The temperatures dropped, the wind picked up and the sleet turned to snow. Just when we thought Spring was on its way, we got a severe winter storm that swept through about half of the country. The snow came down all night and didn’t stop until noon. They say we will have more tonight. So I guess it is safe to say that “March has come in like a lion.”
Winter blues
As this month creeps along it has become the month of gloom and doom. The weather is horrible and I am not sure if spring is ever going to make an appearance this year. Some years we get a very early spring and years like this year it seems to creep to us. I know that this year I am so ready for spring and I want to be at the lake with the sun beating down on me, I just am not sure how long I will have to wait for it to be warm enough to go to the lake, I hope it is sooner rather than later.
Preds in a tail spin
This season for the Nashville Predators has been a roller coaster ride that I fear will end in a tail spin. I see a rough road for the team to climb to make the playoffs, we just simply do not have enough offense to make it to the second season. Our defense is still very young and plays hard most of the time, it is on the offensive side where we are having the most trouble this season. The return of Steve Sullivan has helped but not enough we need to make a big trade to get the fire power we need and it needs to be done very soon.
This weekend
I am very excited about this weekend we have tickets to go to the Grand Old Opry and I can not wait to see the show. We go to the old Ryman as much as we can to see shows it is a much better venue than the arena or any where else to see music shows here since they closed down Star Wood a couple of years ago, that never made sense to me as it was the only good outdoor venue here and they just tore it down to build a sub division, what a waste of good music at least that is the way that I feel. We do not need new houses we need a good outdoor venue for music.
Awards shows
One of the best things about living in Nashville is the awards shows that we get to attend every year. Tomorrow is the CMA awards downtown and I have had my tickets since the first of the year. We will go down to see the stars come in on the red carpet and then head in to see the show. I am very excited to be seeing a couple of acts that I have not been able to see in person including the Eagles, every time they have played here in Nashville I have not been able to go to the show so seeing them sing one song and possibly win the group of the year is very exciting to me. I can not wait for tomorrow.
Hockey season
The 2008 hockey season gets under way tomorrow night and I am very ready, it has been a long time since the Red Wings won Lord Stanley’s cup and I am more than ready to get the puck dropped and get this team into the playoffs. It will be a long season but I think that the Nashville Predators will be in the fight again this year and I can not wait for this great game to play out and see what happens this year.
Gas Shortage Continues
It’s been three weeks since Hurricane Ike hit southern Texas and the southeast continues to have gas shortages. About a third of all the gast stations in this area do not have any gas at all, for an entire day at a time. Some stations do have gas but only for about 3-4 hours and then they run out.
Thanks goodness for the site Gas Buddy – I use it every day and have been able to find station that do have gas. I hope we are almost over this shortage. I need normal back in my day!
Out of Gas
This entire past week has been a problem for everyone in this area who needs to buy gas. There is no gas to be had. 85% of the gas stations are out of gas at any given time of day or night.
When the stations do get a tanker truck delivery, they are only getting a partial load and it is only regular gas. There has not been a delivery of premium grade gas here for over 7 days.
The price is not going up any higher than $409 per gallon, with most of the public aware of laws against price gouging. The price stays about the same but some stations are putting limits on the amount of gallons you can get at one time. That limit is usually 10 gallons, although the Thornton’s chain has imposed a limit of $75 per purchase.
All of this is ecause of the disruption to our pipeline from Hurricane Ike. The refineries in Houston that are closed or damaged are the ones that service my town plus most of the southeast.
Low prices?
Today, the price of gasoline dropped to $3.15 a gallon, a price we have not seen in a long time. Not so very long ago the price of gasoline was over $4.00 a gallon and rising.
I took all the vehicles that needed gasoline and filled them up today. I am sure this simple act by me will force the price to rise several cents over the next few days.
I hope it keeps going down and gets to a level that more people can afford. Just this drop of 85 cents or so has made our delivery business more profitable and has eased our money crunch. I hope it keeps going down, but I am not counting on that. We are formulating a “Plan B” to find an alternate source of revenue if the prices go over $5 a gallon this year.
Dry summer
After a very welcome wet spring and early summer, we have hit a very dry spell the last of July and the first part of August.
We have had no rain at all since July 20th and are creeping up on the dreaded “D” word again. Drought is a bad term to use any way.
We had a very dry 2007 and the start of this year was very wet, so we are still ahead of the total that we average in a normal year. It is not too late to get some needed rain and get us back where we need to be, wet and wonderful.