Whether we like it or not we have turned a corner.
Some one once said that the only thing you can really count on is change, and if so we are really in for it now. At the root of the current change is the near doubling of fuel prices.
A sizeable raise in the price of energy probably would have been good for us, whether we liked it or not. Cheap fuel is at the root of a lot of our societal problems, it has been argued, but those of us on fixed incomes, it can be lethal.
Some years ago I bought a new Chevy pickup for my work. While it was new, it was about the cheepest thing you could buy that still said Chevy on it. It was a superb pickup and it did it all for me for about 230,000 miles. It was getting old, and it seemed to me that if I were to buy another new pickup, I could work long enough to pay for it and would have a good rig for retirement.
The idea is still good, but even though it can get 20 mpg on a careful run, that is wildly over budget. Instead we drive our 16 year old car that gets 30 mpg.
And that is just the beginning.
Today my power bill goes up 10%. Food prices are rising. Our health insurance has doubled in 5 years.
That garden is not a luxury any longer. It is a necessity.
Last month I put $30 worth of gas in the pickup and I still have some left. That means I didn’t drive that nice pickup very much.
That added discipline is good for us too, maybe. I am a big time journal writer, and go through a pocket Moleskine every few months. I have always been wanting to learn to bind my own books, and now is the time.
The part that hurts is that we won’t get to see grandkids as often. In the past we have driven 165 miles to see a grandson in a play or a granddaughter in a game, and then come home the next day.
That probably won’t happen as often.
This week we are going to go to another graduation. I think it is important that kids are afirmed by grandpa and that their accomplishments are honored. The way we do it may well be in for a transformation.
My grandkids are my best legacy. They are all worth it.
Gratitude #83 - Sweet Biddies!
11 years ago
2 comments:
I agree with you Dave. The economy is just awful but the ones that I truly worry about it the elderly that are living on fixed incomes. I can understand with insurance and all of the utilities going up. I see that every month when I pay my parents' bills. Not to mention meds. I can understand traveling to events for the grand children. It seems like that is all that I have been doing for the past 3 weekeends. We were at the birth of Bethany on the 27th and then we brought Noah home with us and then I took him home on the 30th so that he could be home for his daddy's birthday. Then to pick up my hubby's nephews for 2 weeks and we have our granddaughter from Jacksonville, Fla. this week. She is a wonderful and silly little 21 month old and a hand full. But her Papa would not have it any other way. I will continue to find the way in order to go and see my grandchildren. I will cut pay on something so that I will have the cash to go and see them. They are greatest thing that I have going at this time. Our garden is coming on great. The deers are getting on my last nerve with the peas and the watermelons. Yea, the deers here eat them and that makes for a bad garden so I have made deer wind chimes to keep them out the garden, so far it is working.
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