Oil Barrel: We’re over a barrel and over the hill

It’s worth repeating - the cost of oil has us over a barrel. And our present lifestyle may soon be over the hill.

As you can see below, oil prices are on the rise.


[“Chart by Anthony Green/QMI Agency”: photo GH]

Mid-point price per barrel (approx.), according to the chart provided, in the last year:

Feb. 2010 - $76
March - $81
April - $85
May - $76
June - $75
July - $77
August - $77
September - $78
October - $81
November - $84
December - $89

Jan. 2011 - $90
Current price - $87.80

In 2010 the average price was around $79 US per barrel. In 2011 crude oil prices hover around $90 per barrel.

So, the following is true:

“Filling up your car, taking a trip, even buying groceries could get considerably more expensive as oil continues its climb toward $100 US a barrel.” (Jan. 21, London Free Press)

I would go so far as to say our lovely lifestyle “will” get considerably more expensive.


A hard rain is a-gonna fall, says Bob Dylan.

We won’t know what we’re missing ‘til it’s gone, says Joni Mitchell.

Reduce spending, pay down debt, save money for tough times ahead, says me. I'll even sing it for you if you want.

***

Related news. (It ain’t all good). Are we in for another deadly decade?

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May the road always rise up to meet you, my friend

A friend and former neighbour, of British descent, passed away recently.

Over a year ago, at the end of his last visit to my workshop, he left behind a gently used bottle of Red Breast Irish whisky and - as usual - kind words about our time together.

In lieu of a last wee dram with him, I share these words.

An Old Irish Blessing

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

And would the Englishman wish to share this Irish prose in return?

Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there... I do not sleep.
I am the thousand winds that blow...
I am the diamond glints on snow...
I am the sunlight on ripened grain...
I am the gentle autumn rain.


When you waken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of gentle birds in circling flight...
I am the soft star that shines at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry—
I am not there... I did not die...

***

I think he might.

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The Workshop: The Classic Series #001

It’s a lot of birdhouse for $8,000. (Just joking).


What started as a drawing on a piece of cardboard now fills a captain’s chair in the basement.


["The Classic Series #001": photos GH]

It’s a lot of birdhouse and a lot of red paint.


And it looks familiar. It looks like a character out of a Thomas the Train video or children’s book.


I think once birds find the feeding surface at the back they will return on a regular basis and eat me, or a new owner, out of house and home.


Model #002, already underway, will be about 3 inches taller and 2 inches wider and deeper. $9,000, tops.

If you like blue trim on white paint, start saving up.

***

Last photos from The Workshop are right here.

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New Children’s Book Pt 5: “All Dads Have Gas”

[Suitable for children of all ages.]

All Dads Have Gas

Chapter Three - Dad explains the bad fishy smell

Picture in your mind a father in shorts and scruffy T-shirt a-walkin’ with his 6-year old son toward the shade of a big maple tree beside a garden of tall and healthy tomato plants.

Both are sweating from the heat of a sunny July afternoon.

“Let’s sit down and take a break for a few minutes,” says the father.

The boy nods.

The man opens a lunch pail and takes out some food and water.

“That rotten fishy smell is coming from me,” say the father. “I’ve got bad gas today.”


["Bad gas might come from a fish supper."]

“I thought so,” says the boy before drinking water from a thermos.

“You did?”

“Yes,” says the boy. “I didn’t think it was a duck.”

“What about a chicken?” says the father.

“Nope,” says the boy.

“What about a dog or a fish or a garbage can?” says the father.

The boy shakes his head and says, “I thought you were tooting.”


["Do you like to eat pickled eggs?"]

“I can’t fool you,” says the father while opening a container of nibblies. “It was me alright. Something I ate or drank last night, maybe even this morning, is giving me gas.”

“Like what,” asks the boy.

“I ate extra fish last night. And I had a beer after supper. And this morning I drank two large cups of coffee. Maybe that’s a bad mix and makes me fart.”

“I don’t say that word,” says the boy. “I say toot.”

“Where did you hear that word,” asks the father.

“Mom told me to say it.”

The father’s eyes grow as big and round as the pickled eggs and apples in the lunch pail.


["Do apples make you toot? I'm a dad. I say 'yes'."]

The father says, “Did she hear you toot?”

“Yes. And I called it a stinker,” says the boy.

Then the father does something that surprises the boy again.

He lays down on the grass, laughs so hard the leaves in the maple tree start to shake and says, “What else do you call them?”

***

Please click here to read New Children’s Book Pt 4: “All Dads Have Gas”.

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The Workshop: The Classic Series eats paint

Regular readers know the following:

I’m building The Classic Series of birdhouses in the workshop

The Classic Series demands Capital Letters

Each unit will be worth at least $8,000 (that’s after complicated mathematical calculations)

I’m not wild about painting three coats (thus the high price tag).


[“I’m now adding the trim. Next, I’ll touch up the paint.”]

Regular readers also know that I usually document every step and am able to bore people to tears with photos from every conceivable angle. And they know I make stuff up.

(Okay, on rare occasions - e.g., the price per unit).






[“The view through one window to another.”]


[“Last job. Add signage. Classic?”: photos GH]

About “not wild about painting three coats.” I didn’t make that up.

***

Last set of photos from The Workshop are right here.

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New Children’s Book Pt 4: “All Dads Have Gas”

[Suitable for children of all ages.]

All Dads Have Gas

Another Interlude

Quack!


Do you think a duck made that noise?

What about a chicken?


Has the chicken done something fishy?

A rotten fish smell is in the air.


Is there a rotten fish nearby?

Hey! What is so stinky in the garden?

***

Please click here to read New Children’s Book Pt 3: “All Dads Have Gas”.

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Bits and Pieces: I can’t buy new CDs anymore

I used to love buying CDs.

Jumbled reasons: I'm retired. I like good tunes. Used CDs were inexpensive for a time at Dr. Disc and The Village Idiot. The Idiot is close to my favourite coffee shop.

Now, my love is fading.


Main reason: The last CD I purchased took 30 minutes to open. The one before that took 20 minutes. The one before that - 10. Average time - 20 minutes, and growing.

Heck, there’s always been the plastic wrap that’s on tighter than a rusted bolt on the ’64 Volkswagen I used to own. As well, I have to use sharp scissors and usually come close to poking my eye out while sitting too close to my TV.

And now, as on my latest purchase (and last? Ever?), I find that once through the plastic skin I have to deal with strips of tape - applied by some heartless beggar - at the top and bottom of the case.


["WTHeck?! Cancel my dentist's appointment!": photo GH]

I’m growing older. I just can’t spare the time anymore.

***

Some good news about good tunes right here.

More Bits and Pieces right here.

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Bird watching: My luck hasn’t changed much

I’ve been trying to snap at least one good photo of the male cardinal that visits my bird feeder on a regular basis.

Just this morning, while I was puttering, my wife said, “A cardinal is at the feeder right now.”

“Is it the male?” I asked.

When she said ‘yes’ I grabbed my camera and walked toward the back door window.

“I need to clean the glass. Stink. He’ll be gone,” I said.

So I took one photo - a poor one in my opinion.


Not only do I need to clean two panes of glass I shoot through but I need to change the feeder’s position so the perch isn’t in the way.

While I explained the tasks to my wife, the cardinal hopped into the open, looked at me and flew away.

“Stink. My camera wasn’t ready.”

I’m learning - but slowly.

***

More Bird Watching right here.

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New Children’s Book Pt 3: “All Dads Have Gas”

[Suitable for children of all ages.]

All Dads Have Gas

Chapter Two - A bad smell is in the air

The boy steps toward another healthy tomato plant behind his father, but before raking a small weed, he sniffs the air again.

Something smells fishy. Bad fishy.


“Dad, do you smell that?” says the boy.

“Do I smell what?” says the father.

“A bad smell,” says the boy.

“I’m not sure,” says the father. “What does it smell like?”

“It smells like a rotten fish. But worse.”

“Really?” says the father. “I don’t smell that.”

“But it’s right here,” says the boy while wrinkling his nose and waving his free hand in the space between himself and his father.

The father sniffs the air.

“I do smell something,” says the father, “but it doesn’t smelly like rotten fish.”


["A wet dog can smell bad sometimes. What else?"]

“What does it smell like?” asks the boy.

“I smell something like the inside of a wet garbage can,” says the father.


Then he asks the boy, “Do you think you smell a wet garbage can? There are three cans behind our house.”

The boy shakes his head. He still thinks he smells a fish. A bad fish.

Then the father says something that surprises the boy.

“Well, maybe what you smell is coming from me.”


Quack!

***

Please click here to enjoy an interlude in New Children’s Book Pt 2: “All Dads Have Gas”.

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Zoom w a View: Some Aussies have a sense of humour

Water levels are higher in some parts of Australia than many people can handle.

Still, a display of good humour is often the order of the day.

So said an Australian blogger: "As you might already know with most Australians, even in times of adversity, we are pretty laid back people and still see humour in everything. And the community spirit in us....just awesome. Like the Nike ad, We "just do it."

Some towns have cleared up that well that no one would think a flood went past that town... "


["High Tide Heels. What colour matches your wardrobe?"]

***

More Zoom w a View here.

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New Children’s Book Pt 2: “All Dads Have Gas”

[Suitable for children of all ages.]

All Dads Have Gas

An Interlude

Quack!


["What? What?"]

Do you think a duck made that noise?

***

Please click here to read New Children’s Book Pt 1: “All Dads Have Gas”.

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Climate Change Concerns Pt 2: The Deadly Decade

Recently, while reading online news out of Australia about their extreme flooding events, I came across related environmental news - ‘The Deadly Decade’ by Adam Morton.


One paragraph in particular caught my attention:

“It has been said so often that it should be well known by now: no extreme event can be definitively blamed on the surge in atmospheric greenhouse gases since industrialisation.”

“But when events closely replicate what dozens of climate models have predicted will come, neither can they and climate change be divorced.”

I agree. Divorce is out of the question.

Extreme weather events, climate instability, human behaviour. Like ham and swiss on rye.

Mr. Morton mentions the following:

Munich Re reported that its database of natural catastrophes showed the number of extreme weather events such as windstorms and floods had tripled since 1980 "and the trend is expected to persist".


Analysing the data from the world's three temperature datasets, the World Meteorological Organisation last month reported that the past decade was the warmest since instrumental measurement began in 1850, and 2010 was on track to be the hottest year, and certainly in the top three, regardless of the extraordinary snow dumps clogging European and US cities over Christmas.

(There is significant evidence to suggest that global warming is responsible for the extreme northern winters of the past two years. An increase in air pressure in the Arctic atmosphere caused by warmer heat coming off a relatively ice-free ocean is pushing cold air south.)

Eighteen countries broke their records for the hottest day ever this year. Only one year in the 20th century — 1998 — was warmer than any so far in the 21st.

Readers, a deadly decade indeed.

And what will be humankind’s likely response?

Link here to full article to check out Mr. Morton’s point of view.

***

Please click here to read Climate Change Concerns Pt 1: The Deadly Decade

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The Workshop: This one is going to cost you a fortune

Some people say, “So, Mr. Harrison, how do you figure out how much to charge for one of your big birdhouses?”

Well, all I can say is, I’m so glad people ask. It makes me think.

There are a lot of things to consider. Such as...

(And this is where I have to get creative to justify the big bucks).

I rescued the lumber personally from a pile of scrap in my own back yard. Sweat equity is worth something.


[“Three coats of paint. That’s big bucks right there!”]

The lumber came from Wiarton, my contractor drove it here to use on our house reno, so I likely paid for his gas when he handed me his final bill. I charge for gas.

Then there’s all my work, the measuring and cutting and sanding and assembling and painting and vacuuming the shop and the cost of the hydro. And hydro has gone up. Way up.

And I’m not anywhere near done yet. Then there’s the fussing with door, window and building trim. More measuring, cutting, sanding, painting and assembling.


Then there’s the signage.


[“The signage is fussy stuff. Not cheap!”: photos GH]

Good grief. I’m up to $8,000!

And I haven’t even cleaned up the paint room in the basement.

Are you still with me?

***

Last trip to The Workshop mentioned here.

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New Children’s Book Pt 1: “All Dads Have Gas”

[Suitable for children of all ages.]

All Dads Have Gas

Chapter One - There is a loud quack in the garden

Picture in your mind a father in shorts and scruffy T-shirt a-workin’ silently in his garden with the help of his curious 6-year old son.

Both are raking weeds away from healthy tomato plants and feeling the heat of a sunny July afternoon.

Suddenly, the silence between them is broken.

“Quack!”

“Dad, did you hear that?” says the boy.

“Sorry. What’s that, son?” says the father.

“I thought I heard a duck,” says the boy.

“Where?” says the father.


["All work and no play? Not this father. I say, maintain a sense of humour at all times.": circa 1976]

“Over there,” says the boy. Then he points toward a tall tomato plant behind his father.

The father looks behind him. No duck.

“Our neighbour has chickens. Maybe you heard a chicken cluck,” says the father.

“No, it didn’t sound like a chicken cluck. It sounded like a duck quack.”

“Another neighbour has a dog. Maybe you heard a dog bark,” says the father.

“No, it didn’t sound like a dog bark. It sounded like a duck quack. A loud one.”

“Well, isn’t that the strangest thing,” says the father, as he steps into the next row of healthy tomato plants and wipes his brow.

“You’re doing a great job with that rake, son,” says the father.

“Will you help me with another row?” he asks. “Together we’ll keep our eyes peeled for that duck of yours.”

The boy nods, and sniffs the air.

***

Chapter Two to soon follow.

Quack. Why, isn’t that the strangest thing?

To learn about the inspiration behind this exciting children’s book, “All Dads Have Gas,” please click here.

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Bits and Pieces: That’s right. Two books for $7.75

You were probably aghast!!

“How can that happen?” someone likely blurted out.

Yesterday I wrote the following after returning from a successful trip to Chapters bookstore:

“Because my wife bought the coffee I was able to browse for free and walk out with two books for $7.75 plus tax.”

Really. It happened.

The Boys of Everest. $5.99 before a discount.


I read 35 pages last night while riding my exercise bike. It was so worth it. That is, buying the book. The riding tired me out but I a bad night’s sleep followed.


The Birder’s Companion. $2.00 before discount. Only 1 copy left. Get there quick if you’re into birding.

No doubt, I’ll be referring to both books in some way in the future.

Sure, only $7.75, but I’ve got to get my money’s worth.

***

The last book I recommended was also linked to the great outdoors.

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Deforest City News: Good Tunes at the London Music Club

This is not a paid advertisement. Not kidding.

Last Saturday night my wife and I visited the LMC, paid our $7 at the door, bought Pete Denomme’s new CD for $15, then sat back and listened to Pete present 12 of his 13 songs live.

He done good. The place rocked.

I even got up to dance to a couple of bouncing numbers, and much to my surprise, my feet actually moved in sync with the music.

Pete's CD "Nice To Be Home" is now available @ LMC, Grooves & The Village Idiot...  


To listen to a few tracks, please click here.

In my opinion, there are many places in this town for Londoners to have a good time that includes tapping feet to good tunes.

However, on Saturday night, it felt like I was in the middle of the best place to be.

Drop by yourself some time soon.

***

I go so far as to recommend a TV show and book here.

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Bits and Pieces: Book titles fractured by design

This is not an advertisement. Though Chapters is a real place, none of the books referred to below exist in the real world.

That said, allow me to mention three things that go together in my mind:

A visit to Chapters bookstore

A cup of dark roast (still under 2 bucks, thank goodness)

A wrinkled tenner (much different than a wrinkled tenor)

Sorry. Four things go together in my mind.

All of the above, plus bargain book tables.

Because my wife bought the coffee I was able to browse for free and walk out with two books for $7.75 plus tax.


["All Dads Have Gas?" I'd read that: GH circa 1969]

Oh yeah, they’ll be great reading once I’m finished the two others I’m working on right now.

As well, while browsing I had a few laughs to myself. A few real book titles morphed into titles I would rather read.

For example, instead of reading ‘I Can Make You Thin’ I’d rather read ‘I Can Make You Think.’ The way things are going, however, in the real world, a more appropriate title might be ‘I Can Make You Thick.’

‘Body by Design’ sounded interesting, but I think the money is with the boomer generation who seem to be adding on pounds by the minute and following the credo ‘Body, I resign.’

Because of two large price stickers I only caught the following words of a title as I walked by one bargain table, i.e., ‘All Dads Can...’

The words quickly morphed into ‘All Dads Have Gas,’ and I chuckled to myself and thought I should write a children’s book with that title asap.

I’m pretty sure I’d make a fortune. I’m an expert on the topic, after all.

***

Read some Lite news here.

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Climate Change Concerns Pt 1: The Deadly Decade

While reading online news out of Australia (at Brisbane Times.com) about extreme flooding events occurring there, I came across related environmental news (in my opinion) and an article entitled ‘The Deadly Decade’ by Adam Morton.

Morton writes about Neville Nicholls, a climate scientist who “long believed his role was research, not advocacy. But when he woke on the morning following Black Saturday (so named because of infamous bush fires), turned on his TV and caught his breath after witnessing the shocking aerial footage of what was once Marysville, he instinctively blamed himself.”

Nicholls says, "My initial thought was: is this my fault? Has this happened because I haven't been out there saying that this stuff is going to have catastrophic consequences for us? It is the first time I have ever been shaken from my belief that I shouldn't be an advocate on climate change."


[Black Saturday bushfires Photo: Jason South. The past 10 years have been the hottest since measurements began, and climate scientists have long warned of the extreme weather still to come. Adam Morton reports.]

He, along with some of Australia’s most decorated scientists in climate fields, grew concerned that “published evidence in their areas of expertise was being misused or ignored. Believing they faced a misinformation campaign driven by fossil-fuel interests and an intransigent political system, they formed Climate Scientists Australia as a means to improve the quality of public information and decision-making.”

Though the article relates to concerns about climate change from an Australian point of view (e.g., “for some members, the challenge they faced was underscored in July when the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission released its four-volume final report and made little reference to climate change”), issues related to misinformation campaigns and intransigent political systems are common world-wide.

I therefore recommend you link up to The Deadly Decade by Adam Morton when time allows.

[Read the full article here]

***

More Climate Change Concerns here.

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Yipes! Dead economist slams municipal budgets. Or does he?

A recent and highly imaginative letter to the editor gets full marks for waking me up.

Really, it’s not every day a quote from a dead French economist is cited here in Canada to encourage municipal politicians to hold the line on public sector wages.

The letter from Jim Rodgers (Blenheim) begins as follows:

“With the annual municipal budgets upon us and the usual demands for higher wages, I am reminded of the saying of the 19th-century French economist Frederic Bastiat...”

Wait. Stop the movie for a sec. I’ve got to catch my breath. A man from Blenheim realizes budgetary matters are being discussed in his region and a saying from a long dead economist enters his mind.

Yipes. My education has been sadly neglected.

But not today. I’m going to Google this one! Back in a minute.

... (Hum the Jeopardy theme song while waiting)

I’m back with good news. Information about Bastiat is plentiful.

This from Biography of Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) by Thomas J. DiLorenzo:


CLAUDE FREDERIC BASTIAT was a French economist, legislator, and writer who championed private property, free markets, and limited government.

After twenty years of intense intellectual preparation, articles began to pour out of Bastiat, and soon took the form of his first book, Economic Sophisms, which to this day is still arguably the best literary defense of free trade available.

While Bastiat was shaping economic opinion in France, Karl Marx was writing Das Kapital, and the socialist notion of "class conflict" that the economic gains of capitalists necessarily came at the expense of workers was gaining in popularity.

Bastiat's Economic Harmonies explained why the opposite is true, that the interests of mankind are essentially harmonious if they can be cultivated in a free society where government confines its responsibilities to suppressing thieves, murderers, and special-interest groups who seek to use the state as a means of plundering their fellow citizens.

In other words, some things change and other things stay the same.

Many governments today support free markets and free trade but have stiff competition from major corporations - some of the most powerful of special-interest groups - when it comes to plundering citizens.

So, I’m surprised that Mr. Rodgers doesn’t make any mention of the private sector or corporate budgets and CEO wages.

For example: When he quotes Bastiat’s reasonings, i.e., “when plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that justifies it...” how is it that the private sector didn’t come to mind?

***

A bias against the public sector and for the private sector has existed for many years in some quarters.

A balanced approach is more important, in my opinion.

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The Workshop: The Classic Series is moving forward

My latest batch of birdhouses will be called The Classic Series and because they are so big and important the name deserves capital letters.


["Is bigger better when building birdhouses? We'll see": photos GH]

So far, I’ve priced only two purple martin houses at over $100 per unit, but I think every one of The Classic Series will be almost twice that. People have to pay more for capital letters, you know.

The sloped roof (2 degrees) and four apartments took a bit of time - the most part of yesterday afternoon.


The workshop was chilly so I worked quickly. Fortunately, I didn’t hit my thumb even once.


Instructions on the paint cans tell me I shouldn’t apply paint unless the temperature is over 10 degrees, so I’m going indoors to the basement.


The primer coat is finished, so tomorrow I should be able to apply the first of two coats of white latex and think about what colour the trim will be.


Red, blue, yellow, green? Whatever I decide, I have the feeling I’ll be dreaming in technocolour and 3D tonight.

***

How much are capital letters worth these days?

Earlier pictures from The Workshop are right here.

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