April Snows

Wednesday morning I woke up to 6 inches of new wet snow, with more coming down. It turned to rain later, but there's still snow on the ground late Wednesday evening. By the weekend, we are supposed to be back to shorts and T-shirt weather. Global weirding.

It saddened me to see trees that survived the winter get crushed by this spring storm. They almost made it.

Oh well, more firewood for me. Picking up a new Forest Service dead and down permit. This storm should be worth a few cords.

I've just about got enough firewood lined up for next winter -if I can haul it out fast enough. This years goal is to have enough for next winter, plus a good start on the one after that. Two years supply is the eventual goal. Call it insurance. It would give me time to recover from an injury or to concentrate on any other emergency.

I've been fighting with the heating oil company over a bill. They want a fuel credit applied to a new delivery instead of to an existing bill. Twice I was assured they took care of it, but then they'd send me the same old balance -plus interest. It'll be a pleasure to not deal with them at all next winter.

I'm steadily reducing my use of fossil fuels. Right now I'm down to 5 -10% of what I used to use. Even my old usage was probably less than the American average. Those last few percentage points are hard to get rid of. Still, I'm motivated. It's a moral thing for me. Recently coal miners in West Virgina died in a coal mine disaster. Coal from that region is burned by the electric company that services my area. I'm going completely off grid this summer and will no longer be part of the system that kills miners.

While in Missouri, my father-in-law stopped the car to talk to one of his neighbors. The guy was on his cell phone finding out his cousin died in the big oil rig explosion in the gulf. Because we are running out of easily obtained oil, heroic efforts are made to get the remaining supplies. Sometimes those people die. Everyone who uses petroleum feeds the demand that makes those risky ventures necessary.

I know my energy use is a tiny portion of the problem. However, no single water drop feels responsible for the flood.

As far as the weird weather goes? I'm not taking the blame on that one. My moral responsibility ends there. Enough is enough already! Now where did I put that darn shovel . . .

-Sixbears