Energy Crisis

Okay might as well get on the bandwagon along with everyone else. These energy prices are killing us. I am so frustrated with this. We make every effort to cut our energy usage and just keep getting hit like no tomorrow. We already pay almost $.20 a kilowatt and they want to raise it another 7%. That is not even touching what the villages are at. Having lived in Barrow I know. Plus we in the Interior also heat with oil which is at an all time ridiculous high. Why can't the government knock off the speculation that is driving the prices? And Anchorage, quit complaining about it you have know idea what it is like to choose between heating your home or buying groceries for your family! There are families here that are spending at the very least $5,000-$6,000 this summer to get (hopefully) through the winter. If they don't make it then their sol! Not even to mention that the energy bill is stuck in the House and Senate and already wanting to reduce the amount of money the Palin wants to put into the hands of all Alaskans. Get off your high horse and try to understand what the working families of Alaska need. What we need is help and NOW, not six months from now!

Alaska is unique in the fact that we don't have bus lines everywhere. And who is going to stand at a bus stop at -60? We have done everything we can to cut our gas usage and it can't get cut anymore! Those hybrid cars don't work at our extreme temps and why spend the money on it when it will only work for maybe 4-6 months out of the year? People get a clue!

Permachink

Well I am currently getting the house ready to Permachink! Yeah, maybe the house will stay warmer at -60 this winter and the fans for the furnace won't have to run so long. Yeah I know wishful thinking. I just got off the phone with the company and they gave me some great news and reduced my workload by a little. I have also been treating log rot in various places. That is close to being done as I had started out doing it wrong, but I fixed that. We were able to dig out around the house this summer, which was good, but with that we found some more issues that are going to be costly. We have to replace up to three logs around the garage. What idiot would build a garage on a two sided cement footer and put the other two right in the dirt! We have talked about options like using railroad ties or cement blocks to raise the logs off the ground. I like the blocks better as it will look nicer but we will see what money brings.

Went out to start cutting some more wood today and almost got Brent's chainsaw started. Oh well, guess I will just have to get a new chain for mine. I cut so much that I wore it down. That's okay I didn't want to cut wood today anyway.