“Recession is when a neighbor loses his job.
Depression is when you lose yours.”

—Ronald Reagan
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It’s been a rather strange, surreal spring. I’ve weathered a number of unexpected financial bumps. First, my big oak tree in the front yard had to be taken down. That cost a bundle. Then my furnace went on the blink. Another $300.00 out the door. Then a windstorm damaged the gable end of my old garage. Had to get a crew to replace some siding. Another few hundred bucks.

Now, to top things off, my upstairs tenant has fallen hopelessly behind on the rent, making absolutely no effort to pay. Effectively destroying my monthly cash flow. I am not a bank. Why someone would just make a unilateral decision not to pay rent that’s due escapes me. I can’t do that with my mortgage.

I have been forced to file eviction proceedings. This was not well-received. Looks like it will be a long surly knock down, drag out fight. With a person who lives above me in my house. Fortunately, I have a signed iron-clad lease. I’ll post my (very detailed) thoughts on the situation after it gets resolved, hopefully sometime before the end of the month.

Being a landlord is not all it’s cracked up to be. I should just sell the house. But now the housing market’s down. And that’s the way it’s going.

“Come on, Lord,” I think wearily, “surprise me with some unexpected good things. I’m way overdue.”

But I can still pay my bills. For now. So that’s a blessing, I suppose. At least I can assure myself piously that it is.

Nationally, a latent fear simmers below the surface of things. Gloom and doom head-lines scream every day, proclaiming the terrible state of the economy. Construction has slowed drastically. Crews scrounge for work. We get desperate calls every few days at the office. Most get the song and dance of polite refusal. We try to keep our regulars busy, and are booked well into the summer.

Inflation is taking its toll. I have only myself to feed, and even I notice the increased food prices at the grocery store and the occasional restaurant meal. And gas prices, the highest ever, even adjusted for inflation. They are ridiculous. Worse than the Carter years, perish the thought. Around $3.60 per gallon locally. Probably hit $4 or $5 by summer.

I don’t blame the oil companies for high prices. They are in business for profit and deserve any profit they make. There is no such thing as “windfall profits,” a phrase beloved by both Obama and Hillary. High fuel prices are ALWAYS caused by govern-mental interference. Always.

Last week there were a bunch of earthquakes in Reno, Nevada. Not a place particularly known for such activity. Funny thing, the quakes keep getting worse as they hit. Usu-ally the big one hits first, with steadily weakening tremors. These are reversed.

Next, California will probably slide into the sea. Not that that would be such an awful thing. Most bad trends start in California and sweep their way east, engulfing us all. If the state just disappeared, that would take care of that.

The “end of the worlders” now emerge cautiously from their caves, stick their fingers in the wind, take stock and boldly proclaim the imminent end of history as we know it. Wackos.

Politicians run thither and yon in this election year, railing against the “rich” and outlining their programs to fix what’s wrong. Almost universally, their programs will only make things worse. Infinitely worse.

So what gives? Are we headed to untraveled territory? Depression? Who knows? I doubt it. But we will likely see things we would have thought impossible even a few short years ago.

Food shortages. Gas at $10 per gallon. Blood on the streets. Riots in the cities. Riots in Lancaster County. (Just kidding on that last one.)

Most of the current problems are self-inflicted, caused by government policies. Food prices are escalating because of high fuel prices. And because so much corn is being commandeered for bio-fuels. We are the only country in history that is burning our food supply, creating a world wide crisis, especially in third-world countries. Utterly senseless. An “Alice in Wonderland” reality.

It’s the result of our insane environmental policies, pushed for years by the wacko Greens. Oil is the fuel of the engine of the free world. And the unfree world, for that matter. Yes, oil. And the big oil companies. We have more than four billion barrels of oil in the ground right here in our own country. Because of loony environmentalists like AlGore, it will likely stay right where it is. So the caribou and the turtles and the gnats can play.

At least until there is a revolt. Until the people get fed up. But they won’t get fed up if they don’t know the truth.

Radical environmentalists and animal rights groups like PETA actually believe that humans are a cancer upon the earth. That the earth would be better off, more pure, more natural, if we were all dead. That a turtle or a songbird or a rat has a higher priority than humans. They are filled with a deep senseless hatred and loathing for themselves and for us.

Those who hate God love death.

I believe that if our government came out tomorrow and announced it was placing first priority on the job of extracting oil from our own soil, that henceforth we will build oil refineries and nuclear power plants as fast as possible, the price of gasoline would drop by thirty to fifty percent overnight. I believe it would. And it’s simply a crime that it’s not being done. We all suffer. We all spend a good portion of our budget on fuel. Gasoline and heating oil. I shudder to think what next winter will bring.

But that’s just me. Couldn’t be that simple, could it? Yes, it could. And if I were King, I’d make it so. Too bad I was born a commoner.

CONGRATULATIONS TO JASON AND JULIE YUTZY.

Veronica Elizabeth, their first child, was born on April 24 at 6:22 AM. She weighed 7 lbs, 2 oz. and measured 21 inches.

Next week: The Wedding Adventures