I totaled my car last week, which is a major bummer to me. I really loved that car. It was getting old, no bones about that, and had some issues that were going to need fixing coming up sooner rather then later, but I still loved that car. It got amazing gas mileage and I could haul a lot of stuff around. I got an average of 40 mpg....and it cost around $20 for me to fill the tank.
Man, oh man does owning a truck after a car like that turn into major shock at the gas pump. I got a 2004 Ford ranger xlt. It's a nice truck. Super comfortable, power everything, not too big to drive around. I get 18mpg. 18. Bleh. It costs me $40+ to fill it up. I can't even go as far on a tank of gas as I could in my car! So not happy about that. I think I'm in for a lifestyle change about the way I drive around.
I'm having trouble with the halving of my gas mileage, using twice as much gas as I was before. I'm not even sure if I think this truck can haul any more then my car could. Using twice as much of a non renewable resource as I was before just does not sit right with me at all.
However...
I was able to respond to an ad on Craigslist for some weathered wood. A lot of weathered wood. A whole decks top of wood someone had pulled off to replace and wanted to get rid of. Non chemically treated weathered wood as far as I can tell.
It's not any good for a deck anymore, a lot of the ends are rotted and the screws that were left in it are rusted through. They are mostly 2 x 6's as far as I can tell of all various lengths mostly over 6 foot. Most of the screws are gone and I didn't see any nails. The boards are solid for the most part if you'd cut off about 2-6 inches off the ends.
Absolutely perfect for my uses.
I am planning on making raised beds in my front yard to hold the dirt I dig out of my new bigger pond project. The beds will be used to plant various garden crops this spring and in future years. What doesn't get used in the front yard will be used in the garden for the same purpose.
I'm got something for free that was someone else's trash I get to put to a new purpose and it stays out of the landfill. I got to save money by having the truck to haul it in, it would have never fit in my car at all. I got to save new lumber from being used for this purpose, saving trees from being cut down needlessly.
Is this one thing worth the environmental hit on halving my gas mileage over all? Not in my mind. Not just this one thing. I hope in the overall ownership of the truck to keep being able to do this kind of thing. Keep offsetting my overall greater gas useage with an even bigger overall greater ability to reuse various things in my projects going forward.
Balance is an important thing in my life. I hope to be able to achieve it with this truck. I think so far with what I've done its been a net win, but I will have to be very aware of this in the future to be able to keep it that way.
-Fin
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