I do get that. This is why we are taking our three musketeers west after graduation of the youngest, a last hoorah after everyone moves off to jobs or grad school, and can no longer coordinate schedules. It has been a long, stressful two years, and mental health has to be balanced with all of this. We bought a used sailboat so we have super cheap (over the life of the boat) weekend sails in order to have these excursions to look forward to and enjoy because we were both beginning to feel rather raw from the constant onslaught of disaster and bad news. Life does have to be worth living, not absolutely constant nail biting hard slog. There has to be balance. So we make some sacrifices in other areas in order to have some of the vitally needed outlets, and to make memories with our kids while we can. And I grew with everyone that I am just worn out by the planned obsolescence in appliances, so darn tired of it. It is very possible to have energy star compliant appliances that last 10+ years. My sister has them in France. It is less "obscenely profitable" to do so, and that is all that drives American business these days.

That is a scary looking map!

The only way we are ever going to get in the ballpark of true energy independence, we have to first consume a heck of a lot less. That may be possible when we eventually hit population decline in this country due to falling birthrate, baby boomer generation gone in conjunction with tight immigration (which in and of itself creates a host of other problems). But most Americans recoil in horror at the thought of lowering consumption, so I don't see it as anything sustainable in the foreseeable future. There are steps to be made towards it, but all require a substantial outlay of expense and use of fossil fuels now. Massive investment in home insulation, and alternative cooling units, requiring geothermal heating/cooling systems for all new commercial and residential construction where it is geologically feasible, grants to help current owners put in such a system if feasible. Those are two good starters. Requiring proof of business need in order to purchase a pick up truck or delivery truck. At this point, 90% of the pick up trucks driven in our area are for ego and nothing more. They are gas guzzling hogs. But when you propose legislation to restrict the purchase of something or to force conservation, people in this country go bananas. So that isn't going to work. Amazon and a couple of other companies have contracted with GM for fleets of EV delivery trucks. Right now it is net loss because of the energy to produce, and the cost of the infrastructure for charging. But over time will be an energy saver because it requires a lot less fossil fuel consumption for the electricity to charge, than it does to run the comparable vehicle on diesel or gasoline. We have seen the math. The science is sound. Mostly, I don't think we can make any major stab at sustainable independence because Americans as a large entity are not willing to sacrifice national security and the future of the planet in order to not change their lifestyles or spend the tax money now for the infrastructure. I am all for changing the tax code so corporations have to pay their fair share of of the bill, but with the corruption we have in congress, I don't see that happening either. Just here in Michigan, DTE made an unholy amount of profit in 2020, and did not pay a dime of federal taxes while also fighting tooth and nail against reasonably priced solar offered to homeowners and small business in the state from an alternative energy company. Trust me. Energy companies in the fossil fuel business do not want energy independence in the US because it will kill their wicked profits. Geothermal is such a good idea. We have friends that put it in when they built their house. It costs them $50 a month in electricity to heat their house. A house that would require $350 a month in propane to heat otherwise. They just put in solar so now they will produce their own heat and cooling 100% going forward so over time, despite th cost of the two systems to manufacture, will be a reduction in fossil fuel consumption and emissions.

I agree with all the above. Long term we are just looking at looming, ongoing issues, and what we should do. So I see an EV equinox for most of our daily needs being in the budget in the future. Solar panels for the mountain house in Bama which gets a ton of sun. It could easily power the house. More putting up produce in the fall so we don't run to the store for fresh produce in winter, and eat out of the freezer, or canned and dehydrated veggies/fruits. It is labor intensive, but it means consuming less fossil fuel in the future without running to the store so much or when in Michigan from October-May, eating produce trucked all the way from California. We will still travel, but we will do a fair amount of dispersed camping with a hybrid minivan so less fuel consumed, and not using electric when camping or paying for a lot of modern campsites. I have a sister in France, and every few years will still go to see her if possible. We have our sailboat for entertainment, and apart from a little bit of gas to get it to the launch, then is powered by wind and our efforts so not a drain on the earth to enjoy. Just trying to be conscientious, and knowing that in retirement, we don't want to blow through our savings rapidly thus spending needs to be judicious.

We prep for a minimum of 14 days because that is pretty much the worst case scenario for DTE getting powder back up, and prefer 60. And that means keeping gas cans full for our generator which we use to power the well pump, and keep the freezer going. The solar panel and batt, takes care of the electronics and thermostat for the boiler so we keep heat. But I also try to prep 30-60 days of food no matter what. That came in very handy when C and I were in the car accident, and I was injured. Mark's boss at that time thought nothing of healing work on him and demanding it all be done in an unhumanly short period of time. So he was working 90 hours a week, and our other two teens were trying to help take care of us and man the fort. By the time 45 days was up, I was driving and could take P to the grocery store, drop him with a list and money, and pick him back up. C was in bad shape for a lot longer. There was a lot to juggle. I sure was happy for that stocked pantry. Having been through that, and then again another nightmare 60 days with both parents in hospital or rehab, plus their legal and financial disasters, that stock on hand was much appreciated once more. It has left me with the emotional need to always have that much here. Those two events were less than 18 months apart. Kinda makes an impression!

Mark is talking about ripping up the lawn here, just gutting it, and then throwing out some fertilizer and clover seed to see if that will take hold. If he did, we wouldn't need to mow for a very long time even if the clover didn't take. I told my mom and mother in law that they need to go longer between mowing in order to conserve energy and reduce emissions. Mother in law was NOT pleased. She can get pretty persnickety. But, the lawn place we made her use during the second half of the season last year so I could have a break from losing three places, went out of business, so she back to being dependent on me until she can find someone else. I am not going an losing that very often. Mark will run the push mower around her picnic table plus a path to it. However, he talked to his brother about coming and laying a little terrace by her back door, and then not having the picnic table on the grass. At this point, if I could manage the animal husbandry and had a shed for them at night, I would consider renting 3 sheep for our yard and let them go at it. If I had the right fencing, I would rent three goats too since there is brush along the back that we haven't had time to get to. I have a friend that keeps 3 dwarf Nigerians for her yard, and they maintain all the brush along the edges quite nicely.

I am so sorry! It stinks to high heaven, and it seems like on the heels of a two year nightmare in this nation, never lets up. Good news would be nice, just a little bit of good news, a little bit of relief. It would help with facing the next week. But, seems like that is a hard no. I am just trying to think of ways to let some stress go while having those options limited at the moment. I cannot wait for this ice mess to finally melt and stay that way so I cam hit the trail down at the river. Walking would do me some good.

No, it won't. Even if their cost to produce and deliver goes way down, companies will have us conditioned to higher prices and smaller amounts, so this is a forever kind of thing.

No woman should live on a continent that has a vendetta to kill all its human WITHOUT chocolate! 😁

Same with my equinox. If dh is driving, 26-27 mph. If I am driving 30-31, sometimes more one the way to Bama when I am behind the wheel because I will get into the right hand lane, set the cruise, and go. I will adjust speed with the cruise if I come up on someone slower, but unless they are going quite a bit below the speed limit, I won't gun it and pass. Mark, ont hr other hand, seems to take offense at anyone not going 3 miles over the speed limits and he MUST go around. It is like this thing that gets under his skim! 😂 I just keep playing my gas mileage game, and tell him I am the superior driver (despite the fact he is phenomenal in poor weather conditions and never anxiety riddled about ice, gale for winds, torrential downpours like I am). 😁

I have this too! It is a recurring dream of signing up for a French class, forgetting about it, never showing up, getting emailed by the professor two weeks before the end of the semester because I am getting a zero in the class, and then having a breakdown about my GPA. Oy! Not a funny dream. I am 53 for crying out loud! Full time college was back in my crustaceous period, and yes, even though I am "in college", it is one class per semester as available, online, and my computer and cell phone bling at me when it is class time. One would think I would not have this anxiety! 😡

I am sooooo sorry, Kelly! That sucks. I wish we did more to subsidize income and costs for disabled people in this country.

I wanted chicken thighs today. Couldn't get them, and so went four places trying. I am wondering if there has been a lot of slaughter due to Birdflu. We have also been unable to milk or cream that is not at or beyond it's sell date, and the supply of even that has been somewhat sporadic.

This. And if Sweden and Finland join NATO, he will absolutely go to war with us over it. They have stayed out of NATO thus far because of his threats. Now they see how far that got Ukraine, and Russia has had its sights set on Finland for decades. They have a total no-win situation now. I am not sure I see a way out of WWIII as long as Putin is at the helm of Russia.

Yes everyone, if you grill out in the summers in order to keep the kitchen cooler, you may want to put some field and some charcoal away now. My guess is if the war causes people to stay closer to home for their vacations again and not cruise/disney/resorts far from home, coming out of two years of that from pandemic, stores may have a hard time stocking grilling fuel.

Holy cow! That is crazy! We just ordered dd's college one. $75 total for cap, gown, tassel, and honors cord.

I get that! We are in the same boat, and after two years of pandemic hunker down and bizarro world, my family really needs this so I am going to try my best to make it happen even if it doesn't seem wise from the outside looking in.

Spring break! Ya. I get what you mean. We had to do the round trip twice last week (7 hours each way) because he goes to a college that has no one else from our area enrolled. We couldn't even get him to Mackinac just to shorten our trip...everyone had carpooled, and he couldn't find a seat with anyone. It was an expensive week. He is my last one in college, and graduates in April. So we have a big expense to attend commencement, but are committed to doing that. Then, voila, no more college commutes! Yay for us!!!

Come on Michigan and Alabama, go yellow! We have fallen below a thousand new cases per day. I made a hair appointment for the 18th, and am hoping we are below 750 a day by then. Definitely absenteeism at school is dropping a lot. Teachers are trying to think of ways to teach outdoors in the spring as much as possible (tough because we get a lot of rain in April and May) just to keep that tending down. I was thinking that for when it is just light rain, if the schools would buy or rent some of those nice wedding tents and leave the sides off or only down to block the direction for he winds, it would be really nice. The kids could have chairs and table, and be getting a lot of fresh air. We'll see. The school board and superintendent are about as creative thinking as slugs in mud.

Well, we have a road trip coming up in early May, and will be taking all of our food with us. So since I think food prices are going to continue to go up, and typically supply gets a little fruity around here during high school and college graduation season due to local culture of feeding half the county to celebrate every single graduate (I am exaggerating although not hugely because it is a BIG deal here), I am buying some thing now and freezing like pork loin for pulled pork, chicken because it had been on and off and may get worse due to Asian Birdflu, cheesy brats, and such. Since we do a lot of cooking out in the summer, I am just putting extra away so we have it since there is room in the freezer. I also bought extra fuel for our camp stove just in case that gets more scarce. We don't do much with wheat since I am allergic.

Though a pain, since we really want to make the road trip this spring with our sons I am taking all of our food. We have a really good arctic large cooler. So I am making enchilada casserole, barbecue pulled pork, chicken and rice casserole, chili, lasagna, turkey breast with mashed potatoes and gravy, spinach and egg quiche, sausage gravy and biscuits ahead of time and freezing. Each day we will get the evening meal out to thaw and microwave it at our hotel. We are taking the camp stove and cooking brats, steaks, and hamburgers at various lunches when we are in the state and national parks, and then I will also make up pasta salad, tuna salad, chicken salad, fresh veggies and fruits, boiled eggs, hummus, and ranch dip for when we are picnicking at rest areas or can't cook out due to inclement weather. Instead of bread, I will have tortillas and wraps available for the fillings. We will eat a lot of salads with the evening meals, but I will also have some microwave steam bags of broccoli and green beans as well. It is a pain to plan, but it also saves a lot of money vs. eating out with three foodies in their twenties who tend to "eat a horse" especially the two who do a huge amount of hiking. If I had my druthers, we would eat out so I don't have to think about food. However, it is the only way we will stay within budget for the trip. It is also.better for me since with the GF issue, it limits what I can eat out. I just get tired of dealing with food. 😜 Anyway, just thought I would throw that out there as one idea.

Just got back from a quick trip to town for mushrooms, and a few other things. My car was down to 1/3 of a tank so I filled up. $4.259

Oh, no worries. I didn't delete for personal details. I just figured the post was too long for a thread about fuel prices since my rant had nothing to do with fuel!

Ya. I hope so too! I deleted some of my rant because so figured no one really needs to read through that in a thread about fuel prices. I am just really annoyed today with the college.

I have a meatless meal planned tonight. Kale chips with parmesan, roasted potato wedges with basil aioli, and mini bell peppers stuffed with sauteed mushrooms cooked in garlic with a little bourbon and mixed with some leftover ricotta cheese from a meatless lasagna I made a few days ago. Parmesan and ricotta are lower fat so I think this makes the meal pretty healthy. I also have meatless chilli with baked potatoes on deck for Thursday night. Tomorrow night we will have roasted chicken thighs, steamed broccoli, and saffron rice, probably more kale chips because this bag of earth balance kale is big, and it is just Mark and I eating on it.