Gas Up: June 26

Same old, same old for me. The price of gas at the nearest gas station stayed exactly the same for yet another week.

Since I don’t drive a lot, it isn’t gas prices that bother me. I’m more concerned with the price of fuel oil come winter.

I finally got an appointment for a quote on a new furnace. (Everyone and his cousin is looking to install a new furnace this summer, so appointments for quotes are hard to come by.) Hopefully, by the time winter rolls around I’ll be set up with a furnace that uses less fuel oil, because I really, really need one. The furnace I have now is very big,  very old, and very inefficient. And very noisy to boot.  Oh, and the humidifier leaks water all over the basement floor.

I can’t use wood for heating anymore, either. I am, it seems, allergic to pine, and all the wood for burning around here is pine. A few years ago I started getting a very itchy rash on my scalp and neck (and my arms when I wore short sleeves) during the season when nasty yellow pine pollen is dusting everything. This year when the real Christmas tree was indoors I started getting a rash, too. Then, when it got cold and we used the wood stove to supplement the oil furnace, I got rash whenever I touched the logs. As long as someone else did all the log handling, I was fine; but next year I won’t  have anyone to bring in the wood and feed the fire for me. So you see, I really do need a new furnace, don’t I?

Can you guess what happened with the price of gas where Dorothy lives?

What about the prices where you get your gas? Up, down, or the same? And as long as we’re on the subject of furnaces, are you worried about heating costs next year, too?

Update on Saturday, June 28, 2008 at 9:43AM by rebecca

In Candy’s neck of the mountains, most stations are selling gasoline for $4.19 per gallon, although she saw one with a price of $4.05.  She has begun to her bike to try to save on fuel costs.

Update on Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 10:16PM by rebecca

Threegirldad makes a game out of predicting gas price spikes. He anticipates another spike in 7 to 10 days. As for the price of gas right now where he lives, he says:

Two days ago, it went from $3.75 to $3.89. Now it’s dropped a couple of cents….

Rosemary reports:

Our regular grade of gas was $3.88/gal. today, but with a grocery store coupon I was able to get it for $3.77/gal.

And as for winter heating, she says,

We use propane gas, and we’re definitely concerned about rising costs.

Comments

[candy]

I saw $4.05 on a gas station, but most are $4.19. I just got my bike tuned and rode it for the first time today. I sure need to get some strength. With 97 degrees, a slight incline and smoke from California fires, I was quite spent when I got home.

Bummer about the wood stove. We really want a wood stove, but it is illegal to heat with one unless it is the only source of heat. Have you thought of a kerosene heater to supplement your heat?

[rebecca]

...it is illegal to heat with one unless it is the only source of heat

Now that make no sense at all!

[candy]

We live in a bowl sorta like L.A. We get air inversions in the winter that traps all the smoke, so the ruling is that wood stoves are not allowed unless it was grandfathered in so to speak. I think wood pellet stoves are allowed but wood pellets are really expensive too.

[rebecca]

We get inversions, too, and if the smoke gets too bad, the city can issue a no woodburning ban. So we have to have other sources of heat along with the wood.

[threegirldad]

Two days ago, it went from $3.75 to $3.89. Now it's dropped a couple of cents, and will continue to do so for 7 to 10 days, at which point it will spike up again. Anticipating the spike long ago turned into a sort of game.

[rosemary]

Our regular grade of gas was $3.88/gal. today, but with a grocery store coupon I was able to get it for $3.77/gal.
We use propane gas, and we're definitely concerned about rising costs.