gasoline and small engines

Wow,it's been a while since I've added anything substantial here,I guess my minds already in summer mode!I've read a lot of information in the past year or so about gasoline,it seems to be a big issue for people running older engines and even some new engines.I've heard claims of vapor locking,I've seen a few mowers with rubber pieces in the carb that were turned into a gooey mush or eaten away completely and I've also seen quite a few mowers in the past couple years that the only thing wrong with them was bad gas.When I attended Briggs & Stratton service schools back 20yrs ago they were telling us then that gasoline was only good for about 30 days,after that it started to deteriorate pretty quickly,they recommended using fuel stabilizer and I've used it pretty much since then,especially on my 2 stroke engines because they do sit for extended periods at times.The oil companies do mix gas differently for different parts of the country depending on climate and population,bigger cities where pollution is an issue get a different blend than rural areas so this may not be as big an issue in some areas as others.So the next question is what to do about it?First off don't buy anymore fuel than you can use in 30 days time,if you do have fuel that's getting close or a little over,put it in your car and use it up that way and keep fresh gas for your mowers and other small engines.If for some reason the engine will be sitting for an extended period,use fuel stabilizer,I usually start adding fuel stabilizer for the last month or so that I'll be mowing for a season,that way it's completely through the system and I don't have any issues with starting come spring.One other thing that I've mostly read about is to use an once of Marvel Mystery oil per gallon of gas,I've never tried Marvel but I have used Klotz 2cycle oil with good results.It does lower the octane just a little but you can run mid grade or high test to if your worried about that,for the few extra cents of the cost of gas the benefits of upper cylinder lubrication and a little extra lubrication for the valves is well worth it.In these days of high cost service a little extra maintenance goes along way.