It’s been a while and I thought for once maybe I would open it up before Oh Dark Thirty to give more folks a chance to see this and chime in.
The situation in my AO continues to deteriorate apace.
Crime is WAY up locally, it is literally turning into Little Chicago around here.
Gang activity is up, there are now random shootings, car jackings and other criminal activity that has never been seen before in these parts.
The reports of gun violence have tripled at the very least from just two years ago.
Gas prices are all over the map as usual. fluctuating forty cents to a dollar a gallon week to week.
Food and Goods availability are still sketchy also.
It’s not there are shortages of the basics, it’s just one off weird things that are there one week and gone for a month the next.
So what are all y’all seeing in your area?
Cincinnati. Fluctuating gas prices – 3:50 – 4:00 range.
No product shortages. No pickup in crime, it remains confined to the natives areas.
North Central PA. No shortages. Gas is back up to $4.20. Filled my heating oil tanks about a month ago – $1000 for 250 gallons of #2, I got lucky and did it when it dipped. Rice coal jumped from $250 a ton last year to $450 this year. Grocery prices are still rising, luckily, I don’t eat much
Petty crime way up. Explosion of homeless/transients without cars. Explosion of same, living in their cars. Panhandlers with signs (“HUNGRY”), on e v e r y street corner. We don’t do hyperbole.
I’ve NEVER seen anything like it. The lid IS coming off.
I remember often as a child, all manner of relatives and the elderly. Talking about The Depression. It left a mark, that they would never forget.
We ARE here.
History IS repeating.
GHUA
Central FL. We’ve had some shootings but it’s just spillover from the dark neighborhoods nearby. The city is cracking down pretty hard, so it’s not a long-term problem. The streets are pretty safe. I walk after dark regularly and have never had an issue.
Gas is up but not bad. I think I paid 3.96 for premium last week. Regular was ~3.30. The local Publix is stocked. The other stores I frequent also seem pretty normal. On the whole, life seems pretty normal here.
Damn, Phil- here in desolate West Texas things are somewhat normal. Gas about 3.50. Local stores still stocked. No crimes but in West Texas, you know how that goes. It’s no joke and the crooks are aware of that. No racial b.s.. The Mexican people here are proud Americans and Texans. Some shortages noted at local hdwe. store. Caulking and other stupid shit. Waiting for other shoe to drop with diesel projected to disappear. We don’t have trees. Heating fuel can be found in tank batteries scattered about. Have to watch for H2S. Had some of that. Don’t want anymore. That’s the one time when the wind is your friend.
Filled up at the Eugene Costco…$4.49/gallon.
Stuff is available, but the prices continue to climb.
Wife wanted some romaine lettuce.
$4.97/head!
SW Pa. Crime is through the roof, never use to be any
Heating oil: from $5.29 3 weeks ago to $6.60 last week
Diesel $6.00 per gallon
Ground beef $5.50 per pound (cheap stuff)
Middle NH. Gas prices are around $3.60 and steadily climbing. Most food items are 30 to 40% higher than this time last year and rising slowly month over month. Beginning to see isolated crimes that were not here before; a home was broken into by a meth head and he was cutting up the AC system with an axe when the homeowner interrupted him. NH has pockets of dug use and high crime but being a heavily armed population, crime is being kept in check. For now.
Seeing the cost of everything go up. Not seeing or hearing much about crime, but being a really small community it isn’t tolerated much around here anyway. Local store is stocked up pretty good, but seeing a change in brand items on the shelf.
We finally had a quality hardware store built here a year ago. That is nice not having to drive a couple hundred miles for stupid things like paint, pipe dope, plumbing items and such. I don’t need much, as my instincts told me long ago the wheels could fly off at anytime, so I have been putting things away pretty much my entire adult life . My parents are always on my mind. They’re complete normmies and don’t really see what’s coming. Almost everyone I knew from living back east got the jabs and I blame that on the tv. The little bit of that I’ve seen in the last couple of years blew my mind at how it was pumping out the fear. Total mind fuck. It is full on winter time now. They opened a federal subsistence hunt for moose and caribou in our area. I may head out with a couple guys next week on our snow-machines and see what’s moving around out there. Days are really starting to get shorter now too.
Mr. ‘ray- my instincts kicked in when the Kenyan took his seat. At least that’s one good thing the son of a bitch did.
Port Charlotte Fl. Gas $3.15. Even with Hurricane Ian’s recent visit grocery stores are open and stocked. Looters looking for opportunity are finding hand cuffs. Our Sherrif’s Dept. doesn’t tolerate bad guys and lots of people here carry. Lots of people working hard to clean up the mess from Ian. It helps to live in an 80% Republican County and have the BEST Govenor currently in America.
Rural Alberta.
Gas is sitting about 1.75 a liter but i did see prices as high as $2.26 last july.
Live rural, nearest town has seen a crime spike. Turns out it was a meth head related to the local rcmp officer. Grocery stores have odd empty shelves that seem to change weekly.
One of the spawn works in a butcher shop, they shut down for a week. The styrofoam trays were on back order and they ran out. Finally came in but only 30% of what was ordered.
I had to do my quarterly visit to the corp office in calgary last week. I have never seen so many honeless drug addicts before. You couldnt go 20 feet on the street without one trying to hit you up for money. Offices have all sorts of new security because its such a problem suddenly.
SGR has about the same gas price as we do in south Texas. Food is available. But there are items that sell out pretty quick in the AM. Lots more foot traffic in my little burg than before. And sketchies on bikes. That’s new for me. Critters are on the move at night more than normal. Dry summer I’m guessing.
Buying in bulk when I can. The last few years, working friendships have been important. Got a feral hog last weekend, put the meat to smoke and now it’s time to make sausage.
Preps continue apace. I have most of what I want, quantity is not where I’m comfortable yet. Making hay while the sun shines. Thinking on techniques to harden the homestead. In other words, same old same old…
Pearland Texas Costco gas is 3.34 for 92 octane,currently most everyone is excited with the World Series in town most stores are operating like normal. Early voted yesterday after golfin and despite the place being pretty busy didn’t take me that long at all now I can tune out all the political ads.cold day this morning but mid 70’s now
here a place to check on the “average” heating oil prices
https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_wfr_dcus_SPA_w.htm
at least in PA. it looks like 5.75 or so. I filled my tanks a couple of years ago just in case and added Stabil to them. I like using the wood stoves for heat, quiet, even
whole house warm heat is better than the damn oil burner that runs 20 minutes
out of every hour.
food prices are up a lot ! coffee went from 9.99 to 14.99 inside of a month.
ground beef is on average 5 bucks plus per pound.
canned chicken went from 8 bucks for 4 cans to 12.99
canned veggies are double what they where last year, store brand was 47 cents
now 97. store brand pasta goes on sale and is sold out in 2-3 days
people are using the SMALL CARTS now instead of the normal size ones
non corn gas is 4.29 last week, filled the truck and got 4 5 gallons cans filled
added Stabil to them as well. was thinking of getting a 55 gallon drum and filling it up, but don’t have the cash to do it now.
a buddy of mine filled 4 drums up with AVGAS last year and it running low now.
back then it was 5.50 per. 110 octane . he runs a old blazer with a 350 in it.
nice ride ! he hates to think what it will cost him this year to refill the drums.
ammo is on the shelfs again, most common rounds, odd stuff is still not there.
it seems like most people think the election will be a joke or rigged
people I have talked with think OZ is a joke but better then uncle fester !
most have little to no faith in the system anymore. everyone I know is buying ammo and food and hoping for the best.
laurel highlands of PA.
Avgas is 100 octane. 110 hasn’t been available for years. It also has triethyl lead in it.
didn’t know. last time I bought any was over 30 years ago.
it was 110 back then. anyway, his truck runs great on it !
remember the days of 12 to 1 compression ratios ?
it would explain why he was talking about getting new heads
for his truck engine then. I do know it was over 6 bucks
around march of this year. tree guy buys it for his chainsaws
or so he said.
An easy site to check your local Avgas prices:
http://airnav(dot)com/fuel/local.html
And yes, Avgas is the last of the leaded fuels. It is what the industry calls a “boutique” fuel, like specialty racing fuels, produced in such small quantities compared to regular auto fuels, is the reason it is so horribly expensive.
I sold my plane four years ago, so I haven’t bought any in ages. I do pony up for the moonshine free premium for my small engines.
Regular in a 40 mile radius of here fluctuated between 3;58 and 3.98 today, which is a bit lower than recent range.
Diesel however is running me 1.50 ABOVE price of regular and 2 of 3 vehicles are diesel. Grrr!
Store shelves are getting stocked but still a lot of empty spaces and a lot more “off brand” stuff than we ever had before.
Some things we used to buy at the supermarket just vanished at the start of the Chinese crap and never came back. Don’t know if the processors pared back on variety or what. Hot spicy pickles are one casualty as is bottled sparkling water, almost non existent to the point that at some times Mexican product was showing up as a substitute (we are 250 miles from the Canadian border fer crissakes.
Like the rest of the nation, I am waiting for diesel to suddenly go into rationing, that is when the SHTF starts to get serious. And the Mississippi being almost dry is not helping either.
Quiet in the White Mountains of Eastern Arizona. Gas is running $3.85 locally…Shelves are generally stocked with only occasional empty spots…thinning down some on the number of brands available on some products and not so much on others.
Dems keep sending out flyers on Gov. candidate Kari Lake saying she wants us to have OMG rocket launchers…like it’s a bad thing?? In our part of the state there would be lines. “Step right up, folks. No crowding there in the back. Get ya’ RPG’s right here! Ya want armor piercing…ya want incendiary…we got ’em all. You’re choice of warhead for the low, low price of only…”
Like everywhere prices are moving up and up. Stocking up on the sales now where we didn’t pay as much attention a while back. Trying to figure how to lay it in deep. Hamburger at Wallyworld running about $5:00.
Houston.
Supermarket and Costco gas is under $3 for 87octane. HEB (grocery) has ground chuck on special for $3something, with additional purchases, but otherwise it’s around $5. Meat section is really thin. Literally. They are selling smaller units, and steaks sliced in half. Also saw “shoulder steaks” for the first time (chuck roast sliced 1/2″ thin and sold as steak.) Random empty shelves, today it was lard. None to be had. Prices on most things are way up. Bacon (house brand) has been stable, up from its lows, but hasn’t fluctuated much. Chips doubled in price. Even the house turkey, which was $1.28/pound for literal years, is up to $1.48 with signs about turkey shortages and product might be unavailable.
Pure Canadian maple syrup has actually come down slightly. Vac pack pork loin in bulk is <$2/ lb but limit two. Cut pork chops were $4. Glad I own a knife, and a vac sealer. 🙂
Chicken is $1.09 for legs, $2.40 for breasts and thighs, with organic even higher.
There are a LOT more house brands on the shelves, and they are featured prominently. Lots of odd brands for staples too, but at least the stuff is on the shelf. Given our location and demographics, it shouldn't be a surprise that a lot of the unfamiliar brands and products have mexican origin.
People love the Aldi store, but I look at their flyer every week and haven't seen anything cheaper that would make me go in. And they have damn little food in the flyer.
Speaking of flyers (or 'weekly circulars' as some might know them) they are down to one page, and smaller sized pages. HEB stopped advertising with them. The Randalls, normally the most expensive of our stores has actually advertised competitive pricing on some items lately, even though it took selling a lesser grade of meat to do it. The three big 'hispanic' chains are pushing for market share with their ads, but I still find HEB has the best prices overall, and the ads are in english.
LOTS of young and not so young men standing around drinking all day, all of a sudden. Every quick mart, gas station, and apartment complex has small groups near the dumpsters, leaning on the back wall, or clustered around a couple of cars. None look gainfully employed, and all seem to be recent border crossers. Lot more facial and other obvious gang and prison tattoos too.
Lots of illegal dumping, overgrown lots, and closed retail too.
all in all, not headed in the right direction, but also not much of a surprise.
n
Houston suburb – League City area. Same comments about HEB. Random missing items, lots of shelves look full but only 1 product deep. Name brands missing and house brands or weird brands available. Expensive too.
Crime is up, but then we are still suffering from the hurricane refugees from New Orleans from years back. Roving gangs cruising neighborhoods, then come back at night and steal cat converters. Porch pirates abound. We carry all the time now, no matter what. Being Texas, direct violent crime tends to get perps shot, so not so much more of that at least.
Most people are trying to carry on like normal, but lots of talk about cutting back – vacations, new vehicles, home renovations, etc. are all put on back burner as we wait to see what’s going happen.
Gasoline in the Twin Cities anywhere from $3.59-$3.89.
The US has about less than 1month of diesel reserve left. Think gas, food, etc is expensive now? Wait until this hits.
We are voting Red straight down the ballot. Not that we didn’t before, but I’ve knowingly voted for Libertarian candidates in the past when the Repub was a RINO. Not this time. I’ll take a RINO, as detestable as they can be.
East Texas
Talked to a rancher today, said he’d only sold one half of a cow today, usually sells one or two on a Saturday (asked him how the cow felt about that?). He thinks most freezers are full. Hay is available so he’s going to keep a small herd through the winter; water is getting better as we’ve had rain twice in the last 10 days, expect more this week.
Gas was $3.18 at the local retailers in town today, 87 octane corn fed. Not too sure about grocery stores. Prices are certainly up, but overall most items are on the shelf, just not stacked deep. Caught a deal on pork shoulder, $1.20/lb. Smoked it, chopped and frozen. Looking for more. Feral hogs are about but they had a bad year too. Deer are skinny, coons are mangy.
People are not starting to wake up, despite the massive increases in prices. They all think this is just normal, another bump in the road. I cannot believe the stupidity of the general population, even out here in the boonies.
When the SHTF, I’m glad in the fact I have very few idiots to deal with when that happens because I live in such a remote location, but they’re still around here. It’s not going to be pretty.
Longview Texas, mostly peaceful, gas under 3.50, diesel not far from five.
Groceries are generally in good supply. Encountered a crazy tonight. T intersection, pickup approaching from the left, spotted him,judged speed and distance, one more glance right, started out. Wife said Hurry.. The bastard gunned it. She told me she heard the motor rev up. He was flying when he just barely missed us. And no brake lights. Totally new behavior to witness for me. Crazy seems to be spreading.
That’s THE most salient point I did not make.
The breakdown of Societal norms. The mood, manner, and method of the other members of the community, has changed. In a mere twelve months.
And not for the better. It’s like a switch has been thrown. Many people on edge. Common courtesy and decency now disappearing.
The rancid economy has hit really hard here. Bang, upside everyone’s head.
Northern ATL suburbs. Gas 3.15 regular ( state gas sales tax (approx 35c still suspended). Grocery bill up about 25%from same time last year. More panhandling. Also, we’ve been told some of the immigrant women panhandling with kids are part of organized groups and have to give their “earnings” to their boss. They tend to hit up church parking lots on Sundays.
Gas, diesel and food continue to increase in price in my corner of the country. Diesel $5.69 today! We are riding the Harley (50mpg) as much as possible to glean the sale items at the local grocery stores to add to preps, plus it’s just plain fun!
Can’t even begin to tell you how many low income housing developments are popping up in the surrounding conservative enclave. Can you say ‘dilute the vote’? FJB!
Here in Iowa we are seeing 3,39 gallon gas. Diesel is more. Harvest is in full swing now. Shelves are ok but eating out is about 10 to 15 percent higher than a month ago.
Over all crime is steady no real spike.
Paul Palosi was having gau set when he got clubbed
You mean, Gay Sex?
I have seen several comments here and yon speculating the same thing. Also that there was a third party involved.
You can bet they are going to drop that whole story into a well and park a boulder over it now.
Probably too late for them now, LMFAO.
You know they have to blow shit up and try to blame us for everything. They were trying to paste the guy as being Right Wing, a “Qanon” follower and all kinds of shit. Not going to fly.
His real background has been posted all over.
Nancy is going to be hard pressed to try and hide the truth on this one.
Grindr date gone bad.
WA on the edge of a deep blue sh**hole metro. 92 octane was $5.29 today, regular around $5, a lot of the difference from other places is massive blue state taxes hugely increasing over time. They did finally pave several miles of downtrodden state mountain highway so maybe it does help a bit, even though every previous increase was touted as “to fix the roads” while all inevitably became “fix our public union benefits and pensions!”
Was in a redder rural area of the state, found a couple of people who were more aware. Refreshing. Compared notes and we all concluded it’s going to get bad. “We’re all about to learn why our grandparents from the Depression washed their foil and hoarded plastic containers in the rafters of the garage.”
Sick feeling as blue coworkers are all comparing how many and which \/ applications they have had. Latest round is heavily uptaken here even if not that much nationwide. Cluelessness abounds. Same goes for actual understanding of what’s coming, like other commenters they just think it’s no big deal or even that it’s to get that bad guy in that other country.
Based on that, having to consider lines of retreat and burying or otherwise storing caches here and there in case it all goes poorly in the blue metro. One interesting tidbit from a random ex-mil stranger was that they can blow the mountain passes from the coastal areas over to the arid side – either to constrain an invader or to bottle up bad situations. No way to evaluate whether true but something to think on. Foot trek 100 miles to escape over the Cascades via obscure trails seems like a tall order but who knows.
why do you think I moved to the hills ? the few roads and passes can be watched by “friends” to make sure the wrong people don’t come
this way. the problem is, you also need to watch power lines trails,
any rail lines as well. way too easy to travel along them.
best thing anyone can do right now besides stocking up on food and
ammo, meds and everything else, is make friends. like minded ones.
farmers, ranchers and start garden beds for next spring.
get some wire fencing and make a compost pile with all the damn leaves falling now. if you run your lawn mower over them , they breakdown faster= you can use it as compost sooner.
this is going to get ugly by next spring/summer if we not nuked by then the way these assholes are going.
You might want to join Wirecutter in Macon County, TN.
Gas in the northern ATL suburbs is holding at 2.98 @ Sam’s Club, 3.20 other places. Selections are getting thinner, choices fewer, prices higher. SSDD, my personal larder is deeply stocked, I have a creek in the back yard, and a big Berkey filter to make it drinkable, kerosene set back as heat/light if it goes pear shaped, and all the other wants are pretty well covered.
Just about every corner has someone begging, saw one on a smart phone smoking a cigarette, if you can afford a phone and smokes, you are not hungry just hold wrong priorities. Too many young males not employed,drifting around in a rainbow of skin tones, not doing anything in particular, just drifting.
Gas here in central New England is $3.24 to $3.79 spread over 20 stations locally. The median is $3.59 for seven of those. Gas Buddy is reporting $3.35 where I buy my gas. It has been that price for several weeks.
Yesterday at the grocery store I stumbled on a deal for my favorite brand of coffee. $5.00/bag where the regular price is $6.49. The grocery store where I shop runs specials every week on different brands in the run up to the holidays.
Didn’t see any holes in products on the shelves, although if you look behind the fronted shelves there wasn’t much back up in some cases.
Crime seems to be holding steady at a low level around here. I live in a constitutional carry state, so criminals are wary. There are A LOT of people who carry concealed here, way up from before constitutional carry was amended to our constitution.
There’s a Black woman Demonrat woman running for state rep in my district who was kicked out during last election because she introduced a bill trying to overturn Constitutional carry. I guess she forgets about or just isn’t aware of the Jim Crow laws preventing blacks from owning firearms in the South years ago. Of course she’s a Demonrat, doing what Demonrats do with their gun control agenda. I pointed that out to her in a letter I sent her and to the rest of the State Assembly when they were debating the bill. The bill was soundly defeated because a bunch of people wrote letters and showed up during the debate protesting in opposition to the bill. I guess she didn’t get the message during last election. She’ll get it again this time, good and hard. Even the local commie rag doesn’t like her. Oh, did I mention that she’s a clone of that fat, angry black woman from Atlanta, commonly know by “The Tank” moniker?
NE Alabama. Regular around $3.20, Diesel just above $5 unless you go by the highway, then it is jacked up. Walmart is out of flour, regular all purpose flour. Has been for about 2 weeks. Thin in other stores. Otherwise shelves are stocked. Have sat in Sam’s club watching what people buy, no obvious preppers. I think most who can read the tea leaves have made their preps and are waiting for the ball to drop. Currently running my own little CPI on groceries, current annual rate of 57%. Believe that being held down by things where field to table takes a long time like canned goods. Things like eggs with short cycle are at 400% annual increase.
Not sure about crime. Vibe seems to be pretty normal. I’m not talking to anyone who buys the Mainstream nonsense.
Take every opportunity to top the tank, but also enjoy eating out while you can. I doubt we will be able to do so much longer.
Living in SE Mich, too old to move. Decided to increase preps from 1 year to 3. Been seeing this coming for a long time, it got more serious for me this year and now I’m seeing everything I expected coming down and it affects me more than I expected. Lots of competing grocery stores in the area and prices are competitive on what I buy. Health issues limit me to a very low carb diet, so I only store rice, beans, pasta for others or trade.
Processed lots of cheap meat, canned, frozen and dried. In the last month I have canned lots of chicken drumsticks at $.59/lb, local salvage type grocery store. Canned lots of pork shoulder at $1.25 to $1.35/lb, cut some of it up into steaks and froze. This week local store has it for $1.49/lb, but I have enough right now. Burger was $2.99/lb last week and I canned 6 gallons of chili. Canned lots of chuck roast at $3.99/lb and now another store has it for $7.49 buy one get one free so about $3.75 if you match prices. I did 3 separate sales at the self checkout yesterday to get the prices to match up. I watch other sales closely and buy accordingly. Been spending some savings to increase food and other prep supplies, have a feeling that the food will be worth more than the money in the future, like maybe next month.
My biggest shortage from before was vegetables, as I believed the those prices would stay down and the meat would become unaffordable or unavailable. Watching other area’s produce prices has convinced me otherwise. Running 3 dehydrators as hard as I can and storing dried vegetables in vacuum sealed jars.
I buy gas at Sams Club on my foraging forays there, last week it was $3.55/gal. Don’t forget a large percentage of the cotton crop has failed this year and it might be a good idea to lay in some basic clothing now.
Had an odd experience yesterday, had a tall, well built young man walk up to me in a grocery store/ small multi-store parking lot and ask for money for food. Got a bad vibe and said no, thing this guy was clean and well dressed, not your average beggar. What I learned was that I need to change how I carry now as when he came up on me I realized that I couldn’t quickly access either gun and I am too old and busted up to be holding off some young guy while getting to one. It is jacket weather here now and something is going in the jacket pocket.
Hi there, James. If I can ask, is this inside or outside the metro ring? I know Lenawee County a little bit and have thought about moving there.
look for a nice hammerless stubby. I got a Ruger LCR in 38+ p just for that use. it is only a five shot, but it should give me time to get to my 1911 in a shoulder rig. BTW, you might set your jacket on fire when you shoot it. tried it out a few years ago with a old hoodie and sure enough, the coat was burning!!
I love the shooting range here. as long as you don’t do anything too
stupid, you are okay. and most of the time, you have the range to yourself.
My grocery store Hannafords was out of cottage cheese with chives & most regular cottage cheese! Where did it all go? They used to carry several Fat-Free Half & Half’s for my coffee, now lucky if they carry one brand. Not a complaint, just stating facts. Luckily we don’t have a crime problem (yet) here in Southern Maine.
Gas prices in middle of nowhere Idaho is running about $4.20 range while real gas (no corn added) is in the $4.50 range, and diesel is running about $5.50 range. Crime is still low although we have I-84 running on the north side of town and we are only 45 miles east of Boise. Our county sheriff has given good intel on the drugs and other items being transported up and down this major throughfare his deputies have intercepted.
We have a huge influx of Californians occupying a new neighborhood with about 300 new homes built in the last couple of years about 1/4 mile down the street. Most are well behaved, but we always seem to have several assholes that haven’t figured how to slow down and fit into the local culture. Being a military town and the state’s Constitutional carry laws tends to keep the dirtbags in line.
Grocery shelves are fairly well stocked with only some minor holes only at the local Walmart (I guess good help is still hard to find). Local Air Force Base Commissary has a pretty good selection and best prices on meats on other than on and shortly after military paydays (one of the few upsides to giving 25 years of my life to active duty service). Still continue to prepare for the shitstorm headed our way but running out of room to store items.
Last week going to work, diesel was at 5.80, on the way home it was at 6.00, yesterday it was at 5.85, at two gas stations near me. Food prices are waaaay up, most shelves are not empty, people are nervous, crime is also up over this way. I’m expecting this to be the last election where regular people have a miniscule shred of influence about anything. Saw a report this week about diesel supply being 21 days, what did I say last month about rationing??
Gotta add my $0.02. Here in the Oregon Outback, gas is holding reasonably steady at $5.09; $4.99 at the no-name truck stop (It’s all the same gas, from the same tanker).
Went to the local burrito barn only to find their newly printed menu has raised prices between 20% and 30% on everything. Good thing we rarely eat a restaurant meal anymore.
I’m just finishing a couple of large, polycarbonate covered cold frames for the raised beds. Our climate is a bit harsh, so anything to extend the growing season is desperately needed. The last two years we’ve had frosts clear through June. And again this year mid-September.
I try not to obsess on Doomsday Porn, but every indication is that it’s going to get very, very ugly sooner than later. Not looking forward to having to use all those stored preps.
Similar in Tulsa area but haven’t been there in several days. Political bullshit ramping up, glad I don’t watch much of it.
Funny this last week in our goobernatorial debate between female former republican state school superintendent (who switched to democrap to run against) our current republican business man goobernator, she claimed that crime in Oklahoma was worse than NY and chitcago. Technically (with unequal foreign statistic collections) she was correct on a per capita basis but she is still gonna get her ass handed to her.
Brilliant she is for switching to the demoncrap party in a state that had 77 of 77 counties vote red in the presidential runs all the way back to both obummers two runs.
ps Once a politician, always a politician. The power and grift always goes to their head.
Over on your dry side Phil,
Other than prices of goods the day to day for us is pretty stable but then again we don’t do much other than work. About the only out of home entertainment we pursue is shooting and that’s been curtailed due to component availability.
Gas is running $4.70 and up /gal. Firewood is $250/cord. Pellets for the stove are up 20% over last year same time.
The little food we purchase is up 30~45%. Lots of empty spaces on the shelves. A strong reduction of name brands and more store brands. Have noticed that some things like Nalley Original chili has been out of stock at Safeway and Wallmart for over two and a half months. Don’t know about meat as the freezer is full and there’s more on the hoof in the pasture. Hopefully we’ll be adding elk to the freezer in about a week or so.
Normalcy bias is the mental state of the day. Folks have no idea what is coming down the pike and don’t want to know. We have increasing numbers of drifters coming through and some of them are real sketchy. The rest are desperate. There’s also been a few cases of folks just squatting in some empty houses. One place they even went down and had city services put in their name to get running water and sewer. It was quite the stir when they ended up with several po-po to move them out.
Automotive/equipment parts and services are through the roof. I had a mid summer quote on rebuilding the heads from the 460 in the Ford. I finally got around to pulling them and when I picked them up this week the final bill was almost twice the original estimate. Parts are getting harder to source and when you find them you purchase regardless the price because they might not be there in a few hours.
Working from the premise you can’t prep for your continued long term survival we keep adding tools, equipment and resources that will be required for the long term if it all goes tits up.
Well, need to get back after it, have a bunch of post holes to punch to fence in another garden area for next spring.
Blessings on you, as an old friend Les Rose used to express.
wes
wtdb
All’s quiet on the Eastern (Washington) Front, regular gas is $4.15 to $4.50 and diesel is a buck higher. Our useless dipwad of a Goobernator is going to raise gas taxes AGAIN at hte start of the year – I’ve heard .50/gallon, some others say .20/gal!! I try to buy gas just over the border in Idaho.
Food stocks are okay, Avista is raising Nat. Gas and electricity again.
Prescription prices are going up, so are the medical plan monthly prices as well as the deductibles.
Automotive paint (for my RV, y’know) is now $350/gallon! YIKES!! I still have to do the cream color, and I KNOW that will take a gallon and a half at least!
County and city charges (water/sewer, licenses) are all going up, even if slightly. Insurance going up, all flavors (car/home/life/etc.).
And to think, we’re just on the leading edge of The Suck.
Oboy
Abilene Kansas – Regular gas is $3.39. Locally owned grocery store – green onions were $.63 a bundle a year ago – now almost 3 dollars. Shelves are plenty stocked but prices are rising weekly. Best Foods/Hellman’s Mayo $8.67 a jar. Trying a generic brand for 5 dollars. 4 pack of chicken (legs and or breasts) $10 to $12 a package. Most packages of deli slice meats and cheeses are almost $6 a package. Ouch.
South Florida, Atlantic coast. Things pretty much normal but occasional and strange shortages of items on the supermarket shelf. Like elbow macaroni, last week I nabbed the last 4 boxes that were all lined up in the front so you could not see that the shelf behind was empty. In Boynton Beach regular $3.399, Diesel $5.299, no corn (I like that name now and knowing something about metallurgical corrosion this is what I use) $4.099/gallon.
The stupid thanks to the public screwels is rank. yesterday in a market for a few things, I bought some sweet onions, some red onions, some plum tomatoes (they were labeled “Roma” tomatoes, and some apples. young girl at the register started ringing me up, picked up the red onions and asked “are these red onions?”. I paused for a moment, wondering WTF? and said “yes those are red onions”. I was able to keep my eyes from rolling into the back of my head. Then the tomatoes, she was staring at them as they did not have the little stickers with the number of the item in their system, so I piped up “those are Roma tomatoes”. She nodded and continued poking at the keypad. OK, all done the total is $19.06. I hand her a $100 because I needed change. She blinked, and then punched the keypad to open the cash drawer because I guess she had already hit the key for a credit or debit card sale. So she pulls out her phone, uses the calculator to figure the change, counts it out and hands it to me. I turned to leave but for some reason I paused and counted the change back she gave me. $66.03. Huh? I politely asked her to check the change saying something like “I think you gave me incorrect amount back”, meanwhile she had started to ring up the next customer. So she cancels out that transaction and asks the next customer to go to the other check out line (the woman had a bunch of stuff and was visibly annoyed). So after establishing that I did indeed hand her a $100 bill, and I hand her the cash she gave me back (I never left the counter), she counts it and tries to open the cash drawer again. The register won’t let her open it because reasons. So she calls the manager over, Takisha or something . . . . . . . a nice lady that appears to enjoy fried food and soft drinks containing high fructose corn syrup. Takisha also cannot figure cash change in her head. She first gives me $61 back and says “don’t worry about the coins”. I politely explained that 100 minus 19.06 should be 80.94. She finally hands me another $20 and I’m on my way, 15 minutes or so after I initially had the incorrect change handed to me. Please don’t misunderstand, the manager lady was very nice, as was the young girl running the register, she was probably new on the job so you have to give her that. But having to ask if those onions were red ones kind threw me.
Please don’t fall into the leftist trap of using the term “gun violence”. We don’t use “knife violence” or “blunt instrument violence”. This is yet another attempt by the progressive left to demonize the tool and take the focus off of the real problem — the policies that got us here.
“DinDu’s Shootin’ the place up”.
Better?
There was some hammer violence in San Francisco recently.
South Central PA.
Heating oil is $5.85 a gallon. That’s up 235% since February. We are using wood, and stacking in front the house where it’s lit at night and we can watch it.
Folks we buy firewood from are booked out a month.
Eggs 3X higher. I use two apps and visit three different stores to make groceries happen. Even with that, we are paying about double over last year. We restocked the chicken coop and nothing goes to waste.
The household went from eating out or ordering-in several times a week to maybe once every couple weeks. Sorry to see the restaurants hurting, but the money just isn’t there.
Fuel…. we have cut driving way back. I do most of the driving in the family, and I plan routes to cut back. Filling my car every two weeks now, instead of weekly.
We are REAL glad we both bought new cars in 2020, as car prices here are significantly higher now… IF the dealers have anything decent to sell. Used 60K trucks are bringing new truck prices, and new trucks are bringing small-house prices. We have a used elderly beater truck that has tripled in value since we bought it in 2020. We block it in the driveway most nights to be sure it stays there.
What I see among the friends circle is cutting back and thinning out luxuries. Nobody we know is starving or freezing, but extras are going away. Then again, our friends are working people who generally apply common sense and effort to problems.
In town? We don’t go there, or even through, often. Reported crime stats are up, but it hasn’t reached where we live yet. Neighbors down here are watching, though. Used to hear a LOT of shooting on weekends, much of it full-auto, as people played and enjoyed themselves.. Not so much anymore. People just seem quieter and spend more time being aware of their surroundings (if that makes any sense).
AND…. just got notice out electric rate is going up again. It equates to another $30 a month. Fixed income here, and these hits hurt. That will impact the Bourbon/cigar budget.
You wouldn’t believe the price of hair jelly in Central Alabama. Thanks Joe Biden . Fop was available but I. A Dapper Dan man .
Charlotte vicinity Gas was $3.29 @ QT on Hwy 601
Hamburger is $5.99/lb
Green onions $1.49/ bunch
Head of Lettuce $2.39
Cabbage $1.38/ lb
Baked Lays $3.99
1lb black forest ham $12
5lb yellow potatoes $3.49
8oz generic cream cheese $2.68
6 pack Thomas Bagels $5.49
12 oz generic bacon $3.99
C. FLA. here. Prices on everything continue to climb. Got gas (reg) yesterday, and it was $3.19. Groceries aren’t showing very many shortages right now. Occasional bare spot on a shelf, but back again next week. All meats are on a rise. Today, the shortage was on CoffeeMate Creamer. Yeah I know – but I don’t always drink it black! Went to Home Depot last week and $$ are way up on some items – same at ACE Hardware.
Y’all take care,
Mike.
Southern NH 11/1/22:
Gas: $3.59/gal
Diesel: $5.59/gal
Heating oil:$5.73/gal
Food: supermarket is actually pretty well stocked, though pasta & frozen veggies are low, cottage cheese (!?) totally out. did not see any “one-deep” shelf stocking gimmickry, where it was prevalent during WuFlu.
butter $6.69/lb
OJ Tropicana 52oz $4.79, generic $2.99
Hamburger 85% lean $5.29/lb
2% milk: $5.79/gal
eggs (large): $3.47/doz
coffee Maxwell House 10.5 oz $5.49
Kellogg corn flakes 12 oz 5.49
Pepperidge Farm Jewish rye bread 1lb $4.99
Thomas English muffins $3.49 (was 2/$4.00 then 2/$5.00 last year)
Chef Boyardee can $1.59 (was 0.88 a year ago)
Rice $0.74/ lb
potatoes: 8lbs $4.99
Pepperidge Farm cookies $3.89 (was $2.29 about 18 months ago)
yellow onions $3.99/5lbs.
bananas $0.49/lb.
iceberg or romaine lettuce head: $2.99
Crime still low, people still polite. for the moment. No visible increase in panhandlers, but we live in the burbs, so we would not notice it immediately.
Eastern edge of the Virginia Piedmont, north of Warrenton. Lights of the Swamp slightly visible at Night. Diesel again over $5.00, everyone has filled their Tanks and Drums and Trucks/Equipment in the brief period it was below 5. Erratic Shortages at the Grocery, Price of 10# bag of Carrots went from 4.99 to 8.99 in a Month, small and Wilted. My Horse is Resentful. Baled Alfalfa Hay was $10.00 last Fall now 19.00, waiting for 350 to feed the Horses over the Winter. Hardware Stores, Farm Supply places have less of the imported Chinamart junk, Prices up on all that. Little Crime, lots of Open Carry. Local Sheriff has declared that fedpigs won’t be allowed to enforce non-Constitutional “Gun Laws” here, there’s a List of a few thousand Folks pre-registered to be Deputized in that event. Scary amount of Firepower just sitting around, privately-owned MRAP’s, Belt-Fed Guns, and at least two Armored Dozers….
Damn! Ya’ll have your own Army…