Tangents.

Happy Memorial Day. I have several relatives (living and dead) who have served in various branches of the armed forces in various wars/skirmishes and whatnot. I know several people with military people in their own families. I can't think of anything not cheesy or trite to say, so I won't say a word and just acknowledge the day and what it means in my own way.

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While at my brother-in-law's place yesterday, I swallowed a bug during a rousing game of HORSE. Yummy! My throat has been a bit sore ever since, so here's hoping whatever I inhaled didn't have the West Nile.

Today's forecast of Doing Nothing is continuing to progress nicely. The list of things we need to do around the house is pretty much endless, but neither of us could be bothered today. We thought about seeing a movie, but Indy can wait until Wednesday.

All of the grim news lately- the economy falling into the shitter, natural disasters happening daily, and so on- has thrown me into a bit of a funk. A few days ago I made the mistake of reading an article about the rise of survivalist culture and checking out some of the article's links. Good lord, but what a depressing way to live. Always waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the world to end. I freaked out for a good couple of hours and then made myself stop thinking about it. Maybe the world will implode, maybe it won't. If I think about it too much, I start to think "what's the point?" and that is a scary place to go. So my happy hat is back on. I'm not going to start growing my own food and horde first aid supplies, guns and water in my basement.

That said, the price of gas and heating oil depresses the hell out of me. We're waiting to see what our next oil contract will say and I have a feeling it will probably induce a heart attack.

Let me expand:

When we bought the house in May 2005, we prorated oil at the closing table for $1.16 a gallon. Our seller lived next door to her parents, who owned the three-unit building (they've since moved away) and had a landlord's discount she could take part in. When we signed our own contract that June, we locked in at about $1.51 or so a gallon. In 2006 it was $1.78 or so. Last year it was $2.51.

The average price for home heating oil right now is about $4.60. And that's just the average. A gallon. Homes that used to cost about $2k to heat will now cost over $4k.

So...yeah. It makes me ill.

ANYWAY. Didn't I just say I was putting my happy hat back on? I sort of LIED.

We have angel food cake, strawberries and whip cream waiting in the wings. That will set things to rights.

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