Carpe Manana

That's what they say is the motto of Taos. It is really another world here. I felt like a true Taoseno last weekend when I went to a party in Truchas and a lady asked me,"So what are you going to do in Taos". DO? I actually had a hard time comprehending the question at first. What do you mean "Do" like what? You mean for money...what...
I was confused because a part of me knew the answer I had wasn't going to sound right to this person. "Oh I'm going to go for walks and learn stuff" That's pretty much my plan. But outside of Taos that doesn't go over really. In Taos you say something like that and the person you're talking to says "right on", they dig your ditch, man they can groove on that energy, they can feel of you. But in the real world, folks want a real world narrative. And I aint got one.
We have had some cooler weather and it's been NICE. I have been exploring the town more, making connections and checking out the scene such as it is. Apparantly there are a few more Earthship communities, mostly spawned in one way or another by Mike Reynolds. He is the Earthship dude, the developer of Greater World, where I live. My detractors ( aka my brothers- see comments in last post) would be surprised to know that my Community is actually considerd quite high end by many people in Taos. I was giving some hitchhikers a ride and when they found out I lived in Greater World they made some comments about how they live in "Lessor World". And indeed they do, there is an area that I hear about called Two Peaks and another called Three Peaks and it sounds like anarchyville. It's on the mesa like where I am and it's inhabited by people who devise any and every kind of structure- seriously I heard there was a guy out there living in a giant styrofoam box. The story goes that there are wild dogs that break into your house and eat your food. I'm going to wait for an escort before I go out there. The thing is, this is the place where you can get a little spot of land for a few thousand bucks and bit by bit build some sort of dwelling, and live life day to day scavenging and doing whatever else it is folks DO. But here in pristine fancy Greater World we have million dollar Earthships being built. There's one down the road from me called "The Phoenix" and it's huge. They are building it with regular power tools all run on SOLAR energy all day long. Solar power rocks yall, I just can't even tell you enough times. I went on a walk with my new friends Stacy and Doug and their kids down to another spec Earthship and in the planter in that one they were growing honeysuckle! Doug didn't know what it was. I swear it looked like they might have a mountain laurel or something from that family growing in there too. Apparantly they get the planters going right away, because it's an important part of the system. Maybe I'll go find a rhodo or an azaela and pop it in my planter.
Carpe Manana people!

Heat, Hiking, Hippies, Apocolypse

It's hot as Hay-ell today cheegs! I dropped off my application at Holy Cross Hospital. Got some shave ice (cherry cola) and that was about all I could manage. I had to come back and crawl into the Earthship, where it's nice and cool. Yesterday it was pretty hot too but I am still way into exploring the mesa so I went on a walk to the Rio Grande Gorge. This is a big big gorge, and it's only about 2 miles from my house so I thought I'd go to the gorge, scramble down to the Rio Grande, go swimming, then go home. And I pretty much did, but if any of yall reading this have ever gone hiking with me you know I can be a bit over confident. The gorge is probably about 600 feet down, and I couldn't find much of a trail, and it's fairly steep, rocky, cactussy, a bit dangerous. Once you get to the bottom there are hot spring on the other side, but I wasn't sure I could swim to the other side, the river is cold and strong in places. So I was considering going swimming but then four vaqueros walked down to where I was and stared at me. It made me too nervous to swim. They were on one side, I was on the other. I just put my feet in the water and wondered if they were hoping to see an old lady get naked (most people get nekkid at the hotsprings, the gringos do anyway) or were they wondering, like I was, if I was going to kill myself trying to get back to the top, and hoping to see some carnage. See on the opposite side is a nice trail leading up to a parking lot, but if I was to swim across and go up that way I would be a lot further from my house- miles and miles. I said a prayer for protection and headed on up. And I made it! But it was hand over hand, climbing over rocks. On the way back I explored a big arroyo that is awesome- I don't take my camera on these walks cause they get rugged and my camera is a piece of shit. So you'll just have to imagine. But today I woke up wiped out. I had only taken a little 12 oz bottle of water with me yesterday- because I'm retarded I guess. I often set out with hardly any water and it isn't smart- don't do like me. I really got no excuse cause I own a platypussy- sort of like a camel back- one of those water bags you can put in your back pack and suckle on throughout your walk...know what I'm talking about? Katie knows. So today I"m feeling of it- sore muscles, tuckered out. I would get a massage but I don't want that man taking another shower with my precious water.
This past weekend I went to a film festival about sustainability.
Oh let me stop here and address something that has come up recently. I few of my friends have wondered that maybe I've got a little hippie in my wanting to come out. I am very touched that two of my closest friends have mentioned this in a very supportive way. I can't tell you how much it means that you would love and support me if I was to come out as a hippie. BUT let me assure you I am NOT. Yes I live in an Earthship, yes I am way into Pez y Amor, tofu, alternative energy, tree hugging environmentalism, yes it is true I know most of yall's Sun, Moon, and rising signs...but I am NOT a hippy- not in my dress, in my personal grooming habits, my music, nor in my heart. I am still the sarcastic Gen Xer yall remember- still reasonably clean, though it is dusty out here...and there is a draught so..water conservation forces me to be slighly less clean then I was but I was REALLY clean before. Y'all need to understand- I am hear to TEACH the hippies, and to also bring some of the hippy stuff to our side. I'm building bridges here.
ANYWAY... at the sustainability film festival I learned all sorts of stuff about the grim future which I will happily regale you with if you want...basically- the oil is running out and there is no substitute nor combination of aternative energy substitute so- we're pretty much fucked and in the next 5-6 years we will see a breakdown of society as we know it. So, I mean I could elaborate...but just consider that oil makes every thing happen. EVERYTHING. I suggest someone amongst us learn the art of brewery. the old pre oil way, because we're gonna all probably end up on a compound - or as I prefer to think of it- a hacienda. We're going to have to grow our own food, generate our own energy, brew our own beer. I'm looking forward to a time without Wal Mart, but the downside is- potentially we're looking at years and years of war as the USA attempts world domination in order to control the planets dwindling oil supply. then of course China will get into the act. And yall know hydrogen power is a fantasy right? OK- enough about that....
Anyway, at one point there was a panel discussion about local sustainability and among the panelists was this Hispanic guy talking about the acequias. The poor Hispanic people around here have had to put up with a lot, the artists and hippies and new age people and developers- all the anglos. We think we have it bad in the South with carpetbaggers acting like they know it all and hating Jeebus and honking their horns, well these folks have been dealing with a different sort of carpetbagger (like me). The acequias- acequia means ditch- are an old old system going back forever, with complicated water rights- and it's the way agriculture works around here. The man, his name was Estabahn, said that the Hispanic people didn't really like the word "organic" or "sustainable" it didn't resonate with them. They've been farming the same way for years with the acequias which is all about taking what you need and leaving the rest of the water for the next person.(The very essence of sustainability) And they've never used pesticides when growing food. He said you can sell a Hispanic person a tamale with cheese and chilies and they'll eat it, but if you tell them it's a vegetarian tamale they will say, "I don't want no hippie food".
He complained about the newcomers who liked to see willows and trees and flowers growing along the ditch, but that soaks up all the water, and the ditch aint there to be pretty, it's their to transport water. Then a few of the other panelists bragged about how they've cleaned ditches and gone to ditch meetings. They are down with the Hispanos. Below is a picture of an acequia with a gate in Truchas. For more information about water rights and acequias, rent The Milagro Beanfield War- filmed in Truchas, New Mexico.

El Paragua

Yesterday was a beut of a day. I drove up up up to visit my friend Sue in Truchas, one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I love going up to her place. She was mixing plaster for her house. She's building a Straw Bale Casita up there. The bales are all up and it's mostly plastered. The plaster recipe is water, dirt from the foundation, and straw. It's an old recipe that has withstood the test of time. I found myself once again wishing I could call my Dad up and tell him about it. Sue doesn't have to worry about the rising costs of concrete, she just digs in. We hung out awhile and caught up, then I heard a lowing and looked up and saw 6 huge cows in the front yard, and a couple more poking their big heads around the gate, so we took the dog and chased them off. They were pretty cows. I was disappointed that I didn't have my camera with me but Sue assured me there would be no shortage of opportunities to take pictures of cows in New Mexico.
There are caution signs out here with pictures of a cow on them, and people go around painting flying saucers over the cow. Very amusing.
After a spell Sue and I drove down the mountain to Espanola which is one of my favorite New Mexican towns. The vibe there is very cool. It has a reputation of being kind of a rough town, with gangs and drugs and stuff, but I swear the people there have always been really nice and really helpful. They smile at you if you're just crossing the parking lot and you make eye contact. Good folks, you can just feel of it there. I've heard there are a couple of lady boxers from Espanola making a name for themselves, and it's been a good thing for the kids there, because a lot of those kids end up in trouble and these girls have been kind of an inspiration for them. We love EL Paragua, an old restaurant there. It's dark and cool inside. If you want to check it out go here:
http://www.elparagua.com/
If you come to visit we'll go there for real. Sue says the Margaritas are the best she's ever had, and I guzzeled down a few Pacificas and we talked and talked and laughed and laughed and ate and ate.

Mesa Life

I landed here on The Mesa this past Sunday night, late, and have spent the past week trying to set up my new life in Taos. The first few days, I gotta tell you, were hard. I had kind of an adjustment period to go through, like you have to do when you find yourself in unfamiliar surroundings, miles and miles away from your peeps and your places..in a new place with a new and different vibe and culture. I had problems getting things up and running too, communication-wise; and when you're feeling kind of disoriented and vulnerable you really want to connect with home. I had trouble accepting the fact that I couldn't just have a PO Box. I have no address, that was shaking me up because I'm pretty sure even Laura and Mary Ingalls could get mail. Taos is laid back. Real laid back. Taos has it's own version of time. So I'm adjusting, eventually I'm sure I will completely fit in, as I have been known to have my own version of time too.

I now have internet and phone, and maybe even a PO Box, I didn't go into town today to check. I had to have a massage I was in so much pain from packing and then the drive and the stress and sleeping on an air mattress on the stone floor. This guy came over with a bottle of Canola Oil and gave me a two hour massage, then he used my shower. See, this isn't all that professional of a place. It felt good to have all that oil rubbed into my skin though because it's dusty and dry out here on the Mesa.
OK, here's some stuff on the Earthship. It gets blazing hot out there sometimes, but it stays nice and cool inside, and at night when the temps dip down, it stays warm in here. It's Mother Earth. There's a big solar panel out front that powers batteries kept in a shed, that's my DC power that runs the fridge and the overhead lights and water pump. There's an inverter that can switch on the AC power which is the power all of us use for everything we plug in. I have my internet provided by an antennae on the roof (AC powered) and the phone is VOIP- that means Voice Over Internet something or other- a word that begins with P no doubt. So anyway, all day when I'm home I leave the AC inverter on if it's sunny, but at night I turn it off, because it's an energy drain. So out here of course you never leave lights on you aren't using, you don't waste energy- even if you have plenty of it, like during the day when the Sun is shining. I don't really have anything that's a big energy hog so if I want to use power at night and the Sun has been shining all day it's not an issue. The laptop can run on battery power and if I want to use the phone or internet or lamps or radio, I can turn on the inverter. As it is now, no big deal, it's Summertime, the days are long. In the Winter I will need to conserve more. So far the little flashing light has stayed green, meaning it's all good.
The water I have to REALLY conserve though. The water supply is rain and snow collected from the roof then funneled into a 1000 gallon cistern under ground. The water goes through three filters for regular use: bathing dish washing , and a fourth filter for drinking. The water that you bathe in and wash dishes with drains into an indoor planter that's very lush- with geraniums, aloe plants, a jade plant, a huge philodendrum and some purple thing, I think it's a wondering jew. Then it drains into well, where it can be stored for outdoor watering via a hose outside..the hose also can connect to a fresh water spigot too. The water that you use on those rare occasions you flush the toilet (like when you have company) goes to a large outdoor planter with lillies growing in it. Water conservation is the name of the game. We had a good rain yesterday, it poured and I was happy to look in the cistern and see it looking 2/3rds full. There's been a drought and I was considering ordering water. I was emailing my landlords and here's an excerpt of the email I got back:

As for ordering water, the only reason we didn't last week is that the tank is still half full. You can only order 1200 gallons, so it is best to wait for the water to be pretty low (within 100 or 200 gallons) so that you get the most out of your water delivery. You can look in the manhole of the cistern to get an idea of where it stands now. Then equate that to equal, maybe 400-500 gallons (our cistern holds approx 1000 gallons. 1000 gallons would not mean that it is full to the manhole though. The cistern is on a tilt and it's overflow is 8 inches or so below the manhole). Then think about your water use. The toilet is .8 a flush (approx 1 gal), the shower is 2.5 a minute, how much water for washing dishes? Then multiply by days. So for example say you flush the toilet once a day, take a 4 minute shower every 2 days and perhaps use a gallon a day for washing dishes and a gallon every two days for cooking and drinking... I'm just guessing here. That would equal 47-50 gallons a week and say there's 400 gallons in the cistern then you've got a month and a half before you even need to consider ordering water

Well...I might need a little bit more water than that. Like, I might want to just go crazy and flush the toilet..TWICE a day! Or take an 8 minute shower... But I'll tell you something, it might sound hard but I'm really in the flow of it. It isn't that dificult to conserve, it's like it comes naturally because you know this is a dry climate, and I don't know- to me it feels right. I'm on the extreme edge maybe but I can't help but think of how eco unfriendly so much of our world is. What if more buildings were built even passive solar, not to mention if you added things like low flow toilets, solar panels, or even greywater planter systems. I practically have a tree growing in my house as happy as can be. It's all so very very do-able, it's too bad we're hell bent on destroying this old planet rather than recognizing that everything we could ever want is right here, in abundance if we just had a different 'tude and ethic. I won't go on and on about the rediculousness of our current practice of building the most ineffecient homes and buildings, then having to waste more energy heating and cooling them, then flushing 3.5 gallons of fresh drinking water every time you use the toilet...I wont go on about that, but it's somethng to think about...and I hope yall know I'm not judging ANYONE because I know I'm living in an Earthship now but I've cranked the heat up in my apartments, and lingered in showers and baths, and flushed and flushed til my hearts content...I'm talking about what a wonderful world it would be if the culture supported building differently to begin with.
Before I left I had dinner with my friend Katie who pointed out that she thought my Dad would be way into what I'm doing. I know he'd get a kick out of it, the first time I ever heard of an Earthship he showed me one in - I don't know- it was in Mother Jones or something. We laughed together looking at it, so I've been thinking about him more then usual, feeling Sam Gray smiling at me from wherever he is.
The Earthship is in what's called the Greater World Community- so I can see several other Earthships from where mine is, and you hear people, voices drifting over the sage. It reminds me of camping, the way the voices carry, especially in the evening. everyone I've met so far is really nice, in the community and in Taos. It's like when I was in Arizona, everywhere you go people introduce themselves to you and seem to want to know about you. Friendly friendly folks.
I'll put up pictures but you can't even begin to get a feel of how pretty it is here, mostly though I wish there could be a way you could smell of it, especially after it rains.

Becoming a Woman

June 1st,2006
This is the first day of my blog. Here's what's going on. I am going West tomorrow to live in an Earthship. I'm starting this blog for loved ones so they can keep up with my adventures and life on the Mesa in Taos....in my Earthship. I will tell you more about the Earthship as time goes on, but let's start with the here and now. Right here right now I'm a little whiney because I'm sick and I have to get this place packed up and moved, plus TCB by tomorrow morning. It's daunting. I have a lot to do but I am very weak. So in my sick state I have been watching more TV than usual- the type of TV watching that is pretty much without discrimination of any sort. But I got lucky when I discovered this program that showed girls competing to be Coyote Ugly bartenders. Now I don't need to tell y'all what that is right? The ladies that wear tight jeans and are bartenders and dance on the bar? They call them Coyote Ugly but that's a joke because they are all really hot- I mean if you like that type of girl. (the hot type) The Leader of Coyote Ugly is named Lil and she eliminated lots of girls because she could tell that they were still mere girls, and she needed women, you need to be a woman to be a Coyote Ugly bartender. Lil has an amazing ability to see who is a woman and who is a girl, she is very wise. I concentrated really hard but failed to notice whatever subtle vibe was being put out there- and let me tell you, I know people- but these girls- well to tell you the truth I actually couldn't tell them apart from one another at all but maybe that was because I was so deathly ill.... But you know it made me think about my own path...my own transformation from girl to woman. I will try to keep the crone Lil in the forefront of my mind as I treverse the prairies and the plains to arrive in the high desert, no longer a girl, but a woman. A woman of the mesa. I may never have the dance moves or the tan, but I hope to cultivate my spirit, my heart, just as those women that made the cut, and won the prize. (25,000$ and a chance to be a bartender)