March 2

 Welcome to March and the start of meteorological spring. We have three more weeks til the Vernal Equinox and astronomical spring. I only put that in because I always mix up the two. This is the time when the emotional part of me really, really wants to get out and garden while the rational part yells "not yet, you fool!" At the moment the rational side is winning.

We did most of our grocery shopping yesterday and filled the car. The gas was $3.54/gal--twenty cents higher than a week ago. I expected the rise because oil prices have been creeping higher since before the before the Ukrainian situation blew up. The prices aren't yet disturbingly painful only because we don't drive much--maybe once a week for groceries. If they go to that point we have our strategies in place to deal with it. Last year we our shopping trips to once every two or three weeks and can do that again if we must.

I noticed in the news blurbs that the oil/gas companies are trying to use Russia's war of choice against Ukraine as an excuse to drill more and to persuade the government to relieve them of some environmental restrictions. I don't think they really need such action from the government since the oil prices are now over $100/barrel. It would serve us better if the government advocated and subsidized renewables for home electricity and conservation measures. 

And oil isn't the only price going up (hence the increase in gas prices) food has also been going up. It amuses me that so many people haven't connected the dots between the droughts, heat waves, and floods afflicting so much of the world's agricultural land and the high prices.  We saw the drought, heat, and floods in the Northwest and into Canada and said "watch the beef prices." But guess what?--chickens and hogs don't do well in those conditions either. Neither does corn or wheat. And Ukraine is considered Europe's bread basket. Together with Russia it produces about 25% of the world's wheat.