Hard Times

With the economy the way it is, you have to take time to look at the flowers instead of looking at your retirement account or the price of food and gas, not to mention medical, insurance, and all the rest. Almost everyone I met this holiday weekend has had to cut back on just about everything, me included. Most talk was about the things we have done to save money. It wasn't too long ago when we would be talking about the things we were planning on purchasing, not anymore.

There was no shortage of cars on the road this pasts Sunday, all heading back home from a rare three day holiday weekend. I had heard that the number of travelers was only down by one percent, despite the fact that gas was over four dollars a gallon. I read a news story about the people who are converting their vehicles to run on vegetable oil. I didn't realize that it is illegal to do that in most states. It turns out that if you use a fuel other than gas, some states expect you to get a special permit, so that they can collect the taxes that you are cheating them out of by burning alternative fuels. They want to make sure you are not polluting the air too, but everywhere you turn these days there seems to be a road block to our creative spirit.