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Its been just over a week since my grandmother passed away. She had a bad heart, diabetes, calcified plaque in her major arteries. The last three and a half months she has been in and out of the hospital multiple times due to heart attacks and related problems. Maybe I just have a natural instinct when it comes time to tell when someone has come to the end of their life or maybe it is just common sense. Maybe its just my willingness to accept life at face value for what it is.

I wish I could say I feel a loss in my life, that I miss her, that I want to cry, but I don’t feel any of those things. If anything I feel relieved that she isn’t suffering anymore. Up until the last couple weeks of her death I don’t think that she was in agonizing pain, but I may be wrong on that. I do believe that she was going through allot of emotional pain. The pain and emotion of not being able to take care of a man she had never planned on taking care of in the first place. I know that this sounds odd. But she had expected my grandfather to out live her. That he would be taking care of her up to the point where it was time for her to pass on. But life didn’t work out that way. My grandfather ended up going first. He ended up with Alzheimer’s and needed constant care up until the point of his death. Care that she could not give him because her body was worn and tied.

This caused her a great deal of emotional pain, to see someone she loved in need and not being able to take care of him. She was dealing with the emotional pain of living in a body that no longer served her. She was an independent woman who enjoyed the freedom of fixing her own meals, making a pot of tea, talking on the phone, and playing games on her computer. She enjoyed serving others, being able to help them when they needed help, making afghans, working crossword puzzles, and fixing them meals. She enjoyed being able to go out with her friends, taking trips in the car, and spending time with her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Not being able to do these things on her own terms caused her a great deal of stress, frustration and emotional pain. I don’t think it matters if you are 5, 12, 30 or 84 if your body no longer serves you it becomes your prison and you stop being you. Her body had just reached that point. It couldn’t be fixed, it had served its purpose and she was tired of fighting it, she was ready to move on.

Grandma’s biggest fear was that she would die alone in someplace like a hospital or nursing home. I understand that fear. Its the fear of the unknown and no one wants to face the unknown by their self. Its the fear a child faces when put on a bus for the first time by their parents to go to school. Its the fear the parent feels placing their child on that bus the first time knowing that they can’t be there with them, to hold their hand and let them know that everything is going to be okay. Basically Grandma had to get on that bus and we could only hold her hand until it was time for her to board.

I’m not upset she had to get on the bus, I’m just sorry she had such a rough walk from the house to the bus stop. She had a good stay when she was here. She made allot of friends, got married twice, was blessed with three children that truly loved her, and tons of grandchildren and great grandchildren who adored her. She touched many lives. I think that when that bus finally gets her to where ever its going to take her she’s going to be greeted by a whole bunch of people who have been waiting a long time to see her.

So long Grandma, have a good trip

It has been bothering me for quite some time that certain conservatives revel in the fact that they drive gas guzzling automobiles. Almost to the point where they sound like if you don’t drive a gas guzzler then your not a conservative. I’m not saying they shouldn’t be allowed to drive their guzzler. One should have the freedom to choose whatever vehicle makes you happy and meets your needs wether that be a fuel sipping mo-ped or a gas guzzling Dodge Viper.

I realize that most of time they do this to antagonize and annoy the environmentalists. The majority of which believe that everyone should be sporting some kind of hybrid or alternative fuel vehicle when not making use of environmentally friendly public transportation. I don’t have issue with people wanting to be good stewards of the environment, it is the only one we have, but I believe that the environmentalists take things to extremes. They also tend to take a more liberal agenda when it comes to government because they believe big government is how you are going to force people to become more environmentally minded. Which is a fallacy in it self, and a completely different topic.

Most conservatives tend to be Capitalists, which refers to an economic and social system in which the means of production are predominantly privately owned, are operated for profit, and in which investment, distribution, income, production and pricing of goods and services are determined through the operation of a market economy.

Most liberals tend to be Socialists, which refers to the goal of a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community. This control may be either direct – exercised through popular collectives such as worker’s councils – or indirect – exercised on behalf of the people by the state. As an economic system, socialism is often characterized by state, worker, or community ownership of the means of production, goals which have been attributed to, and claimed by, a number of political parties and governments throughout history.

As a conservative I value the ability to stretch my money, so I can purchase the things in life that I want and need. Be that a trip to my favorite vacation spot, dinner at my favorite stake house, or saving for my kids college tuition. This is good for me and it is also good for the economy. But that is not how most people think about things, at least not in this day in age. Today most people believe that they need the latest and greatest good and services, and they need them yesterday. Kids want to come out of college with the same buying power as their parents who have probably spent most of their kids lifetime building up to what they can currently afford. You best friend from school buys a 3,500 SQFT home and now all of a sudden the 2,400 SQFT home that you have been paying on for the last 15 years is no longer good enough and so you go out and get a 3,700 SQFT home just so you are not out done. We do things based upon impulses not long term goals or plans. We give into the need to feel important and be recognized by the things we own versus who we are as people. We feel more proud of the fact that we can go out and purchase the newest Cadillac versus the fact that we were able to get our kids through college without them turning into alcoholics.

How, might you ask, does this factor into driving a fuel efficient car? Doesn’t it make sense then that if I value my hard earned income and the things it brings me in life that I wouldn’t want to go blow it on $35K vehicle that got 19 – 27 MPG. Instead I would want to spend it on something that cost $12K and got 31+ MPG. I’m not talking about a hybrid or alternative fuel vehicle like a Toyta Prius or a Honda Civic Hybrid, both of which run $25K – $35K. The hybrid technology in these vehicles has not been completely proven yet. Most people just see the 40 MPG number and don’t factor in the other costs such as replacing and disposing of the fuel cells. Not to mention most people don’t under stand how hybrid systems work. The fact that the conventional engine has to warm up to a certain temperature before the hybrid engine kicks in, or the fact that when you are tooling down the interstate at 70 MPH that you are running the conventional engine and not the hybrid engine.

No I’m talking about the subcompact cars such as the Toyota Yaris and Honda Fit. The Mercedes Smart Car and the Toyota IQ. Unfortunately the Smart Car is in such high demand not only did customers have to pay $99 to reserve the right to buy one but the price of these little city cars is putting them around $26K and thats for a used model. The MSRP is suppose to be about $12K USD.

I purchased a brand new Yaris at the end of January for $10.5K (tax, title, and registration not included). To date I have gotten no less than 31 MPG driving in the city. I calculated it out that it is costing me approximately $0.09 in gas for every mile I drive based on $3.25 per gallon. It has an 11 gallon tank and I typically fill up after I’ve used between 9 and 10 gallons of gas which means that I’m filling my tank for less than $33 every 11 days. I go 9 days if I do allot of driving on the weekends.

Is this the way everyone should go? Nope, I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is think about your needs, think about your budget, and then make an informed decision on what kind of car you pick to drive back and forth to work or school. Just because a car is small and compact does not mean that its going to get good gas milage. The Mazda Miata, Ford Focus, Chevy Aveo are small compact cars but in my opinion getting 24MPG in the city and 32 MPG on the highway is not acceptable. It might be if you are use to 19/24 MPG but lets face it we can do better.

If you enjoy the occasional camping trip and feel that you need your Ford Explorer or Chevy Trailblazer, consider renting one for that occasion. Most of the time we use it to haul all our stuff to the campsite and once we get their the vehicle gets parked until we are ready to haul it all back home. The way I look at it, renting one for a weekend or even a week is allot less expensive than the cost of fueling, maintaining, and insuring it all year round.

The same goes for trucks. Home Depot, Lowes, and U-HAUL will rent you a truck for $20 per day. If you are going on a long trip and don’t want to drive your city car there is always the option of renting a Lincoln Town Car or Cadillac to make the ride more enjoyable, and that’s all possible because you are managing your money. In my opinion this is a much more conservative approach to owning a vehicle for the average person.