[Pops]

I'm thinking there are lots of things we all could be doing this weekend [s]aside from[/s] in addition to drinking beer.

Any thoughts?

[Novus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('FreedomSlave', 'A')s oil crossed $130 this morning, I told my wife she could be very "zen" about the job she absolutely hates because it probably won't exist soon.

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'I')'m thinking there are lots of things we all could be doing this weekend [s]aside from[/s] in addition to drinking beer.
Any thoughts?

[vision-master]

What

[patience]

Pops,
This weekend will be a lot like other recent weekends. Hang drywall in the ceiling of the sunroom, (wiring just finished) and insulate the attic there, and maybe start some postholes for a fence around the newly filled LP tank for a "privacy fence" there. The new gas stove out there is operational, so I'm trying to get the room ready to do canning when that season gets here.

I may be running late, though, the strawberries are getting ripe. Ate a handful today!

Yeah, it's getting a lot steeper. Energy and food prices are going parabolic, and my shop biz is slow. Springtime is normally hectic around here, but it's been wet, so the farmers aren't in the fields yet. When it dries up for a few days, I expect more business, but not a lot, only the "panic" repairs that must be done. This tells me that the $1,000/ton fertilizer and $4.45 diesel prices are taking their toll on farmers. They tell me that there is no way they can make money on beef right now, and that herds are down to their lowest numbers since the 1950"s!! One neighbor has 250 brood cows, and just spent $10,000 on fertilizer for the hay ground, trying to tough it out until beef goes back up. It WILL go back up, and when it does, look out. Better have the freezer full then.

[basil_hayden]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ohanian', '[')size=167]Relax! OPEC says the world is well supplied with oil.[/size]

[pedalling_faster]

i don't think the slide is getting steeper. i think it's becoming more clear that we are living in historic times.

[Revi]

Yes, the slide is definitely getting steeper. I heard that the price of the wholesale goods that manufacturers buy has gone up a lot. That means more price increases on the way. I think it's getting beyond most people's ability to cope now. We're all going to be broke when it's all done.

I am making preps every day. It's the only thing I know that keeps me from worrying about what'd coming, soon...

[wisconsin_cur]

I must confess I find the days that I am inside and with the boys the hardest. When I am outside working, I can put my mind into something else. When the bride is at work and I am in with the boys the mind wanders more to worry.

Folding laundry isn't the same kind of distraction as driving a nail. If I get distracted with the nail, I feel it quickly. If I my folds are not even no one notices but the bride, and she just refolds it.

Dad will show up tomorrow. that will be a welcome distraction. He has voiced some worry about oil prices (he is a truck driver), I'll see if I can get him to spill his guts about what he thinks the future holds.

[davep]

I must say that I'm surprised and unsettled by the rate of increase in the price of oil. Friends I discussed peak oil with a couple of years back are crapping themselves and looking for places in the country.

I knew it was going to happen, we all did. But it certainly seems to have kicked in now. There's no going back.

That's why I'm sitting here reading this at 2:35 am. I'm feeling a bit freaked out. I've got the fruit and nut trees planted, but I may be needing them before they can produce.

Shit. I guess we just have to keep on preparing as best we can.

[gampy]

I can feel it, too.

I think this is going to be our summer of discontent.

Starting to think about what happens when I lose my job, and the restaurant biz goes into freefall.

Just going to go with the flow, as I have done all my life. I am pretty content to know that I can survive, and hustle my way into a place to live and some food to eat. The folks who have the 2.5 kids and 2.5 SUV's don't have the skills to hustle, so I am confident I can eke out some kind of living in the near future.

Camping gear is up to date, have a few propane tanks in my closet, bike is oiled and maintained. Shit happens, and I can move easily.