By JOSH SHAFFER, Raleigh News & Observer

Gas at $4 a gallon has launched a summer of sacrifice. Canceled vacations to Disney World. Hummers permanently parked in the driveway.But high-priced petroleum has given people a handy tool for avoiding unpleasant chores.Tired of driving to see the in-laws? Want to skip mowing the lawn? Just use The Gas Excuse: this year's version of "The Dog Ate My Homework."

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Scan a gas station or corner market shelf, and there, alongside the Slim Jims, hangs a package of pills that neighbors buy like bubble gum or hate like sin.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- The Cash sisters can skip rope 170 times in a minute, wearing their arms down to jelly, slapping welts on their legs. It's an offbeat hobby that started when they were schoolgirls, then grew into a mania.Flips. Leapfrogs. Dives to the floor. Makenna and Suzanne Cash jump rope like linebackers hit tackling dummies.

SMITHFIELD, N.C. -- Twenty years ago, an amateur pilot could escape Earth's mundane grind and enjoy an hour in the clouds for a mere 50 bucks.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Each April, a stranger creeps into Oakwood Cemetery and drapes a single gravestone with a black sash.He lights a candle in tribute to a doomed Confederate hanged for firing a last-ditch shot at Raleigh's Yankee occupiers.

Losing a leg hardly fazed Lonnie Smith. It's tough to climb ladders with his prosthesis, and he has to switch legs when he swims. But otherwise, no bellyaching.Amputation didn't much bother Sampson, Smith's Rottweiler, either. The dog gets along fine without his right front leg, and he still sits up to beg with one outstretched paw.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Buxom and blonde with a toothy grin, Lexi describes herself as a fun-loving and open-minded girl --available for $180 an hour.You can find her advertised on craigslist.org, the same Internet clearinghouse that offers second-hand wheelbarrows and tennis racquets.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Jacob Pfeiffer caught a rebel's bullet on the hip at Gettysburg in 1863, a wound that took a month to kill him.