Bruce Feiler - Where God Was Born, Abraham, Walking The Bible

Frozen Navel Gazing
Friday, January 19, 2007

Having recently pooh-poohed the reports that New York was having a Global Warming Summer in January, I had the opposite experience this week in L.A. Driving on Sunset Blvd. on Wednesday, I could quite figure out what all the white debris on the grass and flower beds was. At first I thought it was for some movie. Then I thought maybe it was some kind of fertilizer. Then I realized: It was SNOW! It wasn't snow exactly, and it wasn't exactly ice. It was somewhere in between. Apparently there's a word for it (begins with a 'g'), but I can't quite recall. And in Malibu it actually did snow in the higher elevations. They actually closed a freeway. The highways got a snow day! Which means everyone got a traffic day.

It would be funny, except for this: Prices on fruits and vegetables are expected to trip in as recently as the next two weeks, apparently. And we can't blame this on OPEC. Here's the LAT:

In the strongest sign that the freeze will hurt consumers, navel orange prices doubled at the wholesale level, with the highest grade, large-sized navels increasing from up to $17 per bushel last week to about $35 Tuesday, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Wholesale prices for other produce have also risen. As recently as Friday, California-grown broccoli was wholesaling for $16 to $18 a carton in Los Angeles, according to the Department of Agriculture. On Tuesday, the same cartons sold for $20 to $24. Iceberg lettuce that sold for $11 to $12.50 on Friday was selling for $16 to $20 a carton Tuesday.

Posted by B Feiler at 12:44 AM
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