Seeing more of your human these days? Thank the gas gods

You know gas is getting expensive when NASCAR is worried about it.

Of course, for those guys, it's just a PR problem. No matter how much Dale Jarrett says it "hurts," a guy who makes $5 million a year ain't in too much pain.

For cats, it's not much of a problem, but it tends to make the humans cranky. I heard Man and Woman arguing about the NASCAR thing. But even Woman had to admit that the gas those cars use is just a tiny drop in a great big barrel. She said she read that petroleum is even used to make disposable diapers nowadays, and she's not giving those up. (For Princess, that is. Woman doesn't wear diapers right now. She's outgrown Huggies and not quite ready for Depends.)

I heard the humans saying gas is going above $3 a gallon around here soon. Maybe it already is where you live. It might be the president's fault. Or maybe it is those people out there in the desert. I don't know much about it, but it's got to be someone's fault that all those nice humans are having to make such sacrifices to keep their SUVs on the road. They seem to hate having to wave those little plastic things at the gas pump. You can see them shaking their heads and muttering. (Of course, they might be wearing one of those invisible little telephones. It's getting so you can't tell who the crazy ones are any more.)

I heard one of those TV reporters talking about some poll. She said -- in utter disbelief -- that some folks are even thinking about not traveling as far on vacation this summer. Wow. That's drastic. I hate to see the country facing that kind of crisis. Isn't there something we can drill or someone we can negotiate with or some place we can invade? What if Americans were forced to park their SUVs, cancel their reservations and introduce their kids to their own back yards? What would the cruise ships and casinos do?

Woman says she will just have to take a page from Scarlet and add it to her list of things to worry about tomorrow. She can't afford an SUV or a vacation anyway, and it's not because of the gasoline. She says it's a good thing she lives in a state that has lakes and rivers and caves and museums and things she hasn't even seen yet.

That's fine with me. The last time they left for a few days, they left out a huge bowl of fish-flavored cereal and three litter boxes. I tried to eat all the food in one sitting so it wouldn't get stale. Fluffmonster still teases me about that. That stupid little hairball.

This is Cruxley, reminding you that if home is where the heart is, maybe the rest of your body might enjoy spending some time there. You could spend the gas money on more comfortable lawn furniture and a better bottle of wine.

And don't forget the catnip. I heard it repels mosquitoes.