Andrew,
In many parts of the USA, especially rural areas, natural gas for home
heating is not available. The infrastructure for that has been built in most
cities and towns but many areas outside the urban areas simply don't have
the pipes running to them. Those people use heating oil, Kerosene, or
Propane. Which they use seems to depend on the area they live, different
parts of the country seem to run on different fuels from what I've seen.
Here in Indiana, propane is commonly used in rural areas and the houses all
have an enormous propane tank next to the house that is filled once or twice
a year.
Many newer houses use electricity instead of burning gas or oil for heat,
and right now that is a lot cheaper than petroleum where I live (our
electricity comes from a nuclear plant primarily, with some coming from a
coal-burning plant and coal is cheap and plentiful if not good for the
environment).
--
Chris Crawford
Photography & Graphic Design
Fort Wayne, Indiana
http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com My portfolio
http://blog.chriscrawfordphoto.com My latest work!
http://www.plumpatrin.com Something the world NEEDS.
On 5/13/08 1:44 AM, "Andrew Fildes" <afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> We inhabit a list that is based on at least one small form of rampant
> consumerism, often beyond reason, and for many of us that is no
> hardship. It is unfortunate when you have to begin downsizing your
> lifestyle and I do feel a little smug about that perhaps, having
> commenced it in my early forties. That's when I decided to raise my
> family in what some would regard as a retirement cottage. I think
> that it was around that time that I began to buy good quality second
> hand clothes and I've always run old cars, managing to live
> reasonably well but frugally (apart from spending large lumps on
> lenses at times, of course).
> I am surrounded by friends and colleagues who went the other path and
> kept themselves poor by exchanging one huge mortgage for a larger
> one, one new car for a newer one, much as my parents did. Now they
> find themselves inhabiting cavernous 'homes' that they can't afford
> to keep and complaining about the rising price of fuel and meals out.
> Their Toyota Landcruiser pseudo-4WD with the plastic guards and
> metallic paint is sitting listlessly at the back of the used car
> dealer's lot instead of running the kids to and from a private
> school. I still live in that same house which is now an ideal size
> and is long paid off. My children got a decent education at the local
> public school and weren't inducted or excluded from any particular
> elite. I run two cars, both elderly, on alternative fuels and neither
> is a a Roller (which I'm sorry Larry, has to mitigate sympathy
> somewhat) and if all sources of income dried up tomorrow, I could
> live reasonably well by my own standards. In fact have no idea what
> my house might be worth. Increases in prices of fuel are no more than
> an irritation - and can be met with minor adjustments. As a teacher,
> I've always been able to find work relatively close to home, but that
> was also a conscious decision. If I need to travel the 50km to the
> city, I take a train which doesn't take that much longer, is safer,
> less stressful and affords me the opportunity to read while moving. I
> can afford satellite which allows me the simple pleasure of watching
> Manchester United crush all opposition - it may well sublimate the
> urge to declare war on someone or other.
> This probably sounds a bit smug and of course I got lots of other
> things utterly wrong. It would certainly not suit everyone but we
> can all make choices to avoid, dodge and sidestep the particular
> roller coaster called the 'consumer society.' There are a lot of
> choices that many of use simply refuse to make or even just can't
> 'see'. Bitching about one tiny symptom such as having to pay for
> fuel about what the rest of the world has been paying for decades is
> foolish.
>
> 'Heating Oil'?!! Good grief. I haven't seen anyone doing anything
> that silly in 25 years. Don't you have gas? Did you really think that
> cheap oil and petrol was going to last forever? Consider yourself
> lucky that you had it for so long.
> Andrew Fildes
> afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
>
> On 13/05/2008, at 12:54 PM, Jim Nichols wrote:
>
>>
>> Larry,
>>
>> Having been retired for the last sixteen years, and looking to
>> stretch my
>> present resources so that my wife and I don't outlive them, you can be
>> assured that I don't find any amusement in the situations that prudent
>> people are now finding themselves in. While some can be blamed for
>> falling
>> for easy credit schemes that have led to their downfall, many
>> others have
>> suffered for no fault of their own.
>>
>> Good luck in making the best of an unfortunate situation.
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>> Moose wrote:
>>>> I find the fierce and unflagging negativism of his viewpoint
>>>> and his expressed experience of life quite enjoyable, bracing, even.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Moose
>>> I realize I'm on a list that finds they'll never have a problem
>>> for the
>>> rest of their lives surviving no matter how high costs rise. Most
>>> lifestyles here aren't affected in the slightest by gas/home
>>> heating oil
>>> costs, and might even only notice it because the media is making
>>> such an
>>> annoying stink about it. I mean "$1.50 a gallon, $5.50 a gallon -
>>> what's
>>> the big friggin' deal. Its hardly an increase, and my company pays my
>>> healthcare for the rest of my life!"-or some such thoughts.
>>>
>>> But finding it "enjoyable" that I've had to start selling off the few
>>> things I have in order to keep my home for maybe another year or so,
>>> sucks, and sounds like you're looking at success in life as if it
>>> is all
>>> about "hard work", and "choices we make" or "we make our own
>>> success or
>>> failure" types of ridiculous mantras. None of these are truisms, or
>>> hard & fast rules in any way. So, I'm happy that my difficulties that
>>> have magnified themselves over the last 7-8 years or so have been so
>>> exciting to you. Its great that my opinions formed from my
>>> experiences
>>> give you greater entertainment than people fervently fighting over a
>>> flat rubber thing being smacked around. Especially since so many
>>> millions are spent to hype people into thinking its actually
>>> engaging to
>>> stare at.
>>>
>>>
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