Economical Living: Using Alternative Fuel

Inflation and world unrest have really done a number on gas prices this year. While the economy and governmental policies are pushing us towards an electric vehicle future, it's not here yet for most people and for special needs people that need an adapted vehicle in particular (check this article out to get depressed about the state of accessibiltiy adapted electic vehicles).

Along with the gas prices, the cost of an adapted vehicle is through the roof. Used vans less that five years old are going for over $40k. New ones can push the price upwards between $75-100k.

If you already have a vehicle, the only choices are to look for cheaper fuel or drive less. 

One thing you may be able to do is use an alternative fuel. In our case, our van is a Flex Fuel enabled vehicle. That means we can use a blend of up to 85% ethanol (15% gasoline) in our car in place of gasoline.

You can tell if your car is flex fuel enabled by looking at the fuel fill point...if it is yellow or has a yellow cap, that indicates that your car can use flex fuel. Most flex fuel vehicles also have a badge on the bodywork.

It is also possible, but expensive, to convert an older car to run E-85, click on the link for information.

With all that in mind, I decided to check it out. Our nearest gas station that sells E-85 (the name for 85% ethanol) is in Placerville, California. The day we went, the price for regular gasoline was $5.85 per gallon. The E-85 was $3.99 per gallon (the same day, a gallon of regular at the nearest Costco 15 miles away was $5.29 per gallon), a savings of $1.86 per gallon. Our van can hold 35 gallons so a tank of E-85 would cost $45 - $65 less than gas at the cost of fuel as I type this.

That is a very significant amount of money but how does it perform compared to gasoline?

Our van is a 2014 Ford E-150 van with a 5.4 liter V8 engine. Using gasoline, we get about 12 miles per gallon driving around our neighborhood and about 15 miles per gallon on the highway. The E-85 comes in at a mile per gallon less...11 around our neighborhood.

At that MPG, the fuel cost is 45-48 cents per mile for gas and 33 cents per mile for E-85, enough that there's still a substantial savings per tank using E-85 over gasoline.

The pros of using E-85 in our van also include increased performance from our engine. E-85 has an equivalent of over 100 octane. It's a renewable fuel, for the most part, made from corn, sugar cane, and other plant products which also help with carbon capture while growing. 

Some of the cons of using E-85 include availability. In our area, it is not widespread. The closest three stations that do sell it are over 25 miles away. I need to make sure I have a reason to be there to make it worthwhile.

Other concerns are that the ethanol content may vary. E-85 only needs 51% ethanol to be able to be labeled "E-85," so you may not be getting quite what you think you are and there is still some CO2 being released although it is quite a bit less than gasolines emissions. Older vehicles may also have parts, like rubber seals, that can be negatively affected by ethanol.

So, it it worth it? For us, at current fuel prices, it is certainly worth it if we're in need of fuel and near a station that sells it. With the information above, as they say, your mileage may vary.

Click this link to find fuel stations that sell E85 fuel near you.

Darryl Musick
Copyrigh 2022 - All Rights Reserved

Economical Living: Combining Errands On a Day Out

Living through Covid restrictions was bad enough. Now, inflation has made everything very expensive which can create big difficulties if you live in poverty or a fixed income. 

Time to start coming up with strategies to save and conserve our money.

Today, we're talking about getting everything done in one trip...combining errands to save on gas. Getting 4-5 stops in on one trip certainly makes better financial sense that going somewhere just for one thing.

Where we live, it's a good 25 miles to the nearest Costco, Target, Trader Joe's, Marshalls, etc...all stores we like to shop at for their prices and quality. We also need to go that far if we need a medical specialist, such as an ophthalmoligist or dermatologist, that we can't get in our neighborhood.

That just means we need to plan on our calendar for a day out to do it all.

For example, let's say my wife has an appointment with her dermatologist in Elk Grove (a city just south of Sacramento about 30 miles from home). I may need a new pair of shoes so I'll drop her off and go to the nearby Famous Footwear to pick up a pair.

After picking her back up, we'll get a cheap lunch of Asian take out, In-n-Out, or something similar. 

We'll head over to the Trader Joe's nearby where my wife and Tim will wait in the car while I run in to get coffee (our favorite is their tasty and inexpensive French roast) to stock our freezer - 8 bags of coffee will easily fit there and keep us caffeinated for a couple of months at 25 cents per pot.

We'll then head across the street to Costco and pick up another load of groceries (usually, enough for a couple of months) and make our last stop the gas station in the parking lot where we fill up on the cheapest gas around before heading home.

Yes, it takes a bit of gas to go those 30 miles each way but we'll save big in the long run if we can combine several errands while we're there...plus the gas is significanltly less "down the hill" than it is in our home up in the Sierra Foothills...so we'll come out well ahead when we're done.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2022 - All Rights Reserved

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Cool Caribbean

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue...oh wait, I'm getting off track but we are doing something blue today.

Watch the Video!

We're visiting the land of blue cocktails today with this one.  Actually, I was just playing around but this came out so good, I had to add it to the Cocktail Hour Canon.

Here's the recipe...
2 oz. coconut rum
1 oz. blue caracao
1 oz. lemon juice

In a glass full to the rim of ice, pour in the lemon juice, rum, and blue caracao...in that order. Enjoy.

Cheers!

Darryl

ADVENTURES CLOSE TO HOME: The Amador And Calaveras County Fairs

As we all know by now 2020 was the year that most of us would like to forget due in large part to the havoc that COVID-19 caused for everyone in one way or another. Thankfully when the calendar flipped to the year 2021 our daily living routine started to slowly but surely get back to normal. 

Since most people have now gotten the vaccine in one form or another, that means our lives can start to get back to a more normal way of living that existed before we even knew anything about the virus. For us that means being able to get out and about more often to explore new places and things to do in our local area and beyond. 

The first of what is hopefully many more fun adventures that made 2021 more fun than was the Calaveras County Fair in the town of Angels Camp, California. The 2021 Calaveras County Fair was held from May 13 through May 16. 

We went on the first day that the fair was held for a few hours of fun. One of the more interesting sights that we saw as we were driving into town on our way to the fairgrounds was the vast amount of what looked like freshly laundered clothes that were hung on a clothesline. We soon found out some time later that this is a Calaveras County tradition that takes place during the time when the county fair occurs.

After taking in the laundry scene in downtown Angels Camp, we finally arrived a short time after at the county fairgrounds site. After parking our car and buying our tickets, we spent most of the time there walking around checking out some of the fair exhibits and having some corn dogs to eat. We also came across a group of what looked like school kids who were part of a dancing group that we had to wait for to go by us each time we saw them.

While it was nice to experience the usual fun activities that are a part of any county fair, the main attraction of the Calaveras County Fair is seeing the annual jumping frog competition that has become a big part of Calaveras County's history ever since Mark Twain wrote about them in one of his books. 

The annual jumping frog competition is held in an outside open area of the fairgrounds where the participants gather on a stage with their fellow amphibian competitors to determine which frog can jump the farthest. When we were there we got to see a few of these competitors in action. The basic fundamentals of the competition include people placing a frog on the stage and then kneeling down on the ground and using their outdoor voices so to speak to get the frogs to do about 2 to 3 jumps or so. 

We stuck around for about an hour or so to watch the proceedings before we decided to call it a day and head back home from our first county fair experience in 2021.

Our next journey to a 2021 county fair was in July for the Amador County Fair in Plymouth. We had already been to the Amador County Fair a few times before we moved to where we live now so we had a pretty good idea of what there is to do there. After all we had been coming to the Amador County area off and on for many years before. 

The theme for the 2021 edition of the fair was Back In The Saddle Again. This was most likely to poke fun at the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown that forced many of us to stay home during 2020 for health and safety reasons. 

The list of things to do and see at the Amador County Fair include the usual suspects of carnival rides food booths and fair exhibits. A couple of our favorite exhibits in particular there are the outdoor tractor exhibit where you can see and hear a lot of neat old looking tractors and the animal livestock exhibit.

The 2021 fair was also a special one for us when it came to the exhibits area because my mom decided to enter one of her knitted shawls in the fair! After the competition was over we saw that the judges awarded her with a second place ribbon!

There is also a rodeo that takes place each year at the Amador County Fair each year but we didn't go to see it in 2021. When all was said and done the 2021 county fair season in our local area was very fun! We can't wait to see what's in store for the 2022 season!

Tim Musick
Copyright 2022-All Rights Reserved.

   

   

 

AMADOR COUNTY RURAL COUNTRY LIVING: Enjoying Live Music In Amador County And Beyond In Northern California

At one point or another my family and I have been coming to Amador County and the surrounding area of Northern California for about 24 years now. The very first time any of us came to visit this area was when my parents went on a mini getaway by themselves when I was at summer camp all the way back in 1998. Since then, we had come back to visit the area so often and started to like it so much that we eventually decided it was the perfect place for us to move to after my dad retired from his job as an I.T. Specialist with the United States Department of Justice. 

Fast forward to the year 2019 and that is exactly what we did. Looking back to that time, I guess it was a good thing that we made the move up Amador County when we did because it wasn't very long after that when the world was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. 

Luckily for us we already had over a full year under our belts as new residents of the area to have new experiences and memories before everything would be completely shut down for a long period of time. One of our favorite activities that we had started looking forward to doing every year since our very first visit to the area was to see the various musical concerts that were held at local wineries and other venues that featured some very famous big name bands as well as some very good local groups and musicians.

During a normal year, the various concert events that make Amador County and other parts of Northern California a fun place to be usually begin in the Spring and go on well into the Summer months. 

One of the first concerts we went to after we first moved to the Northern California area before the start of the pandemic was to see the Quebe Sisters in Sutter Creek. The Quebe Sisters are a western swing band that came to the area in March of 2019 to do a performance at the Sutter Creek Theatre. 

The first time we had ever heard of them was when they made an appearance on the Marty Stuart Show on RFD TV and we really liked their music by the end of that show. By the end of the show in Sutter Creek, it turned out to be another good one and my dad Darryl was lucky enough to get a picture with the band members after it was over.

The next big music event that we found ourselves at was a performance of the Legends of Country Rock concert tour in August of 2019 at Helwig Winery in Plymouth, California. At this concert there was a grand total of three very well known bands from the '70's who were considered legends of country rock. They were Poco, Firefall and Pure Prairie League It turned out to be a very good concert overall. 

Pure Prairie League was the first of the three bands to take the stage. They played a lot of their big hits such as Amie, That'll Be The Day and Let Me Love You Tonight. 

After they finished their set, there was an intermission period during which preparations were made for the next band to take the stage. While all of this was happening, my dad was once again able to get a picture taken with the Pure Prairie League band members. 

After the conclusion of intermission the next of the three scheduled bands to take the stage was Firefall. They are known for the song called Just Remember I Love You, which they played, among other tunes as well.

Since they were the second of three bands to perform that night, that meant we were in store for another intermission period before the performance of the third and final band of the night that was Poco. Up to this point considering that the first two bands put on a very good performance overall we had high hopes that Poco would be just as good or better than the first two bands. We soon found out though however that the last band of the night would fall well short of the standard of excellence that was set by the first two bands. 

If I'm not mistaken, I think there may have been a few concert goers who left the show a little early after Poco took the stage to do their set. I'm pretty sure we stayed all the way through to the end of the concert but that didn't change our opinion on which of the three bands had the best overall performance. Our final ranking for best overall performance at the 2019 Legends of Country Rock concert had Firefall take the number one spot followed by Pure Prairie League in the second position and Poco in third.

With the Legends of Country Rock concert in our rearview mirror, the next big concert on our 2019 live music itinerary took place at Harlow's Restaurant and Nightclub in Sacramento. It was there where we saw a band called Gaelic Storm in October of that year. They are a Celtic music band that was formed in Santa Monica, California in 1996. We were first introduced to their music a few years ago when we started watching one of their performances that was on the AXS TV channel. After we started to watch that particular performance, we started to really like the kind of music that they played.

Fast forward to now where we are now settled into the Northern California area, my dad noticed that they were going to be playing a show in the Sacramento area at Harlow's. Since we now residents of the local nearby area, it was an easy decision to say yes and get tickets for the show. The only downside was that it was going to be quite a drive going from the countryside into downtown Sacramento. The good thing though was that the concert was at the beginning of the week on a Monday night if I'm not mistaken.

When we finally arrived at Harlow's we saw that it was a very small establishment that had the vibe of some other small music venues in the L.A. area such as the Troubador. By the time the concert got underway it looked like there was standing room only with all the people that were inside. 

Before Gaelic Storm took the stage there was a kids dancing group that performed as a warm up act. While it was nice to hear and see them perform the number one reason we went there was the for the Gaelic Storm main event! Once the festivities were underway we were treated to a very good show! Lead singer Patrick Murphy and the rest of the band did a great job of interacting with the crowd and keeping us all entertained. 

Whenever they did a song of their that was a good one to dance to, Mr. Murphy would refer to it as a standy up song or something like that. One of the band's songs that I really like which they played that night is called The Night I Punched Russell Crowe. It is one of the bands funniest songs which was also inspired by a true story in which the lead singer punched actor Russell Crowe in the head while working at a bar in Santa Monica because Mr. Crowe refused to stop smoking a cigarette while he was in the bar.

After the concert was over we made our way back to where our van was parked and made our way back home after another satisfying night of music and fun. Since we made the move to Northern California, the three concerts that I have just described in great detail above are just a small sample size of the bands that we have seen since then. 

The list of the other bands that we have seen perform since then consist mostly of some very good cover and tribute bands. Those bands are After Dark, The Kool Shifters...

...Petty Or Not (a Tom Petty tribute band)...

...On Air...

...The Rusty Rockers...

...and Funky Tim and the Merlots. We have seen all these bands play live at one time or another at local venues such as the Helwig Winery in Plymouth, the Italian Picnic Grounds in Sutter Creek, the Amador County Fair in Plymouth, the Kennedy Mine in Jackson, the Lodi Grape Festival and many more places. Ironstone Winery in Murphys located in Calaveras County also has a big amphitheater where they put on live concerts with big name bands such as Train and REO Speedwagon but we have not yet seen a concert from there up to this point.

Now that we are getting back into the swing of things to start 2022, we are looking forward to going to some more concerts and music events over the next few months as we head into the 2022 Spring and Summer seasons in Amador County and beyond!

Tim Musick
Copyright 2022-All Rights Reserved.       

  

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Crimson Cooler

Looking for something a little different, I stumbled across this one with a bottle of whiskey in hand in the kitchen.

Watch the Video!

As noted, it's a whiskey based drink, imparting that sweet, southern taste into the glass.

Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and pour into a highball or pint glass over ice.

INGREDIENTS (two drinks):

3 oz. whiskey
2 oz. Grand Marnier or triple sec
4 drops bitters
Cranberry Cocktail

Cheers!

Darryl

AMADOR COUNTY RURAL COUNTRY LIVING: The 2018 Camp Fire Aftermath-The Dreaded PG&E Public Safety Power Shutoff Apocalypse

November 8, 2018. That date in time is one that I'm sure many people who live in Northern California will not soon forget for years to come. This particular day most likely started out like any other day for those who called the area home at the time but by the end, it was anything but normal. 

If you have not figured out what day I am referring to by now, that is the day that Camp Fire started in the town of Paradise, California as a result of some faulty equipment failures and questionable maintenance and management procedures by the Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) utility company. The ensuing aftermath of the fire would make that day one of the saddest and most destructive ones in the state's history. 

At the time that the fire happened though we were still living in the Southern California area so we weren't directly affected by it at the time. Since we have moved up here though, we have gotten a pretty good idea of what the love hate relationship is like between the general public in the local area and the people in charge of PG&E is like. The short answer to that question is that the overall relationship is not a very good one.

Following the events of the fire, PG&E enacted what would seemingly become the company's standard operating procedure known as the Public Safety Power Shutoff or PSPS for short. 

To this point, they have done these PSPS events when the weather conditions have been forecasted to be very windy and dry. When that weather combination is present it can mean that the chances of a fire being sparked somehow are very high. 

Our first experience with one of these power shutoff events happened in October of 2019. Leading up to our first power outage event at the time, you could go to PG&E's website to check out the latest news and updates on any potential outages. 

To do this there was a new feature on the website where you could look up your address and it would tell you if a future outage was expected to happen in your area. For the first few times that there was a PSPS Event that was forecasted to take place our local neighborhood was not included in any of the affected areas. That run of good luck changed during the weekend of October 25 through the 27 of 2019. That was when we were notified that there was a good chance that our power would possibly be shut off due to a previously scheduled PSPS event. 

During this time we would go to PG&E's website periodically to check on the status of the PSPS event that would possibly affect us and the other residents of Ione. The funny thing was that after a while, our power outage event status went from being just a possible outcome to a definite thing at some point later during the weekend. At that point our weekend turned into a very frustrating and stressful one when you take into consideration that even though we now knew that our power was going to be shut off at some point, we didn't know exactly when that was going to happen. Add to that the fact that I was now starting to worry and get anxious about when the power might get shut off which made things even more difficult for my parents and I to have to deal with.

One of the aspects throughout the whole situation that was the most frustrating was the waiting game that occurred as a result of our power possibly being shut off. At first the PG&E website indicated that our power would possibly be shut off within a certain time frame of a few hours. As the day went on our forecasted window of time kept getting pushed back even more. It finally got to the point where it was time for us to go to bed at around 11 P.M. and we still had electricity. At this time I felt like there may have been a good chance the power was not going to be shut down after all. About an hour or so later though, my hopes were dashed when everything went dark at around midnight on a Sunday.

Once the power was out, a couple of the numerous things we had to take into consideration concerning my overall caregiving needs were what to do at night when we went to sleep since I now use a CPAP machine for my sleep apnea condition and how to keep my power wheelchair sufficiently charged during the duration of the outage. 

To address the first concern, my parents let me sleep in their room with my mom at the time while my dad slept in one of our other rooms. For the second issue related to my power chair we decided to go to a temporary emergency resource center that was set up by PG&E in our local area. 

After having some back and forth dialogue with one of the staff members my dad was able to help me somehow squeeze in to a crowded and tiny tent where we parked my chair at a table near a power outlet area to plug in the charger that charges my chair. After about an hour or so of charging time we left the emergency resource center to go home. 

One interesting thing that we saw on our commute to and from there were the helicopters flying above us that PG&E had brought in flying above us to inspect the power lines for any potential damage that may have occurred. 

In a side note from our trip the emergency resource center, my dad saw another gentleman while we were there who was charging a portable power station that can be used to power certain devices for a few hours in the event of a power outage. My dad's interest in the power station was piqued so much that he decided to buy a couple of them for us to use for future outages. The good news is that so far we had had to use the power stations only a couple times since then during an outage to use the Internet, my CPAP machine and charge my chair while we went on one of our hiking trail walks. The bad news is that it turned out we could only use it for a couple of hours  before it ran out of energy due to a low battery during a recent outage.

Besides those experiences that we had with the power outages during that time, there were some good things that happened as well. Before the start of the outage we went to one of our local pizza joints called Paisano's to have a free lunch buffet since the owners didn't want whatever food they had go to waste once everything in town went dark.

We also used the time after the outage was underway to sit in our recliners at our house with blankets to cover us up when the ambient air temperature got really cold because our heating and air conditioning did not work as a result of what was going on. 

Another time for lunch we went to a restaurant in the Lake Amador area called the Tackle Box Cafe. When we got there it was nice to see that their power was still on somehow (because they're on the same power circuit as a local casino...can't let those slots go dark - Ed). 

At the time I think that was the only place or area in town that still had their power on  Finally one time when it was really dark inside our house, we went outside on our front porch to drink some wine with our next door neighbors at night to pass the time.

After all that we went through for a couple of days, I think our power finally came back on during the late afternoon on a Monday at approximately 4 P.M. At that point I think we all breathed a huge sigh of relief and moved on with our lives until the arrival of the next power shut off event. When that happens hopefully we will have a generator in our house by that time.

(Postscript: We had a new, natrual gas powered, whole house generator installed recently that should keep us from going dark during the next power outages - Ed)

Tim Musick
Copyright 2022 - All Rights Reserved.