Notes From All Over -- The Barbecue Edition -- October 28, 2021

The price of gasoline: I'm pretty glib about the price of gasoline, which is very inappropriate -- it's inappropriate for me to be glib about the price of gasoline. I don't drive much and retired, my wife and I don't need much. 

But a lot of folks are really going to start "hurting" with $4.00 gasoline across the country and trending toward $5.00 / gallon in some metropolitan areas on the east coast and west coast. 

Every time one fills up with gasoline, or every time one simply drives past a station and sees the prices they must be reminded of who is in the White House and that resident's attitude toward the oil companies and the pipeline companies. 

It's amazing to think we went from $1.79-gasoline to $3.79 gasoline in less than a year. I wonder how that happened?

I don't think it's going to be a pretty picture for any incumbent next autumn if the price of gasoline remains unchanged, or worse, trends higher.

Utility bills: this, the high price of gasoline, of course, comes on top of high utility bills we will see this winter. I think the "betting" is that utility bills, in general, will be upwards of thirty percent higher than they were last year, regardless of the severity of the winter. 

I don't notice any of that when I'm home in north Texas. I get around almost everywhere on bicycle and my utility costs will be quite minimal in the big scheme of things, But it's very noticeable when I'm visiting my grandsons in Portland, OR. Lots of traffic, and gasoline is trending toward $4.00 / gallon, and, in general, the cars look older and in worse condition than what I'm used to in north Texas. The folks in these older, battered cars don't look like the kind of folks that can handle $4.00 gasoline for very long.

On a more positive note, I just love Hulu. Here I am, well away from home, and I can tune into Hulu and watch the Thursday night NFL football game. Before Hulu, I couldn't receive Thursday night football -- "owned" by some network to which I did not subscribe.

Earlier today, we had brisket, and pulled pork, and barbecued chicken -- on a residential street less than a city block from where we live, a gentleman has a huge smoker and Thursday through Sunday has the smoker going and sells barbecue. Amazing. And excellent.