I know the price of gas is high, and so is oil, but has everyone forgotten the OIL SHORTAGE, and the lines at the pump a few years ago? When was that, anyway? I remember I was working at a huge lumber/building materials place then, one of the largest in New England (located right here in Windham), and the cost to deliver a few bundles of shingles, in a diesel-engine vehicle, did away with any profits to be made. That’s the hard fact about a shortage. It’s yet to be seen what the high price will do to smaller businesses, which of course consider fuel a cost of doing business – the consumer eventually pays.

Most of us will grouse around and hope things change. Each time there’s an oil crisis, there’s a movement to tap into some of our hard-won wildlife preserves, and dig into Mother Earth once again. Of course, once it’s gone, there’s no rebuilding. Nature is unforgiving. We never learn, it seems.

Whatever happened to the solar energy camp – those scientific plans to reap the ever-renewing energy from sun? What kind of crisis would it take to have the government (for they are the leaders we follow) make use of the resources, technology and science they now have. I’d like to see some of these new houses with solar panels on the roof, instead of solar batteries in wrist watches.

I’m stocking up on weather-stripping, a few bundles of insulation and many pairs of sweat pants – before those prices go up! Learn to cook in the microwave and save a bundle on electricity; close off rooms; let the sun shine in and get insulated drapes.

This might be the time when I’ll see one phenomenon come to an end – the routine some people have of driving to a supermarket to get a loaf of bread or quart of milk, instead of planning a week’s shopping at a time. It’s easy to tell that most folks around here have never been in the military where a once monthly trip to the PX (Post Exchange) was the norm.

“Pay as you go” was the way parents of my generation and my generation lived. Children walked a little way to a common bus stop – this stopping at the end of every driveway is a luxury of modern times and probably burns up a lot of fuel.

In high school, we paid to ride the bus since there was no state law which required high school students to receive free transportation. Bus tickets were 5A?¢ each way, and if you lived close to the school, you walked. There wasn’t any late bus, either. All extracurricular activities, sports, clubs of all kinds and other activities (including detention) were after school. Walking or begging a ride was the way everyone got home. No one ever got kidnapped and we all grew up to tell about it. And I think, in the long run, it was healthier that way. Probably saved a lot of gasoline, too.

This would be a good time for Texas to come to the rescue, with their billionaires in the oil industry. How about loosening the purse strings, as a patriotic gesture, and starting a price war? Maybe there’d be a tax break in a plan like that! That ought to solve a few problems!

See you next week.