Kenna Morton's Journal, 05 June 2022

-bec-ca—- I hear you. Several people I know, me included, have cx plans for airline travel due to cost of tickets, flight cancellations. The son and daughter of my very Ill neighbor are alternating flying here from the east and south every week to support their parents. Now they have a shortage (supply chain issue) getting the chemo drugs he needs. The little gal got stranded when her flight was cancelled due to no pilot. She ended up at LAX at midnight and one of our younger neighbors had to go get her. She was crying like a little kid when he got to her. She took off from South Carolina at 7am headed for Orange County Airport. — 4 hour flight and gets here at midnight. I’m taking her to Lax late this afternoon. Not a good time to travel under those circumstances. 

I think at $10 a gallon, gas won't need to be rationed, it will just not be affordable 

Kenna, that's so sad. When times get tough, it's a blessing to have put in the effort in cultivating strong relationships with friends and family. It sounds like that's what you have done. Everyone helping each other out, in best way they can. ❤️👍 

Our little cul de sac group are very close and my neighbors are just the best people you would ever want to meet. 

Gas is $5 in Oklahoma where I am. In the last year my fuel bill has more than doubled, our grocery bill has went up 30-50% (and that’s after I’ve cut out a lot of things like processed foods and meat since we had our beef butchered), our household budget for cleaners has went up… I don’t know how people are able to stay afloat. We always find it somewhere but if this keeps up our kids will have to start limiting activities because tournaments, school open gyms etc take a lot of time, fuel and money to do. I saw a meme the other day where a dad texted his daughter saying she couldn’t skip work. Daughter said she’d just tell them she was out of gas and dad relied that wouldn’t work since she worked at a gas station 😝.  

I've really cut down on watching the news. Everyday is a new disaster. We're living in a world were common sense is frowned upon and people care more about how many "likes" they get on a not so interesting post. This must be the stupidest time in history.  

Peeperjj— I feel for families with a lot of kids. . 

It is now july31- gas in my area got to just under $7 a gallon. It is now about $5.50. Prices at the stores have skyrocketed and many of the stores in my area have a lot of bare shelves.. we are beginning to see a bit of the flour shortage that has been a concern and that was expected in the fall. Now they say olive oil is going to take a big jump in price.  

Kaj584life2– I have an ill sister who lives about 40 miles away— so in recent weeks I have been spending close to $150 a week to drive back and forth to doctors, emergencies, etc.  

With Russia and Ukraine having reached an agreement on letting grain laden ships leave port for delivery to the word, the fall wheat crisis may be mitigated a bit. We’ll see how it plays out. 

In Oklahoma our fuel is bouncing around between $3.50-$4 right now. It got almost to $5 but not over (4.99). People have stopped driving so much, my FB friends aren’t posting island vacations this summer like usual, our shelves are 1/2 stocked, basic necessities are out a lot. They say prices went up 18% but that’s a lie. Based on receipts I found in my purse and truck several things are up 40-60%. I’ve always budgeted $150-200 a week for pets, groceries and household. That used to be a heaping cart full and now it’s half a cart. Steaks were $8-12/# last summer and now most is $15-16/#, chicken went from 1.75-2 to 3-4. Oddly enough shrimp didn’t go up much and is cheaper than me buying steak now. Minimum wage here is $7.85 and an average house rental for 1000-1300 sq ft is $800-$1500 a month depending on area and number of bedrooms and bathrooms. Apartments started around $750 for 2 bedroom no bills paid in a bit so good area. I don’t know how people are making it especially since all the stores are short staffed and nobody seems to be applying (many are out on their porch or in their yards during the days).