Last week during the Monday water run I noticed that the price of low octane gasoline had crossed $4. So yesterday I emptied my two remaining gas jugs into the Jeep and brought them to town to refill. I had a sort of bet with Neighbor D about whether the price would be sharply higher this week. I won, it had risen exactly 20 cents/gal.
So filling those three 5-gal jugs cost me $3.00 more yesterday than it would have a week earlier. Not exactly hyperinflation, but pretty impressive regular inflation. I’d shake my fist and blame Putin as instructed by the government if this hadn’t been going on for a year.
Then as I was reflecting on that happy note, two of the jugs fell over while we were on the final bouncy bit toward home. One of the caps blew off. I smelled gasoline from the back seat of D&L’s pickup. Normally that’s just irritating; yesterday it was expensively irritating. Made this funnier when I saw it last night, though…
Still a little cold for bike riding but I took my first ride of the season this morning. Just a little over a mile and up a steep grade in high-assist to get a better notion of the state of the battery. The extremely imprecise charge indicator said it was full but I knew that wasn’t so. Give it enough battery load from the motor and it might drop two full bars – better to learn that close to home than halfway to town.
When I got home, having been gone longer than anticipated, I gave Tobie much praise and treats…
…because he was a GOOD BOY! Had I expected to be away from the cabin as long as I was, I’d have taken several precautions that have become routine. Instead I stepped out for a moment and then kind of wandered from one thing to another and was gone for over an hour, which could have led to all manner of calamity had Tobie been in one of his moods.
He’s older now, I don’t know how old but surely well over a year, and some of his more obnoxious puppy traits are fading. Sporadically. So like the little girl with the little curl, when he’s good he’s very very good. But when he’s bad he can be HORRID. And his continuing growth has led to an actual serious problem:
During last week’s trip to town he learned that he could stretch to my egg stash on the far edge of the counter. And yeah, he helped himself. Rather neatly and moderately, actually: he could have made a horrible mess but instead just stole a couple of eggs.
But in his favor, the chewing thing has moderated almost to nothing. He has ceased to steal my leather gloves, and hasn’t actually destroyed anything in weeks.
The temperature at night is getting less severe. I’m going through less morning firewood…
…and normally this time of year I stop buying propane entirely, letting the empties pile up till next autumn. This season I’ve been debating whether that’s wise. Last June I did something uncharacteristically smart, inflation-wise, and I think it’s probably smart to assume that fuel prices will continue to climb. I need a propane run anyway…
…because this morning one of the kitchen propane bottles showed empty and I think I’m going to take that as a sign that filling all the empties makes sense while I’ve got enough cash in my pocket to do it. Who knows what October will bring?
Things are quiet around the Gulch, just the way I like them, so that’s about all that’s going on. I’m really still in winter sit-and-read mode, though gradually getting more active as the afternoons get warm rather than ‘not as cold.’
Johnny Cash had something to say about dogs and eggs.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vYNK8A_bXwA
Toby may finally have learned that when the Man leaves, he also comes back.
As far as fuel, fill up everything. Maybe buy another bottle and a couple more gas cans. And start on firewood now. I don’t think we’ve even seen the beginning of how bad things are going to get.
I am a believer in always topping off the truck and refilling any empty tanks (propane and gasoline, I use pure gas for the bike and small engines). “Bird in the hand” thing. You don’t know what it will be like in the future.
It’s nice that Tobie is maturing into a dog that’s cool to have around. Puppies are nice but a heck of a lot of work.
You may want to splurge and get a set of caps for your gas cans. They really reduce the risk of gas leaking when one of your Jerry cans falls over.
https://www.amazon.com/CM-Concepts-Improved-Version-Thread-4/dp/B0834F71BK/
Am thinking an electric bike could be useful. You say yours has a 25-mile range? My work is 24 miles away- via interstate. One way. Sigh. The closest Big Store ‘O Groceries is halfway to work. Life is too complicated.
Buy it cheap(er) and stack it deep. The worst is yet to come. “Stuff” is rapidly becoming worth much more than the “money” used to procure it.
YMMV, but I’m hearing Walmart now has a quantity of items limit on their registers. Some stores are 175 items, some 200 items. If you go over that, they make you pay for that and then start a new tape on the remainder of your items in the cart. I know that sounds like a lot but if you’re buying case goods (24 in a case) it could add up or if you only go to town once a month or two and buy a lot at one time that could add up. So it makes me ponder the question of why? Also what happens when they don’t let you start a new tape or they decide 20 items are your max? It doesn’t make sense if you’re a store trying to sell stuff. We’re going to town tomorrow and I’m making myself go to Walmart because I need to get some more gardening stuff and I will be asking about this policy, because, well, you know inquiring minds need to know. : )
@ Robert… If you are thinking about an e-bike you may want to look at the Juggernaut series by Biktrix. I have a Juggernaut Hub Duo step through and I love it. Range wise, with the double battery option the range is well over 100 miles. For me, the nearest town is around 20 miles away and it’s an easy ride in and back and that includes shopping.
https://www.biktrix.com/pages/ultimate-electric-bikes
Mike: I and my degenerating knees thank you.
ETA: Ohmergawd, I’ve owned cars that cost less. This will entail some deep thinking.
One thought: if there ain’t no gas for my car, there ain’t no groceries at the store. Eh, I’m fat. 🙂
2nd thunk: the Urgent Care Clinic is across the street from the food; how dedicated is the staff?
3rd: I shoulda taken more medical courses.
4th: I need to be 45 years younger. Sigh.