08:22 – It was 62.5F (17C) when I took Colin out at 0700, foggy and damp. We’re expecting rain, heavy at times, all day.
Barbara brought back four 20-liter cases of bottled water from her Costco run, and also picked up a large bag of dog food and a new ball for Colin at the pet store. She said he already had plenty of dog food, but it didn’t hurt to stock up.
She always fills her gas tank when she stops at Costco. Yesterday, there were long lines at the gas pumps when she arrived, so she decided to go in and do her shopping before filling her tank. When she finished her shopping and went back out to the gas pumps, they were just changing the price of gas.
There’s a lot of that going on, and the shutdown of the Colonial One pipeline won’t help matters. Apparently, they’ve given no estimate of how long the pipeline will be down. The whole line in the affected area needs to be inspected, and much of it is underground. The usual panic-buying is drawing down gasoline supplies much faster than normal, so before long we’ll probably have gas stations shutting down for lack of fuel.
One of the things I had on my calendar for today was to call Blue Ridge Co-op to have them come out and top off our propane tank, but I may hold off on that. This is normally a good time of year price-wise to buy propane, but with the mess going on the price has probably skyrocketed. And we’re probably down from a ten-year supply to a 9.5-year supply, so it doesn’t really matter. I do feel sorry for people who heat with oil. They’ll probably suffer from sticker-shock if they try to fill their tanks right now.
10:19 – One of the things about filling all these chemical bottles and building all these science kits is that I have to generate a continuing flood of orders for stuff that we’re getting low on.
Yesterday, Barbara mentioned that we were out of wood splints (used in chemistry kits), and I already knew that we had only 25 grams or so of phenolphthalein powder left. Ordinarily, I’d order those two items from American Educational Products and Fisher Scientific, respectively.
But I decided just for the hell of it to check Walmart. They didn’t carry phenolphthalein, although one of their third-party vendors did carry the AMEP woodsplints, but at a ridiculous price. So I went over to Amazon. They didn’t carry lab wood splints, but they did offer packs of 1,000 5.25″ wooden coffee stirrers, so I put five packs of those in my cart. Then I did a search for phenolphthalein powder, which Amazon was offering with Prime at $11.00 for 100 grams of ACS Reagent grade. That was cheaper than Fisher Sci, so I just bought a supply of phenolphthalein from Amazon. Geez.
Agreed. Ain’t gonna top off our oil tank anytime soon. We try to last as long as we can w/o using it at all, anyway; ditto for the woodstove, but I imagine wife will succumb long before I would and light it up. “Just to take the edge off, hon.”
Haven’t seen any longer lines up here yet at the gas stations and no fist-fights or screaming, either.
Off to my various errands all over the AO today…
When she finished her shopping and went back out to the gas pumps, they were just changing the price of gas.
Did she notice what it had been and what it was changed to? We decided to stop in Greensboro on the way home from the car auction. All the other stations we passed had gone from $2.15-2.19 to $2.49-2.55 over the previous 36 hours and CostCo was $2.25. We topped off my car and I brought dad straight to the house where he got in his car and went to the Winston location at about 8:30 – he said there was no line there and gas was the same price.
She didn’t notice the old price. She ended up paying $2.25.
Another sunny and slightly cooler day here in waterlogged Houston.
73F, 97%RH and still as a grave.
Wife headed into work for a bit, I’ve got the kids at home. School announced our district will be restarting on Wed of next week. We can do that because we got off relatively unscathed, and didn’t set up shelters in our schools. Other districts are still playing it by ear, but are def later than us. That will have a knockon effect on summer vacation travel…
I’ve got stuff to do now and I’d better quit slacking. If we get more weather, esp high wind, I’m gonna really regret not being more proactive.
n
Yeah, it ain’t over yet, not by a long shot. I hope things go well for you guys. You’re due a break.
There’s a lot of that going on, and the shutdown of the Colonial One pipeline won’t help matters.
All of the gas stations near my house (North Austin/Round Rock) look dry and have plastic bags over the nozzles, but things look normal close to work 40 miles north (Temple/Belton).
Our area has lots of CA transplant soccer moms driving hulking SUVs or “mini” vans (not so mini lately). The Y chromosomes favor $50,000 trucks bought on 72-84 month loans — gas prices going up a dime are a huge deal at those households.
FL experience tells me that the stations may have gas but are waiting for the prices to rise. However, I can’t imagine HEB playing that game. Still, it is something to consider when we decide whether to head out of town for the holiday weekend to get our kids out of the house. One crazy story in the news on the San Antonio talk station this morning talked about the extreme measures one woman took to get home to Austin.
(Stuck in San Antonio hotel, she Uber-ed to airport and flew to Dallas. In Dallas, she rented a car, drove home to Austin and is currently waiting waiting for “shortage” to end to retrieve her car down in San Antonio.)
I just talked to Lori when she delivered the mail. She said they’d announced at the post office this morning that gasoline supplies are likely to be very tight for some time to come and recommended that all the carriers who drive personal vehicles keep their tanks as full as possible. Of course, Lori goes through about half a tank per day running her route, so that advice is not very helpful.
When the Colonial Pipeline went down (twice) last autumn, she was still able to get gasoline. She’s been going to the same gas station for years, and the owner is a personal friend. When the bags go up on his pump, he’ll still have some gasoline left, and he’s told her and another USPS carrier who’s a regular customer that he’ll unlock the pumps for them.
She’s more worried about heating her house. It’s been a cool summer, so it’s quite possible the cool trend will continue. Our earliest first frost around here is September 5th, although the average is a month later. She heats with kerosene, and doesn’t have a lot left in her tank. Fortunately, she also has a wood stove, a wood lot, and lots of firewood. She may end up using it if this situation persists very long.
“soccer moms driving hulking SUVs or “mini” vans’
That’s generally because they need to drive with 5 kids in the car. I’ve got a whole different perspective on the automatic and reflexive scorn and righteous scolding about SUVs and mini-vans. Esp with the racial prejudice baked in. No one ever says anything about the thousands of full size vans full of hispanic families, or arab families, or the monster size 15 yo Suburbans they prefer….
Just whites in the suburbs who are barely breeding at replacement.
n
That’s generally because they need to drive with 5 kids in the car. I’ve got a whole different perspective on the automatic and reflexive scorn and righteous scolding about SUVs and mini-vans.
I understand the transportation issue, but not the panic buying that emptied our local gas stations, mostly people driving large vehicles topping off out of fear of paying $5-10 more for a full tank in a few days.
I regret getting a vehicle with an extra row of seats when we traded my wife’s car. The parents driving things like Nissan Jukes or Camrys, crammed full of junk have made us full time responsible for their kids’ event transportation needs.
Apparently, they’ve given no estimate of how long the pipeline will be down
Word now is the pipeline will be fully operational by Labor Day. I have no reason to doubt that and suspect it may operational by Sunday.
All the other stations we passed had gone from $2.15-2.19 to $2.49-2.55 over the previous 36 hours
Bought gas yesterday on the way into town, about $2.04 a gallon. Spent a couple of hours in Oak Ridge and on the way back home the price was now $2.25 a gallon. I have not looked today and probably won’t. Truck goes about 500 miles on a tank (painful to fill up) so I am good for at least a week or more. I suspect by then prices will be down to normal levels slightly above $2.00 a gallon.
What gets me is that the stations, and especially the tank farm in Knoxville, all have fuel at the lower price. Yet they have increased their wholesale prices significantly thus increasing their profits substantially.
The family of the TN governor, the Haslams, own most of the tank farms. He got filthy rich on such practices gouging people on fuel supplies. Now he continues to gouge the people of TN with tax proposals and other things that will benefit his buddies.
No, you’ve made yourself responsible. In future, simply tell them that you won’t be able to haul their kids for them because of liability issues, which you don’t need to get specific about.
And now this little gem.
How did the student, in college, not realize the money was not hers to spend and was a mistake? Are students in college really that stupid? (I already know the answer).
someone here, or in a similar venue posted the real economics of the quicky mart.
TL:DR is that they don’t make their money on gas.
Costco gets deliveries several times a day. They don’t have a tank full at ‘the old price.’ I’d be surprised if any of them took the risks of buying a tankful when prices are in flux. How would you like to be holding 10K gallons when the retail price drops? It’s much more likely that the ups and downs in daily pricing even out when they have to reduce prices on existing inventory.
The big players likely have very sophisticated hedging strategies, long and short term contracts and options, etc.
In other words, it’s easy to bash the stations and accuse them of “profiting” (which by the way is what businesses are set up to DO) but that idea isn’t supported by a deeper look at the issue.
n
They don’t have a tank full at ‘the old price.’
The tank farms do have lots in stock at the old prices. One of the stations I pass regularly was upping their prices as soon as the news stated refineries were shutting down. That station may get a delivery every couple of days if that often.
Anytime there is an event that affects supplies the Haslam’s immediately jump their prices to the stations. When the event is over and the price they pay at the tank farm drops it takes several days, if not a couple of weeks, for the price at the stations to return. Haslam’s excuse is they still have the expensive stuff in their tanks. Yet when they still had the cheaper stuff in their tanks they jumped the price immediately.
It is difficult for the smaller stations as they make mere pennies (if that much) on each gallon. Buying high and selling low is not a way to make money.
My main issue is with the tank farms immediately jumping their prices over an event then taking many days to lower the prices after the event. Haslam made many millions of dollars by immediately jacking up the price and then keeping the price high in spite of lower costs to him after the event was over.
You think you’ve got it hard at $2+ per US gallon? Try here in UK. I filled up my little 1.4 litre (85 cu. in.) Seat Ibiza (a VW Polo with different badges) at about GBP1.12 per litre last weekend.
That’s $5.46 per US gallon, pump price. Mostly due to the larcenous fuel duty here in UK. And then they charge Value-Added Tax at 20% on top!!!
Note: here in UK (and Europe) VAT is priced in – what you see is what you pay. I believe the price ex. refinery is about UKP0.25 or so. And virtually none of that petrol duty and tax is spent on the roads, or even transport in general.
Geoff
Labor Day, I hope. Otherwise things are likely to get kind of tight up here.
Labor Day, I hope
Duh. Thanks for the correction.
Oh, I just assumed Ray meant Memorial Day…
You think you’ve got it hard at $2+ per US gallon? Try here in UK
When I was in Norway in June of this year I think the prices were about $8.00 per gallon if my math and currency conversions were correct. Factor in European fuel costs and the fact that Norway is an expensive country to visit.
When I was in Norway, a few years ago, doing all the math put the price at $13/gal.
No idea why as they are a petroleum producer. Taxes I guess since they are also socialist.
We’ve got plenty of taxes included in our prices too.. Used to be in Cali the taxes were listed on the pumps. They were a big chunk of the cost.
They are quick to add taxes to fund stuff, and they NEVER go away. Bigger robbers than the tank farms. BTW, how did the tank farms do when the price of oil fell from $140/bbl to $40/bbl?
Business is risk. Profits don’t come automatically.
n
“They are quick to add taxes to fund stuff, and they NEVER go away.”
That’s for sure. I don’t know how many “temporary taxes” I’ve seen. Once they are in place, even when the original purpose expires, the government can’t let the money go – so they quietly vote to dedicate the tax to some other purpose. Since people are already used to paying it, there’s rarely a fuss.
They’re about to do another tax round here, to bail out parts of the pension system. It turns out that, when the current pension system was put in place, the government saw ALL THAT MONEY coming in, and guaranteed retirees a full retirement check, even if they had barely paid into the system. More: they guaranteed fixed pensions at the (then very high) interest rates. Needless to say, with interest rates in the cellar for years now, the pension funds are leaking money like sieves.
This isn’t Social Security, this is pension funds. Seems to cold-hearted me that the existing retirees are subject to the same risks as anyone else – when interest rates drop, so should their pensions. But that’s not politically acceptable, so they’re going to re-direct some expiring (ahem, temporary) VAT increases, make them permanent, and plan more increases on top of them.
It’s more complicated than that, but you get the idea. The root of the problem remains the overly generous, fixed pensions granted to people who retired 10-20 years ago.
When I was in Norway, a few years ago, doing all the math put the price at $13/gal.
No idea why as they are a petroleum producer. Taxes I guess since they are also socialist.
Taxes designed to discourage consumption plus oil is a global market. Norway depends on the exports to keep the economy running, and their refiners compete with everyone else for crude.
“Norway depends on the exports to keep the economy running”
Norway depends on the exports to keep their social welfare state running
There. FIFY.
Breaking Cat News: “The Silence of the Lamps”
http://www.gocomics.com/breaking-cat-news/2017/09/01
“Lamps fall over all the time !”
Wizard of Id: “Service Animal”
http://www.gocomics.com/wizardofid/2017/09/01
Great comment, “just bring out the cow”.
I just talked to Lori when she delivered the mail.
You are lucky ! We have not gotten any mail since Tuesday last week at the house or the office. Both the 77479 and 77469 post offices closed early for Harvey and have yet to reopen.
Of course, all of our mail comes from 77001 on I-45 in Houston which got severely flooded as usual.
“Our area has lots of CA transplant soccer moms driving hulking SUVs or “mini” vans (not so mini lately). ”
The main reason, when interviewed soccer moms: “…. upon collision, I don’t care whose at fault, but my kids…..”
YUUUP, and after their transition to big SUVs, far higher collision death rate in VW Beetles as contrasted with soccer mom’s SUVs.
Wizard of Id: “Service Animal”
The service animals were out of control the last time we flew, medium dogs too, not Purse Yorkies like when I first noticed the trend a few years ago.
I’m really allergic to dogs, and Southwest turns the planes around so fast that you’re lucky if they snag the trash from the previous seat occupant much less vacuum up hair from the seat’s previous occupant’s “therapy” animal.
F=MA
Science, it works bitches!
Just one more example of white priviledge I suppose. All white people can afford vehicles with more mass, killing their POC victims in droves.
mn
https://xkcd.com/54/
I routinely see “service” ducks, lizards, and birds now.
For just a few bucks you can buy an official looking “Service Animal ID” with “vests” for every animal you can think of.
This abuse makes life even more difficult for true service animals.
“Southwest turns the planes around so fast that you’re lucky if they snag the trash from the previous seat occupant”
Or dry up it’s piss. Or wipe the table used to change baby…
One more reason to avoid SWA
n
The mass is why I wanted Barbara to replace her Isuzu Trooper (~2.5 tons empty) with something similarly heavy. She elected to go with her compact Chevy instead, because she felt safe in it despite its lack of mass. And I suppose she has a point, what with all those new-fangled airbags and stuff.
I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been in exactly one auto collision in my life, which occurred very soon after I bought my 1992 Trooper. I was driving on a five-lane road, two lanes each way and a center turn lane, which was a left-turn lane near the traffic signal where the accident occurred.
I was driving down the left lane, and some moron in the turn lane had left a gap between him and the car in front of him. A woman, truly an imbecile if not an idiot, was trying to get out of a parking lot on the other side of the road. Instead of turning right from the lot, going down the road a short distance, and turning around to come back the other way, she drove straight through two lanes of oncoming traffic on her own side of the road, through the gap in the center run lane, and right in front of me. I was driving the speed limit, 35 MPH. She came through that gap at speed when my front bumper was probably 10 or 12 feet from the gap. I slammed on my brakes instantly, but could not avoid rear-ending her. She was in a little subcompact that probably massed about a fifth of what my Trooper did. The outcome was predictable. I came to a stop with minor damage to my front end. I knocked her hard enough that she completely lost control, apparently stomped on the gas instead of the brake, swerved back across the turn lane (which had started to empty because the left-turn light had come on), back across the oncoming two lanes, which by that time were fortunately almost empty of traffic, grazed the front of an oncoming car that had slammed on his brakes, and then jumped the curb back into the parking lot she’d started from, and hit a sign post.
Fortunately, there was a cop nearby who’d witnessed the whole thing, and many other witnesses besides. And yet this stupid bitch tried to claim that it was my fault for hitting her. She actually called my house and threatened me with the fact that she worked for a big law firm downtown and that one of their attorneys was going to sue my ass off. I told her to bring it on. Never heard from her again, and my insurance company took care of everything.
BTW, how did the tank farms do when the price of oil fell from $140/bbl to $40/bbl?
Quite well actually. They were really slow in dropping their prices to the gas stations. Price increases are almost immediate. Price drops take several days to a couple of weeks to reach the gas stations. None of them are losing money and are in fact doing quite well. They are not in the business to lose money obviously, but they certainly don’t mind keeping their prices as high as possible and having large profits. The Haslam family has done quite well using that business model. There is really no alternative to the Haslam tank farm and the Haslam’s know that quite well.
Though I do have to add in fairness. The Haslam family did donate enough money to each high school in Knox County to have artificial turf replace the grass on every football field. With their name on the field of course.
The outlying counties, who also suffer from the Haslam business model and thus contribute to the Haslam pockets, received nothing. Those school still struggle to maintain a grass playing field.
Yeh, I am not a fan of the Haslams and the governor.
Norway depends on the exports to keep their social welfare state running
Indeed. The Norwegian students we have had don’t understand why we have to pay for medical and education. To them it is free. I then ask how much of their parent’s paycheck is used for taxes. It is somewhere around 50% or higher depending on income. The students don’t realize that nothing is free. If they don’t pay for it, someone else did. A strange concept to a lot of young adults today, even in the US.
threatened me with the fact that she worked for a big law firm downtown and that one of their attorneys was going to sue my ass off
Got one of those letters for an accident my wife was responsible. Did $700 damage to the front of the van, most of the cost was replacing the grill and the scratched front bumper. Damage to the other car was $200 for repainting the rear bumper.
Got a letter from the chap’s lawyer demanding I pay $25K and I must pay immediately. All kinds of reasons, driver couldn’t work, could not have relations with his wife, could not play with his kids. Apparently on death’s doorstep. Lawyer stated I was legally required to pay the amount demanded. I wrote back a very snarky letter and told the lawyer to pound sand. Only a court can render a judgement and the lawyer should get his money back on his law degree as he was incompetent. Then turned it over to my insurance company.
Insurance company was not happy about my letter but I felt the lawyer deserved a slap in the face. A kick in the nuts would have been better. Insurance company told the other driver and his lawyer to bring it on. They (the insurance company) were experts, had many lawyers, and there was no injury to the driver. Although the insurance company did pay $2K in medical bills (testing) as apparently they don’t skimp on medical bills to avoid further litigation. This was 24 years ago and the other driver, and his attorney, got nothing.
Meanwhile my insurance (Farmers, a really crappy operation when it comes to claims) went up $400.00 a year because there was a claim. I changed companies at the earliest opportunity and got the rates back down where they were. Moved house, vehicle, boat, liability to another company.
I put Mom’s van on Farmers just for the “get a local agent” instead of dealing with Travelers. Farmers charged $450 for six months for the required minimum. Traveler’s, with more insurance, charges $354 for a year.
I routinely see “service” ducks, lizards, and birds now.
WA State. My wife saw lots of those therapy animal authorization forms in the last few months before we left Vantucky, but non-cat/dog is a new one on us.
” They were really slow in dropping their prices to the gas stations. Price increases are almost immediate.”
YUUUP, when gas is going up, I fill up daily; going down, at 3/4 empty.
I have no problem with seeing-eye DOGS and hearing-ear DOGS, but as usual the progs have made things ridiculous. Dogs are symbiotes with humans; that’s true of no other animal.
could not have relations with his wife
That was probably because of the guy’s wife.
Ray wrote:
“Indeed. The Norwegian students we have had don’t understand why we have to pay for medical and education.”
One of my nephews recently married a Norwegian lady. Nine months and two hours later a baby boy arrived. They live in Australia but every year she takes the baby over to Norway to live there for three months. Norway has an insanely generous maternity scheme that makes the costs, such as air travel there and back worth it. My nephew goes over for a month or two each year. That’s where their taxes go.
Yesterday unleaded petrol (“gas”) was AU$1.399 per litre at my local. Now it’s $1.297. It should be around $1. The oil companies here gouge motorists when they can and nobody undertands how the “cycle” works.
I’m going to get a grizzly bear and a Service vest.
And now back to the Unpleasant Goolag Nooz Department:
https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2017/09/01/government-slaves-website-gives-list-of-400-websites-google-is-attempting-to-chill-rrw-is-on-it/amp/
I am done with Google completely by Monday. They’re outta control now.
We have crested and we are over to the other side now ! The Brazos River set a new high crest at 55.19 ft at the Richmond gauge. The previous high was 54.7 ft.
https://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=hgx&gage=rmot2
I am still very concerned about the reputed 61 ft crest of the Brazos River in 1913. My grandmother told me about that flood several times before she passed. She was 6 years old and their farm south of Wharton flooded. 61 ft would be 1 ft higher than our levee in Greatwood and 9 ft of water in our house.
I just ordered and paid for flood insurance. The cost is $450/year and starts in 30 days from today. Hopefully Irma will get blown out to the Atlantic by this forecasted cold front next week. We need the cold front anyway, my truck was showing 96 F when I took my rent checks to the bank this afternoon.
I told the wife that we are moving to a non levee location last night. She asked me where. I told her that I will get back to her on that.
Fuel costs: The station closest to me, an independent, was at ~ $2.35 / gallon for more than the last week. This morning, it’s at $2.65 . I tried to notice at most of the stations during today’s wanderings; they varied from $2.60 – $2.80 (the local Texaco). Many of these prices also reflect the de facto tourist tax here on the island, especially for a holiday weekend. Thankfully, I filled up at Sam’s (not on the island) on Tuesday for $2.30 / gallon.
Insurance: I just remitted payment for my 15 year old minivan with just a shade under 150,000 miles on it. Six months of coverage costs me $388, of which $49 is just for uninsured motorists here in the Sunshine State. That’s for what they deem high limits – $250,000 per person, $500,000 per accident Bodily Injury, $100,000 property damage, and $10,000 per person for personal injury & medical payments. Plus I pay $473 / year for a $2,000,000 umbrella policy to add onto my auto & homeowner’s coverage. Flood insurance costs me $475 / year; probably a reasonable investment given that I’m less than 1 mile from a body of water known to some here as the World’s Largest Hot Tub. Many insurance carriers here won’t write new business if there is a named hurricane in the Atlantic basin.
5 PM AST Best Guess on Irma’s next five days:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at1+shtml/205603.shtml?cone#contents
” I told the wife that we are moving to a non levee location last night. She asked me where. I told her that I will get back to her on that.”
I heard on Weather Channel that it was an 800 year event. I agree with your intentions, but see no need to hurry. lol
could have 2 of them in the same month, and then none for another 800yrs….
and still meet their SWAG at frequency.
n
” I told the wife that we are moving to a non levee location last night. She asked me where. I told her that I will get back to her on that.”
I heard on Weather Channel that it was an 800 year event. I agree with your intentions, but see no need to hurry. lol
could have 2 of them in the same month, and then none for another 800yrs….
and still meet their SWAG at frequency.
Yup. I don’t like the fact that that flood insurance takes 30 days to kick in.
Here is the problem. If Harvey had gone north of Houston instead of south of Houston, we might have gotten flooded from within (1 or 2 ft in the house) and then flooded again (5 or 6 ft in the house) when the river went over our levee.
If it was coming toward us, I’d have boarded up the house, the rental, and my other space. I have the materials cut and ready from IKE.
Went to the Bunker Hill Costco. They had bread (some, esp fresh baked) milk, eggs, meat, all the normal stuff. They also had gennies, power washers, storage bins, contractor trash bags, water, TP (only Kirkland), lots of paper towels.
NO BLEACH at all. Glad I have some in stores.
Store was not busy, but not empty. No sample plates.
Didn’t see any tarps.
Lowes and HD had busy lots, didn’t go in. Spec’s Liquor wasn’t dead, but no lines. Empty shelves in the soda and chip aisle.
Traffic is bad in certain places. There are only two bridges across the Buffalo Bayou on the west side, 610 Loop and 99 grand parkway. HUGE backups. Takes more than an hour to go to places 1 mile apart on opposite sides of the bayou.
n
We do about 95% of our driving with our two Nissan Leafs (Leaves?). Two to three year old ones are dirt cheap because most of them were leased and there’s a glut of used ones coming off lease. Electricity costs about 3.5¢/mile and there’s virtually no scheduled maintenance. As we rarely drive over 50 miles in a day, they suit us well. We have an old Subaru for trips. Right now my wife and daughter are in California driving daughter back to school.
As battery capacities increase and costs drop, electric cars will become viable for more people. People ask me how long it takes to charge my battery. I say about 30 seconds. I get home, plug it in and it’s fully charged in the morning. We’ve had electric cars for six years and I’m sold. A large percentage of multi-car families could replace one car with an electric car with the range of a Leaf, which is about 80 to 90 miles.
Rick in Portland
A large percentage of multi-car families could replace one car with an electric car with the range of a Leaf, which is about 80 to 90 miles.
I need a truck. An 80 mile electric range with a range extender gas motor would be good. A factory camper top like the Ford Expedition would even better. $52,500 is not horrible. 4WD and 460 hp are a nice bonus.
http://workhorse.com/pickup/
Uh-oh…more possibly bad nooz for scientific theories written in stone and presumed inviolate for infinity:
http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/evolution/footprint-find-on-crete-may-push-back-date-humans-began-to-walk-upright/news-story/2e60cbd7386573dd2a45c5cc9d79297d
I told the wife that we are moving to a non levee location last night. She asked me where. I told her that I will get back to her on that.
Maybe Temple would cut you a deal like they did with Buc-ee’s and, possibly, the NBC TV station.
(Is there some kind of shale or fracking play up there? Temple’s economy seemed to tank around the same as oil prices.)
I told the wife that we are moving to a non levee location last night. She asked me where. I told her that I will get back to her on that.
Or Cut-n-Shoot, hometown of my wife’s WA State associate’s idiot Prog husband.
I thought he was kidding at first when he told me what part of Texas he came from, but people don’t believe me about the FL town called Yeehaw Junction (original name – Jackass Crossing).
I never heard the full story before we left, but Prog Husband did something ugly running for public office in Fredericksburg, and that’s how they ended up in Portland.
Fredericksburg is the last place I’d try ugly politics if I was on the ballot with a (D) after my name. I’ve seen people still openly wearing Trump hats there.
The nearby HEB gas station (Austin/Round Rock) was dark when we drove by at 11 PM tonight. I assume that means they’re dry.
My wife said that panic buying rolled all day long down here. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary in Temple/Belton heading home from work.
This is why we prep.
No need to rush out and buy gas if you have a tank full or 2 in storage.
ditto on food, or bleach, or trashbags.
hell, I’ve even got one of those floor blower things to dry out flooding.
Used my black plastic sheeting to cover stuff before the storm.
used it because I was holding my Costco Supersized Tarps in reserve.
Changed a wiper blade today out of the stock in my garage. Buy one extra each time and you’ll have it when you need it.
sold my back up gennie just before the storm, the kid and his young family might need it more than me, esp in Pasadena TX.
No need to panic over water if you’ve got tanks of it, and filters.
No need for bread from the store if you can make it.
anyway, there is a great deal of security in being prepared….
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I told the wife that we are moving to a non levee location last night. She asked me where. I told her that I will get back to her on that.
Maybe Temple would cut you a deal like they did with Buc-ee’s and, possibly, the NBC TV station.
(Is there some kind of shale or fracking play up there? Temple’s economy seemed to tank around the same as oil prices.)
Temple is on the edge of the original horizontal drilling project starting in the 1980s, the Barnett Shale project. It has not been fracked since the plays used horizontal drilling before fracking and most of the oil is now gone out of the reservoirs. Most of the production is now natural gas and shut in.
If we move anywhere, it would be to a new home at the back of our office property or in Bridlewood (about 5 miles further out). Either place, we will put down 3 to 5 ft of dirt and sand before building a house. I would like to move out to Wharton where my mom’s parents were born, raised, and buried but my wife has solidly vetoed that far out. I am related to about 5% of the county, the MacLeods, the McDonalds, the Micks, and the Pyssons.