Celebrations, cold weather and high fuel prices

Hi neighbors. I don't know how many of these nice days we will have, but I'll take everyone I can! Isn't it great to have 60 degree temps in January? There is more reason to celebrate of course. The new season of Monk started on Friday. I hope all fans of the show caught the first episode of 2006.

Another reason I personally had to celebrate was my daughter's second annual showcase in Des Moines last week.

Featuring students and performances by herself and other professional dancers, the dinner and showcase were very enjoyable.

Her good friend Connie was there with us to help take tickets and then to relax and enjoy the show. We all had a great time.

It's always nice when a parent, family and friends can participate in the events and milestones of people important to them.

One thing I'm not too keen on this winter is fuel prices. My utility company informed me that because they anticipated costs rising for them in the near future, they were going to raise costs for me immediately and for as long as necessary.

Which probably means for as long as possible.

Whatever the reason my fuel bill more than doubled from last year.

I saw on television the other night a show on the history channel about how ancient folks in Britain had hollow tiles in their walls where water heated below their houses, would rise and heat the building.

They could do that a couple of thousand years ago. What's wrong with this picture? Why are there no alternatives available to us today to replace fossil fuels? I don't understand it. We can put men on the moon, make computer chips, create atomic submarines, yet we cannot seem to provide "fire" to the masses.

There was another show I saw about new houses having more solar panels on the roofs these days. That's great for new home owners. What about people who have older homes? Even the old standby of burning wood isn't available to most of us because the insurance rates would go so high no one could afford them.

I wonder how much it would cost to construct a huge Plexiglas dome to cover my house? Passive heat from the sun would help heat it I'll bet.

That's another part of the equation I've never understood. If sunlight helps heat things up, why are window panes so cold? Remember when the new earth houses were designed? They were made from old tires and used aluminum cans. Supposedly once the tires were filled and sealed inside plaster or concrete, they acted as great insulation against cold or heat.

Dennis Weaver, the actor, had one built for him and his family in the desert.

They hype was that within a year and a half from being built, the house was totally self-functioning, self-energized, and the temperatures never varied more than ten points either way from 70 degrees. The same water was heated and recycled to warm the house and to furnish bath water. Cool water was used to air condition the house in the summer through the same type of system.

That's been a couple of decades ago at least. I wonder how that house is doing. Just five years ago I read in a magazine where "starter" earth homes could be built by specially trained contractors, for less than $30,000.

Now why don't we have a few hundred thousand of those houses built around the country? I'm sure there is no shortage of used tires.

What happened to solar heaters? I remember back in grade school when we were reading in our Weekly Readers about how our homes would be heated with solar or nuclear energy.

Of course, we never got those mass transit electric cars and moving sidewalks either.

It just seems so odd to me that a country with so many bright scientists and natural resources can't come up with a better alternative than paying big bucks to buy oil from other countries.

At least I have a home. A good roof over my head and a working furnace...as long as I can afford the gas to run it anyway.

For those of you who may have real problems paying your utility bills (compared to those like me who just complain a lot) please call your fuel supplier and ask for information on getting help with paying your winter heating bill. Don't do without heat this winter! Until the next time friends remember, celebrating good times with friends and family is a wonderful way to spend those cold days. A full house stays warmer as well.