A conversation:

Ian: Looks like Mama's making yummy stir fry.

Caitlyn: Stir fry?

Ian: (pointing at wok) Stir fry. (pointing at Caitlyn) Small fry.

Caitlyn: (pause, then pointing at Ian) Big fry.

I dreamt aliens came to Earth and needed humans to return with them. They anticipated no problem finding volunteers as they were offering excellent child care and complete health benefits...

Caitlyn has, without my really noticing it (bad Mama! bad Mama!), started speaking in sentences. "Look at me!" "Don't touch, just look at it." "Go see more amin-als!" "I'm tired. Time for stories." "I'm cold." "Mama's name is Christina. Papa's name is Papa. 'Kit-tin's' name is 'Cait-Lyn'." Her sentences frequently wander off in the middle, sometimes hitting a skip like an old record, leaving her repeating something over and over while she tries to figure out what word she wants next. And there's still lots of gibberish, although most of it seems to be acknowledged as gibberish and just said because it sounds neat.

I have (more or less) officially finished the planned planting for the backyard. Caitlyn and I planted pepper plants and three kinds of squash seeds (zucchini, pumpkin, and butternut) this morning. Caitlyn seems to enjoy planting seeds. I put the holes in the dirt and she puts in the seeds. Putting the mulch back over them is fun, but the best part is getting to wave her hands in the water from the watering can. When we're done, she says, "Plant more seeds!" This may be about the seeds or the opportunity to play with the water.

So, the veggie beds are full. The peas are taking over. We're eating the first lettuce. The strawberries are getting ripe. The neighborhood seems to be astounded by the potato plants, which are getting rather large, mostly because it seems that no one has ever seen a potato plant before. I'll post another picture in a month or so, when the beans are up and the tomatoes have filled out a little.

So, gas prices are going up, again. I'm getting emails from MoveOn with "$4.00 per gallon?!" in the subject line. They are collecting signatures for a petition to Congress saying "Gasoline price gouging should be made a federal crime before the summer price increases hurt more American families."

And, then, like a dose of reason, this Canadian blog post shows up on the radar.

Does it not seem strange that gasoline is as cheap as it is? Most people would say it's not cheap, as they're currently flying off the handle with rising prices. They're even organizing gas boycotts to stick it to the man. Of course, these boycotts are absolutely ineffective and fucking lame, as the boycotters are likely to fill their tanks before or after the date of the boycott.

But really, gas is dirt cheap. People manage to piss and moan about the price of a litre of gas, while they have no problem paying more for a litre of bottled water.

The writer then goes on to cite a Canadian Broadcasting Corp article about most expensive liquids. Gas is significantly less expensive than maple syrup, slightly less expensive than a Coke, and just slightly more expensive than liquid nitrogen.

Yes, it's a bit alarming to fill up the car and pay almost $50 for it. But it's made me a somewhat more aggressive about consolidating the errands and taking the bus for outings that don't involve groceries. And it's good to remember that what we're paying at the pump doesn't reflect the complete cost of unrestricted gas-guzzling. While I'm sure that Big Oil is doing everything in their power to rake in as much money as possible before the oil in the ground runs out, I'm also pretty sure they are being subsidized in some way. They aren't being asked to pay for the environmental damage they are facilitating. Perhaps, instead of making price gouging a federal offense, we should be petitioning that Big Oil be fined or otherwise presented with a bill for greenhouse gas clean up.