By Joe Walker
“Will I eventually starve if I don’t feed my way to pay?”
I’d love to say, ‘It’s either her or us,’ but I can’t. With an Everest hike in grocery prices it’s becoming an increasing challenge to pay cost of living and feed my family. But if I don’t feed Ethel too I won’t have money at all!
Ethel is my Chevy Cavalier. And thankfully she doesn’t eat as much as other’s vehicles. Ethel’s 13-gallon stomach is a respectable size. But her food cost still disrespects my pocket.
Ethel eats gallons of gasoline at rates as high as $4.20 per gallon. It costs me $54.60 to buy her a full meal. With an active family that includes two rapidly growing, active boys, I might visit the grocery store twice a week just to buy milk. I don’t walk there. Ethel takes me.
Now throw in my drive to work five days a week, school drop-off and pick-up, Boy Scouts and various sporting practices: Ethel requires more than one weekly nourishing.
Rumor has it gas prices will reach $6.00 per gallon by summers end. A laughable figure, I know. And I have a great sense of humor, the reason I named my car Ethel.
My Cavalier is named after Ethel Mertz, the character played by late Emmy-winning actress Vivian Vance – co-star of sitcom “I Love Lucy”, my favorite TV show as a child. And I think I really was in love with late star Lucille Ball too. Heck, my previous automobile was a Pontiac Grand Am I called Lucy. It cost me a little over $1 per gallon to feed her.
The characters Lucy and Ethel frequently acted as though crying on the show. I wonder if today’s economy would bring them to real tears.
But my Ethel needs to be fed. So does my family. No sense in crying about it, I guess. I work to eat, I eat to live, and need my current transportation to start the cycle.
New Resolution #33: [sigh] Can I get $78 on Pump 3? Yes, I have a rewards card.
