It is difficult enough for most of us to understand what exactly is happening with our economy now, nevermind sorting out the pros and cons of Obama's bailout scheme. Many Americans are perhaps too preoccupied with the realities of joblessness and recession to know for sure who or what the real culprit is behind our hardships, or, for that matter, if the economy even can be fixed.

I borrowed a friend's car not too long ago, just for a few hours. I think gas was $3.65 or thereabouts at the time. To thank this friend for his generosity, I decided I was going to fill his tank. There was a line at the station; this particular chain of stations offered the cheapest gas in Burlington at the time, and I sat and waited for my turn.

Ok, this week I'm cheating a little.

I wrote this piece a few years ago while taking a class on peak oil with Annie Dunn Watson, founder of the Vermont Peak Oil Network, an internet resource for Vermonters concerned with our growing energy problems.

But honestly, it's a good piece that I'm proud of, and I think it fits in well with the theme of my blog, although perhaps it is a tad bit more satirical than what I tend to write for Shift Happens.  I think it's important, though, to find the humor in what could otherwise depress us deeply.

My parents are officially hippy, granola-crunchy, Vermont radicals. It was a gradual process, but I think I became aware of their fate around the time they began listening to downloaded peak oil lectures for amusement and considered an afternoon of pickling to be a good time. Their world is one of growing their own food, living according to the whims of the weather, and staying in touch with the state of the economy to a degree many other Americans would consider mind-numbing and depressing.