Anyone ever been involved in a "Gold Rush" before?

Totally agree. I wish oil was gone now.

Life did exist before the Industrial Revolution and before the Oil Age. Life will exist after the Industrial and Oil Age. Probably at the same or lower population levels... which means we might have to lop off a zero or maybe two zeroes to the human population of the planet.

Cheap energy is the staff of life... while it was cheap, the population expanded. Once the price is unaffordable, affordable living will disappear. People that scrape by now, will not make it later. There is not one sector of our lives that isn't back referenced to oil. Unless one lives in a house made of sticks or muds or hide, and clothes themselves from the wilderness, and eat only things they catch with their hand, work with tools they made with their hands, and only travel by foot.... oil affects their lives.

I'm all for the Utopia we all seek. I simply dread the thinning and the zombie hordes that will turn savage, once their Bud lite, Marlboros, and Big Mac's disappear, and their kids are hungry. We're always only three days away from a revolution (once food stops being shipped). Without oil, Anarchy will rule for a goodly period, and gentle folk won't survive the hordes...

okay, I'm off my apocalyptic soapbox...

Texican,

Quote: "I simply dread the thinning and the zombie hordes that will turn savage..."

Sounds like you've been watching too many "Mad Max" movies.

Maybe now you can buy a decent mortar mixer! Since rumor has it that gas is on the way out, better make it an electric one ;-)

RF

__________________
It's not good enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required. - Winston Churchill

I agree Texican, I too dread what I term "the interim period" that is going to follow this oil/gas boom; however, I also know that is the only way to get to what's on the other side of it. I do somewhat see the wisdom in taking advantage of opportunity (ie, money) that's put in front of you now, if only to help you and yours better prepare for the uncertain future. I just really wish we would stop the exploitation of the last gas/oil, etc. resources and just get on with the inevitable decline. What we should really be doing is starting that decline NOW while we still have some of the magic elixirs left to help us ease into it, but alas, it doesn't seem that the majority are of that mindset and will continue to pull every last drop they can out of the ground (these people will probably end up being "the zombie hoards" no doubt LOL). But then I don't know why that surprises me as most people in this country don't know the meaning of the word "savings."

Sorry, off my soapbox now...

Oooooohhhh, I'd love to have a cement mixer that had it's own engine, and sweeter would be one jury rigged to work off of natural gas, of which I have a free supply... Right now, I've got two electrics... one will probably never get fixed, as I have one that's a lot simpler, without a silly nylon gear sleeve that wears out, now matter how nice you treat it. And... I've mixed more than my fair share, with a shovel, hoe, and homemade mortar box... Realized I was spending half my time mixing, and wearing myself out doing so...

Oil is a non renewable resource and we're using it up. New fields can only be discovered for so long... and the newer fields will cost more and more... so the days of cheap living with cheap energy are at an end.

On "Mad Max" and other apocalyto movies... Guilty as Charged! :baby04:

Deb... couldn't agree more. Oil has so many uses, gasoline and diesel being one of those fleeting...

Part of my excess gains will be put into refurbishing my off grid array. I kept all of my off grid power equipment after going on the grid... My needs are a large scale battery bank (hopefully I can get dry batteries with included acid... this way they'll last longer in storage), a couple of charge controllers (extra held in a faraday cage, for the inevitable day, when the first one wears out...) an extra 500 watts or so of panels, and one or possibly two mini wind gennies.

We will not be flying to Vegas for the weekend... I've always been frugal, knowing hard times sneak up on you... frugality has kept me going through the belt notching times (cut extra holes in the belt, to tighten up, when you lose weight).

In Illinois we have had MANY "gold rushes" or rather oil booms.

Back in the mid 40's was some prolific discoveries, on the south side of one nearby town for half a mile on both sides of the road it is just littered with tin roofed supply houses that at one time was busily supplying the boom in the Oilpatch.

Really neat to see the buildings, mostly vacant and or being rented for other things, but it is hard for a yound lad like me to imagine that years ago, those buisnesses flourished, as our state was one of the top producers of petroleum.