World Without Oil- Week 6

(This is a fictional account from the fantastic alternative reality game World Without Oil join in! )

June 11-17, 2007

It's the last week of school. Instead of going to a nearby park as was scheduled for the end-of-year picnic, we are holding it on the field. The lights have been off in the classrooms to save on energy and the talent show happened as scheduled with no stage lights-- we just opened the doors to let in natural light & practiced patience to stay quiet enough to hear what was happening on stage.

We've been spending a lot of time playing in the sprinklers in the back yard to fend off the heat-- thankfully this area isn't bad at all, with only 3 days a year that are thoroughly uncomfortable & with large shade trees, we manage to do just fine. Never had air conditioning, so not feeling too much of a difference there. The novelty of eating by candle-light has worn off & our life is set to follow the availability of sunlight.

Of course, this isn't the dark ages, we are just careful-- we try to just use 1 light at a time-- we prefer to maintain energy for the fridge & other "necessaries." Lots of outdoor living.

No riots here, but it's scary to hear about these things going on in the news. We spend a lot of time at the school with other families-- that's where we get news & updates. I'm going to miss this when school gets out.

At $5+/gal, we've decided to cancel our camping trips for the year. Our trip to San Diego in July is going to hold a heavy price tag, but I think it's still worth it... I think. I'm not registering for the conference in Southern California-- just cutting back on expenses. Trying to figure out if going to our national convention in August makes sense-- I'm just not sure about being away from home.

That being said, business is good, but not in the way I had intended. People are working on their albums, coming together- documenting their personal histories. I've seen a rise in business- and the shipping rates we set out in April have held us well for now-- I haven't had to raise shipping rates yet for my customers- we'll see what happens.