch who wants to spread the misery of his bad life choices onto others with violence.