Horst Happenings....: Hey Brother, Can you Spare a Gallon, or Two?

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Hey Brother, Can you Spare a Gallon, or Two?

I've been watching the price of gasoline go up again. Last Wednesday I went to work and noticed that unleaded regular was selling at $3.129 per gallon at the nearby truck stop. A mere 10 hours later I drove by and the price jumped 17 cents to $3.299. I was shocked! I had checked the futures earlier in the day and had not seen anything peculiar. I went ahead and went the the Shell station across the interstate. They were selling for $3.159, a bargain considering. I asked the clerk if he knew what happened. I expected him to say that a pipeline had ruptured or someone had slipped and fallen in the largest US refinery prompting a shutdown for months to allow for an extensive safety investigation. He didn't know about anything. All he knew was that his station was cheaper than the others in the area and felt like that would be rectified by the next morning.

It was, to the tune of $3.299 a gallon. The truck stop lowered their price to $3.199 a gallon.

Since then prices have dropped a little and have now stabilized. There is a little bad news though. I noticed yesterday that gasoline futures closed at $2.79 a gallon. By the time you add on taxes and profit we're going to be back at the $3.30+ area. Not good.

If gas continues to go up like this I will have to start cutting back. Lets see, I think the first thing to go is the lawn mower. I'll just let the oppressive Texas heat take care of it. I used to use gasoline to kill fire ants. That will have to stop too. Probably for the best though. That will give my hair a chance to grow back. (Not really! Just sounded good.)

My Brother-in-law borrowed the truck yesterday. When he brought it back he told me that he "...put a couple of gallons of gold in it." I said, "Just two? You could have filled it up!" Didn't work. He didn't offer to add any more.Oh well, I guess I shouldn't complain. By this time next week $3.309 for gas may be cheap.