Little Earthship on the Mesa

Snow!

2006-10-26T19:57:00.000-07:00

It snowed in Taos today. Man what a great day. My homeslice from work came over with a truckload of wood for me, then we went to lunch and I had eggs benedict (the diner offers free range eggs and you can get spinach or tomato slices instead of ham, I got spinach) and we drank Chai. Then it started snowing and got real cold and pretty. Now I'm all cozy in the lil Erf Ship with a pinon fire crackling in the stove, my ginger tea, a Battlestar Galactica DVD and fuzzy shoes. Cats all mellow and sleepy on the bed and the little sliver of moon shining down on the snowy mesa. It's quiet as can be out there.

Godspeed, tarantulas

2006-10-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

This past weekend in Taos we had both the Wool Festival and the Mountain Film Festival. I tried to get to both. It was cool on Saturday so that put me in the mood to look at wool hats, sweaters, scarves, and to pet the sheep and llamas and alpacas. There are a lot of little sheep operations around these parts, and by these parts I also mean Southern Colorado and Eastern Arizona. Of course yall know the Navajo are big sheep ranchers and weavers and they're close by. So I went to the wool festival and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Everything cost an arm and a cunt, as my friend Julie would say. I didn't buy anything. I also went to the film festival and at one of the parties I sat and talked with a star. One of the stars of "Touch-g The V-id". The real guy not the actor that played him. The movie was made after the famous ascent of a big mountain in Peru which resulted in a pretty remarkable adventure, all life and deathy. I met the guy who didn't fall into the crevasse. He was quite entertaining. I enjoyed the unedited (drunken) version of how he felt about the movie, and the other guy, and the whole experience.
It was a pretty fun weekend, though the films made me tired. all that outdoor activity gets exhausting to watch after awhile.
I'm heading off to Raton, NM for another module of energy Healing School. I'm really looking forward to that.
And the lil earthship is SO FRIGGIN COOL! I've been learning more about how the black water systems work and meeting more neighbors and seeing more earthships and it has all renewed my enthusiasm for the whole thing. Plus, my lil earthship is so warm and toasty. I am so sold on being off the grid. I want to spread the word so this can start being done in other lands. Apparently the developer of my community has worked to get building policy changed to accommodate all the alternative building that goes on here in New Mexico. It's a process so other places will need to get to work, plus earthships have gone through a lot of evolution since the first ones. In different climates alternative building will need to be adjusted and improved upon. My neighbor J has a really really nice 2000 square foot earthship, with two cisterns so he's got lots of water, and he has it all- a washer and dryer and a bathtub. His attitude, which is now my attitude- is that you ought to have all the comforts you want. I mean, if you can afford it you might as well throw up extra panels and have more square footage on your roof and put in an extra cistern or even three. You're not wasting anything, just utilizing what the Erf gives you. When it comes to Solar energy- I heard someone say, "I got Saudi Arabia right outside in the sky" It's true. We do and it rocks and it's the way to go yall. I'm telling you. And it's so pragmatic, it just makes so much sense. In so many ways.
The Fall here has been nice. There are Aspens and the leaves turn yellow and fall down, so I'm getting that fall smell. It's gotten a little chilly but the sky is big and blue and the snow on yonder mountaintops makes it all even more picturesque. The tarantulas have almost all gone, they were really super cute. Shy animals, I was scared to pick one up because I had heard that they have spiky things on their back legs. I just wanted one to walk across my hand but they all ran away.

Colder days

2006-09-22T16:52:00.000-07:00

Well I am working in the OR at the local hospital now. It's going pretty well, except for the part where I have to get up at 5 in the morning. The first week I was totally brain dead, this week is a little better. I work with really nice people, I like them. It's a small OR, 4 rooms, most days we're done pretty early. I've been working a lot (for me anyway) to try to catch up money wise. I'm not as happy as I am when I get enough sleep, but I'm pretty happy.
It snowed here the other day, not on the mesa but in the Mountains. Pretty. The Earthship is doing fine. Still quite comfy, and I love being off the grid still. And underground- it's cool being underground. They are calling for a "wet" winter here, which is good for me because it will be pretty and I'll have water. I'm keeping my eyes open for a cheap used 4 wheel drive vehicle. It's the way to roll out here in the winter.
Oh- you wanna know what has happened? It's this weird, disgusting kind of karma I have. Do y'all remember when that possum crawled under the house in Moncure and died, and then it happened again when Katie lived there? Well something has managed to crawl into the heater fan of the Corolla, get itself chopped up, and is now putrifying and when I run the heater a loud noise and nauseating odor blows out, along with the heat. I say it's karma because there have been other things too- once I was mad at a boyfriend I had and I came real close to smashing his head in with my clock radio but instead I just slammed it against the bedside table, well it got a crack in it and a bug crawled in it and died, and you could see the bug inside it, it was lodged in the high end of the radio dial. It got in but there was no getting it out. And another time when I was a kid I got a brand new nice pair of sneakers and a mouse crawled in them and died. (the mouse was trying to get away from the cat) It's unfortunate and very unpleasant but it only happens every so many years and I suppose for the most part I have been blessed many times over so- I can deal with it. I just hope whatever it is in the heater is small and does it's thing pretty quickly, and I pray it isn't a hanta virus mouse, blowing hanta virus at me. Now obviously I am not running the heater even though it's cold as a witches tit in the morning now, but I can still smell it.

I never thought these stories were real, until one day.....

2006-09-06T19:44:00.000-07:00

Oh peeps peeps peeps. What I wouldn't give to have one of you with me today. I had something funny happen. I only wish I was a better storyteller, but here goes. Today was a little cloudy and on the cool side so I went down to the hot springs for a warm soak. I went to the Manby hot springs which are at the bottom of the Rio Grande gorge, a few pools beside the cold river, it's really nice. I'm lying there soaking and looking up at the rocks when a dude gets in the pool next to mine, naked. That isn't unusual because the hot springs are clothing optional. I had on my bathing suit. So we start talking, introducing ourselves and a couple of other ladies show up and he says they are his friends and they are tantra instructors. It's just dificult sometimes not to make a joke. What I wanted to do was imitate the classic porn music, but whenever I try to do that it comes out sounding like the theme from Sanford and Son. And I wasn't sure if they would get it. Then I thought maybe they would get it too well, if you know what I mean. It just seemed like the perfect set up. "These are my friends, they are tantra instructors" Then the girls got in the hot springs naked as the day they were born and started rubbing mud all over each other. One of them turned to me and said, "Excuse us, we're very touchy feely. Capitol T capitol F" (again, cue porn music)
Turns out they were in town to do a workshop on tantra which got my interest because for some reason I was sort of naively thinking about tantric energy, because I'm studying energy- I mean yeah I know it's about sex but I was imagining a workshop where I could show up with pen and paper, listen to a lecture about tantra and then maybe do some breathing exercises and concentrate on opening the heart chakra, or getting the sacral chakra spinning at the right speed. Later when I reflected back on the conversation I think maybe they were going to do dirty stuff. Some of the things they said about it, like "No one has to do anything they don't want to do" and "we get pretty intimate" at the time didn't sound unusual because I was still thinking about a group of people that may just be there to learn these concepts, and maybe some folks would feel uncomfortable talking about certain things but wouldn't have to if they didn't want to. They offered to give me a discount to come to the workshop. But I don't think I'm ready for something like that. I tried to read a book about tantra once and got embarrassed by the pictures of the "cobra kiss" which isn't even as dirty as it sounds. They were really lovely poeple and all. I enjoyed meeting them. And I'm down with the tantric stuff for sure. I mean I have Saturn in the 8th house so I really should be learning about it.
Once they found out I lived in an Earthship they wanted to hear all about that. They had driven by the community and said they had been wondering what kind of poeple lived in Earthships. As if going around the country hosting orgies is perfectly normal. Just Kiddding. I loved them. I love New Mexico.

On Break

2006-09-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

This morning Mark, the owner of the THC (Taos House of Coffee), told me some of the jokes about dating in Taos. What they say about getting a woman is: your odds are good, but the goods are odd.
Here are some Taos statistics:
Males: 2,159 (45.9%), Females: 2,541 (54.1%)
The other joke was: be nice to your friend's girlfriend, she might be yours next week.
Small town, a bit incestuous. I'd heard this from a few different people. One former resident who was back visiting from a teaching job in Japan told me that there is a lot of "hostility" in the social scene here...hmm.
When I first moved to town I met a woman who told me, "Women come to Taos to find their power, men come here to smoke pot." When I told the folks at the coffeeshop that the guys irately pointed out that they smoked pot BEFORE they came to Taos.
Those statistics are actually deceiving though, they don't include the Pueblo. When you do it by county it's pretty even, men to women. Or rather it's 49% men, 51% women, which is even really. In fact, in my experience of living in different towns, the 49:51 male:female ratio will feel like there are way more men than women. Seattle was like that. Lots of lonely guys in that town. Here are Chapel Hill's statistics:
Males: 21,961 (45.1%), Females: 26,754 (54.9%)
Similar in percentages but Taos is a much smaller town, plus being Southwestern, the energy is completely different. We talk about "energy" a lot out here.
They do say you can't get a man in Taos though. That's what they say. The conversation started because a girl was telling us that she had been "down South" and met a boy who had sworn off Taos girls because they are crazy. She said she thinks the reason Taos girls have trouble with their mens is because a lot of men come to Taos to take a break from girls. Maybe that's true, but I think it's more like Mark said, people come to Taos in general to take a break from life. We're all on break here. Which explains a lot.

Not Cool

2006-08-30T22:42:00.000-07:00

I am having trouble sleeping again. And just now I found a Jerusalem Cricket IN MY BED! I have been seeing these guys around the earthship. I didn't know what they were. In Spanish they are called Nina de la tierra- child of the Earth. That's a pretty sweeet way to look at them, but they freak my shit out because they are big and they bite, or so I have read.
Though I have to say I rescued a half dead one last week that had gotten into a plastic container and couldn't get out, and when I relocated him to the outdoors he looked at me with- I swear- gratitude. But still. Dey ugly. Now how I'm gonna sleep?

August

2006-08-30T19:51:00.000-07:00

Well I know it has been a dog's age since I updated this blog. I am sorry. I had a house guest, then my mac broke and and had to be sent away, then I couldn't log on to the bloggy thingie. Well I'm here now. And I'm all yours.
August. Lets see, there's some new stuff to tell. I am finally "working". That is I am in orientation at the hospital, not really working in the OR quite yet. I am now enrolled in an Integrative Energy Therapy school. The name of the school is Snowlion Center School, and when you Google that (I know you will) you'll see a lot of stuff in some other language- Deutsch I think. There are schools in Europe and now there is one in America too, it's just a couple hours from here in a really beautiful part of New Mexico near a volcano. And yall, Energy Healing is real, OK? Next time you see me if you want I'll chelate your ass then you'll know. The class meets 5 times a year.

It's been an up and down month to tell you the truth. It's been kind of weird, kind of hard. Kind of good, too.

The good parts are I keep meeting people that are so great that I like a lot. This is a town full of really lovable folks. It's rained and rained, and it's starting to cool off now, the days are getting shorter. I'm excited to see what Fall and Winter are going to be like here.
That lady didn't hire me to spin wool. Goddammit. I really wanted to do that. I'm going to learn anyway. And when I do I'm going to put the touch on my friend Molly for her bonnet from the Old Salem days.

Slow and quiet for the most part

2006-08-03T18:12:00.000-07:00

The other day I picked up a hitchiker who was so drunk he started crying when he got into my car expressing his gratitude. Then for 7 miles he yelled (slurred) "Thank God for byooful women" Until I dropped him off at the Cattle Grate-- which is the entrance to "Lesser World"- I live in Greater World which is considered the upscale neighborhood. I know I have at least one friend who might be reading this and freaking out about me picking up drunk hitchikers but I only pick up the Mesa People out on my road and I assure you they are not going to serial kill me or rape me they just wanna go where they're going.
We've been getting a lot of rain lately. In fact I have too much water these days. It's lush and green and sometimes extemely muddy. the mud out here is very sticky. I reckon that's why it's so good for building.
I finally started the process of getting hired at the hospital last Friday. They are supposedly doing the beackground/reference checks, etc. My friend works in the ICU there, he says it takes forever even once the ball is rolling to start work...but what I really want to do is get this job dying and spinning wool in this wool shop. They use all natural dyes. The lady really doesn't want to hire me, she keeps telling me I'm over qualified. I keep trying to assure her that I'm an idiot who would be greatly challanged by menial labor but I may not have convinced her. I would just love to be around the colors, and learn how to do something cool like spin yarn, like the maidens are always doing in fairy tales. Ideally I could do both, the wool stuff part time, the OR part time. She liked the fact that I am a Sagittarius with Virgo rising (I knew all this stuff would come in handy one day) and she said she wouldn't write me off. She is also hooking me up with a lady that can teach me some Eastern Medicine. So it goes in the Land of Enchantment. One thing leads to another, and you find yourself somewhere pretty different than you intended, but still a good place.

Condoleeza

2006-07-26T20:29:00.000-07:00

I was listening to our Secretary of State yesterday talking about the Israel-Lebanese conflict and how she doesn't want a cease fire unless it's (my favorite word lately) "sustainable". She then described the Middle East crisis as "spasms of violence fathered by...followed by periods of..." I didn't hear the rest of the sentence because I started thinking about the Freudian slip. I thought it was a pretty interesting one. Then I started thinking about Kim Jong-Il. Poor Kim Jong. He just cannot get our attention can he? He finally managed to shoot a taepadong (that's the name of his missle, for real) at us and he gets upstaged once again by the Middle East. He'll get it together one of these days I'm sure. I think it's all pretty scary.

Here's my personal update. Things are going well, it's beautiful and amazing here still, we're getting some rain. I found a girl I like who does waxing. I was surprised at that because from what I've seen the ladies of Taos prefer the au natural look. Which is fine. Oh and I might actually be employed soon! I called the hospital and left another message. I can't remember exactly what it said but it was sort of a "last chance to hire me" kind of thing. The next day I had TWO messages. One from the director of surgical services and one from the CEO of the hospital. (it's a really small hospital) and now they claim they can give me the shift I want. I'm going to interview on Friday. It's good. I guess. I got some other ideas percolatin in my little haid about what I want to do down the road but the inescapable fact is: it's all easier with a good cash flow.
Oh and another thing that happens on Friday- Mercury goes direct! Hallelujah! It has been a hard retrograde cycle for lots of folks, but expect things to go a little easier starting Friday and getting better day by day.

My neighbors are Amazons

2006-07-16T20:36:00.000-07:00

Tonight I was invited to my neighbor's house for a get together. My landlords were in town and they have been very nice in trying to get their former friends to be my new friends. That, in my opinion, is how it should be. That's how it is in the Jane Austen novels and in my old etiquette books anyway. So I went over to the earthship up the road and there were a few folks from the community there, most of them I had met before. Nice people, all around my age. They were drinking tea, not beer or wine or martinis, which I thought a little strange but not a big deal. We sat around and talked and it was nice. They told me how they had been rock climbing earlier, a subject on which I cannot converse well ( me: oh so yall rock climbed with the clippy things and everything? One of them : oh no, just top rope. Me: Oh, Okay, sure....top rope.) Somehow the conversation came around to the subject of trapeze and the hosts mentioned they had a trapeze in their house, and two of the girls had studied trapeze. We went inside and people started doing trapeze moves. The hostess taught me how to do bird nest. It wasn't too hard. Then, one by one the girls started doing pull ups. The trapeze is low so they were doing pull ups with their legs sticking straight out in front of them. Then they did pull ups with their legs sticking straight out in front of them OVERHANDED. I was stunned. I'll tell y'all the truth, which I now find embarrassing, but I have never done a pull up in my life. These people are fit. Walking home through the beautiful starlit mesa I started to feel fat and pasty. I guess for people who have spent the last ten years or so pounding Earth into tires doing a few pull ups with your legs sticking straight out in front of you, after a day top roping is just the perfect way to wind down. Whereas I have spent the last 10, well really more like 20 years smoking cigarettes and drinking and going to bars and...well..doing other stuff too. I have often thought about being athletic, being a sagittarius and all, and because both my parents were athletes in their day. I think I could be, or could have been. But thinking about it I guess doesn't quite make it so. It was a nice evening even with the discrepancies in our lives. I don't know about rock climbing nor do I have cute little muscles like they do, they don't know who Daniel Johnston is (I had gone to see The Devil and Daniel Johnston because it was too murderously hot today to do anything else, or so I thought anyway). But we made it work.
I got another massage the other day, this time from a different guy. The last one had ethical problems I think. Anyway this time the guy- who does this thing called body mind clearing- which is pretty cool- well the guy asked me if I lifted weights. He was massaging my chest which was a little different from previous massages I'd had... anyway I threw that in because it makes me feel a little better that someone who does bodywork thought I might lift weights. I think he meant it to, I mean I don't think he was being a perv or trying to come on to me. Though I have to admit it was dificult leaving his house he just kept talking and talking and then showing me more of his massage techniques. But I'm pretty sure that's because he used to run a massage school and I had mentioned I was considering going to massage therapy school.
I'm considering lots of things right now. And I'm getting used to answering ,"Not a thing" when people ask "What do you do?".

Full Southern Moon (in Capricorn)

2006-07-10T19:51:00.000-07:00

Today my bio-rhythm is low. My neighbors and I stayed up late last night drinking wine and today I couldn't shift into gear. Just idled all day. No problem as I am unemployed. I felt bad for them with their jobs and three younguns though. Saw the Prairie Home companion movie. Robert Altman. It was OK. We have been blessed with lots and lots of water so I took a long shower this morning and didn't even turn off the water while soaping up. The catch 22 is that when it rains the Sun doesn't shine so the solar water heater doesn't get the water quite as hot as I like it. I like it hot. Real hot. The Moon tonight is the Southernmost July Moon until the year 2023. I made an attempt to solidify in my mind where I'm at in my life right now and wondered if in the year 2023 I'll remember and reflect. I'm "getting off" coffee, so that's contributing to my idling body and mind. I have attempted this many times and always end up feeling very good when I'm caffeine free, but Lord do I love coffee. I went to the Pow-Wow Saturday. It was dreamlike with the misty drizzly day and the drums and conch blowing and singing, the mountains looming up behind the large dance circle. The little kids were cute beyond description. The outfits were beautiful. One little girl had Hello Kitty beadwork on her outfit and boots along with traditional Indian symbols. I love stuff like that. They could do the dances too, and some of them were just toddlers. It was very cool. I thought about the Trail of Tears and wondered how Americans could ever feel superior to Hitler when what we've done is just as fucked up.
Hey well- have a good one!

Company

2006-07-08T07:19:00.000-07:00

I've had company this past week. My friend Laura came up from New Orleans. She went back yesterday. We had us a big time. We went to Chimayo and prayed in the Santurio do Chimayo which is an old adobe church built on sacred dirt. People make pilgrimages to the church because it's so special and you can go into this little room and get some of the dirt which heals people. It's considered the Lourdes of the Southwest and there are crutches all lined up that people have left there from being healed. You know I got me a bag of that dirt. Speaking of that it was a weird thing, when we pulled into the church I looked down and sitting there in my car were two plastic baggies. I said, "oh Laura did you put these in here so we could get some dirt?" and she said no she hadn't. I honestly don't know how those two little baggies got in my car. I guess God put them there. Anyway Chimayo is very special and pretty with a couple little shops and galleries. Do yall know what milagros are? The word means miracle but you can buy little silver icons in the shape of body parts or praying people or objects (we found one that was a sewing machine) and people leave them in the church for healing and blessings. There are arms and legs usually but one store had breasts and testicles and torsos and even couples- all inclusive- all types of couples to be blessed. I liked that. They also had a bumper sticker that said "In Guad we trust" because the Virgin of Guadalupe is a big deal out here. The other really fun thing we did was a horse ride in the Pueblo. The Taos Indians have a Pueblo here and sometimes you can visit but other times they don't let white people in. We went to a horse ranch and the guy that ran it sent us out with two of his Grandkids into the mountains and we were trotting along and the horses suddenly looked up into the bushes. I looked where my horse was looking and saw a flash of something black running off. Sunbow, our guide, went to investigate and saw two bear cubs scurrying off. I was very excited but everyone else held the opinion that the smart thing would be to go on back rather than have the Mama Bear show up and freak out the horses. Today I'm going back to the Pueblo because they are hosting a Pow-Wow. Native American tribes from all over come for these Pow-Wows and dance and win money and prizes and trade stories and crafts.
I still don't have a job. It's pretty unusual for me. I'm used to being able to wave my nursing license around and folks clamor for the chance to have me work for them. I've gotten pretty spoiled after last year. But something has obviously gone wrong with my application here in Taos. When I went in to talk to the people I had every nurse manager in the hospital crowded into a room being nice to me, then a week later I dropped off my application and never heard back. Folks that have dealt with the hospital said you have to go there in person or call and really follow up- that's how UNC Human Resources is too so I wasn't surprised. So I called last week and talked to the HR director who acted like it was bad and wrong that nobody had called me and transferred me to another nurse manager who said she would request my application then call me back for an interview and I never heard back. So..What? Did they lose my application? A real possibility considering the way things seem to go in this town. Or did I put the wrong contact information, or did I make some glaring error on my application? Sometimes, or rather often actually in my life a door doesn't open for me that I'm expecting, then later it seems that a different opportunity pops up that is better, so I'm wondering if this is one of those things. I'm definitely ready for a different direction with my work, but OR nursing is good money, and surgery is pretty fun, I still like it. Though here in Taos they do not do neurosurgery which is my specialty. Now I'm thinking more and more about learning to do something very different, like work on a ranch or a farm or learn how to refine biodiesel or get more involved with alternative building, growing, and sustainable shit. Possibly it's time for a big change and the Fates know I won't be easily pried away from the income I'm used to. We'll just have to see where I end up- maybe living in a Styrofoam box out in Two Peaks, or running a little biodiesel filling station in Arroyo Seco. I'll keep you posted.

Carpe Manana

2006-06-27T22:01:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-19T16:20:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-11T07:24:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-01T06:42:00.000-07:00

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)