on the big investments of drilling and maintaining wells, of operating fleets of tankers, and so on. I guess a lot of oil company employees are also hard workers who probably deserve raises. And I DO NOT hold with government price controls! I remember what happened the last time the government tired to manage the gasoline supply!

 

However, some of the self-help ideas from the days of gas lines and the energy crisis come to mind again. I remember reading advice to wear either jeans or maxi skirts to school, and to hide long johns under that warm outerwear. I remember people turning down their thermostats, and wearing sweaters indoors.

 

I recall that a lot of these ideas were not at all new to me, as a member of a family that has been thrift-conscious for as many generations as I know. Between the ages of six and ten, I shared a trailer with my great-grandmother, who told me stories about providing for her family in the Great Depression. Gramma Titus had worked in the public school cafeteria, and some of the practices hadn't changed much by the time I worked in food service to get through Bible college.

 

On the other side of the family, my Grandfather Ladue researched and wrote a book about his great-grandfather, who immigrated here from Germany, after an unsuccessful attempt to make a life in Tsarist Russia, where the Cossacks made it nearly impossible for anyone in the working class to get ahead. Again, there are stories of the many things done to survive, of pinching pennies, of taking advantage of windfalls. For instance there was the wrecked truck full of ketchup; Grandfather brought home all he could carry, and for a long time, the family had to be very careful not to eat glass shards with the condiment.

 

Well, there is a conversation that I want to join, about parenting tots and about homeschool. Have I mentioned I have very smart kids?

 

Rose B, mother of three, in NC