UNDERGROUND A&R REPORT

At least it's not cold; the gas bill is too high!
From the book: American Empire 2010

Wanted to go to the grocery store today, but my take at the store was $3.75, and since I was out of gas, that would be gas, at least a gallon, but not much else for food. So I sloughed up to the trailer again, found a can of corned beef hash in the back of the cabinet behind the pinto beans and chicken broth. No date on the can but I know it had been in the back of the cabinet since before my sister had moved up, and that was over 5 years ago. So I guessed it was at least 6, maybe 7 years old. I warmed it up, mixing it with the last two eggs, and enough lettuce left to make a small salad, and even found some croûtons which were still firm, so that's what Spike and I had for dinner. The corned beef hash didn't taste too good, but I didn't get sick from eating it and Spike seemed to like it alright.

I had loaded my dishes up in a pan and brought them along with me, about three loads in all. I had been washing them in the store, since I hadn't had hot water in my studio for over 4 years now. I had managed to get the electricity in the studio fixed so I could run a hot water heater, but hadn't ever got up enough money to buy one. The store building next door has hot water, but I had to turn the water off because an outside faucet had broke during all our arctic below freezing temperatures we'd had the last two weeks. I didn't know about the faucet until I took the cover off to water my seedings in the lean-to I had converted into a sort of greenhouse and got soaked when the faucet came off with the cover.

At least it was warm today, otherwise the cold water hitting and soaking me would have made things that much worse. I didn't have much and the bills were piling up, and it was hard to see that I'd come up with enough to pay any of them, but Spike and I had a little dinner, and he licked his chops and put his little paw on my leg, so he was happy. In the end, at least today, that's all that mattered.....

Hopefully somehow I can find or borrow the parts to fix the pipe over the next day or two, because by then clothes would need to be washed.