Chicken tacos. in A small but passable life.

It has rained steadily for the past twenty-four hours. And the temperature has been steady at 54 degrees. There was thunder early this morning.

I know my debris piles in the yard are now thoroughly soaked.

It is nice to hear the rataplan of rain on the roof. Not as nice as it was while sleeping in the van, but still nice.

I called Mom today and she’s doing fine. The procedure yesterday went well enough that she and the friend who took her stopped by Applebee’s for lunch afterwards.

My new checks came in the mail today. I put the first batch into my fancy leather checkbook. It all seems rather archaic now. Check #1976 is the first in the new batch. I started the account at the credit union in 1994 with check #1001. So, I’ve written 975 checks in almost twenty-two years. Crazy. Or pathetic?

A couple of people were curious about the book “$2 A Day: Living On Almost Nothing In America”. I don’t write book reviews. I can however mention a relative book if something comes up in a conversation. I will say that the book delves into the reality of a growing segment of the US population, that for whatever reason(s), lives on almost no cash income. They may receive SNAP or Section 8 assistance, but since the AFDC has been virtually eliminated, there is no more “welfare” to apply for. These people rely on selling plasma, selling personal possessions, selling illegal and legal drugs, low paying part-time work, selling their bodies, selling their children’s SS numbers and various other methods just to survive another day.

One example was an elderly couple who owns a crumbling house in Cleveland, Ohio. They started taking in family members who needed housing. Now there are twenty-two people in the house, thirteen of whom are children, but after the food is bought (no EBT card), the children clothed, and job search expenses paid for there may not be enough cash left for utilities.

Anyway, it was an eye opening and somewhat sad book.

Linh Dinh writes a lot on this hidden part of America also. He has a website and also posts on countercurrents.

I’ve lived for almost six years now with no cash income. I may be unusual in that I find no need for cash income. It really helps if you realize that buying “stuff” is pointless. Or at least beyond the basic necessities. Which I find are very few.

I’m just betting on the pile of crap I have left will be all I need forever.

We’ll see.

Anyway, the rain has stopped. It is 4:22pm. I need to close this and go downstairs and wash the dishes so Daughter can cook when she gets home. She said something about chicken tacos.