there’s a power failure, and we’re way out here at the end of the line, twenty miles from the village where we moved a couple of days ago. we’re overall very happy out here, although there’s a lot of driving involved, but the power failure kind of upsets our apple cart. our seventeen-year-old is upset because it ruins his reputation in his online game, where you’re not supposed to just quit a game that you started. our thirteen-year-old lives on her phone, where she posts instagrams regularly, but the phone doesn’t work when the power and the internet are off. and finally, my wife wants to take a shower, but apparently the well’s pump relies on electrical, and without it, there’s no pressure, and it peters out.
i made a campfire as i did last night, but the rain picked up and pretty much drenched it. rain is unusual in this area in june – this is the dry time – but there’s unusual weather all over the place. there was a tornado in the area the other night, and there was a wind event in alamo earlier today; we heard this over the landline phone, which apparently still works. seems like the world is coming to an end, but even then, I don’t mind, because I’m finally in a place I really love, that I can call a good stopping place.
as it happens, it’s my fiftieth home, so now i can finish my autobiography, which has fifty chapters of true life documentation of where I lived and moved, and fifty good stories interspersed between them. i’m also sixty-five, and feel like i’ve retired, since school is out, so there are other good reasons for finally getting this down. and finally, as part of moving and general downsizing, i’m looking at everything i’ve ever produced: every poster, every music-event promotion, every document. i saved way too many things, of course, but that’s not the point. the point is, now i have to look at it, before i pitch it. it’s only fair.
in the last days before moving, i was still trying to sort, but eventually, i decided to just bring it now, sort later. after all, I didn’t have the time then, but I will, now, if only i can keep up my motivation while my wife is rushing headlong into the horse-owning business. that was, for her, the main point of moving out here so quickly, as i probably would have dawdled and waited at least until the oldest son graduated. for him, with a dread of long drives, the main benefit of being out here is being able to just stay on internet, all day, not even get dressed, and have no one bother him. i said, if you were totally isolated, nobody would even come visit, and he said that would be fine with him. He’s not hankering to drive, to get out, to move to some better place, although you could say that about the fourteen-year-old. Moving for him was not difficult. he had a small room before, and now he has a fifth-wheel camper. He’s made it how he wants it, and, as long as internet prevails, he’s fine.
no, the point is, the rain can come, the storm can come, and we’ll probably be ok, as long as it’s not a tornado. we know the rest of the world is flooding. the river’s up, and staying up. there’s more rain than anyone can handle. but in this part of new mexico, there’s been a drought for many years, and everyone is nervous, all the time, about the possibility of fire, and a rainy dry season is a kind of relief that means, for once, we can go into summer not over-paranoid, not edgy, not impatient with the clouds that never amount to anything: this year, they’re bringing us rain. green things are sprouting everywhere. the wildflowers are coming out, even before the monsoons.
to get to this place, you turn off the highway at a sign that says, sixteen springs canyon, eight. this cutoff is already about eight miles from cloudcroft, so, it’s sixteen miles, more or less, before you get to our valley. but then, in this valley, you take this windy road along the canyon – past an rv park, through walker’s ranch, past the fire station, and past the bell canyon cutoff. cows graze lazily along the side of the road – they apparently don’t fear the lions and bears around – and deer and elk abound, usually darting off the road as you approach. the weather is gentler than cloudcroft, where it rains more and has more snow.
end of the line, and we're here. the rain is staying gentle, even dying off. that's good. everything will smell good, and be green in the morning.
i made a campfire as i did last night, but the rain picked up and pretty much drenched it. rain is unusual in this area in june – this is the dry time – but there’s unusual weather all over the place. there was a tornado in the area the other night, and there was a wind event in alamo earlier today; we heard this over the landline phone, which apparently still works. seems like the world is coming to an end, but even then, I don’t mind, because I’m finally in a place I really love, that I can call a good stopping place.
as it happens, it’s my fiftieth home, so now i can finish my autobiography, which has fifty chapters of true life documentation of where I lived and moved, and fifty good stories interspersed between them. i’m also sixty-five, and feel like i’ve retired, since school is out, so there are other good reasons for finally getting this down. and finally, as part of moving and general downsizing, i’m looking at everything i’ve ever produced: every poster, every music-event promotion, every document. i saved way too many things, of course, but that’s not the point. the point is, now i have to look at it, before i pitch it. it’s only fair.
in the last days before moving, i was still trying to sort, but eventually, i decided to just bring it now, sort later. after all, I didn’t have the time then, but I will, now, if only i can keep up my motivation while my wife is rushing headlong into the horse-owning business. that was, for her, the main point of moving out here so quickly, as i probably would have dawdled and waited at least until the oldest son graduated. for him, with a dread of long drives, the main benefit of being out here is being able to just stay on internet, all day, not even get dressed, and have no one bother him. i said, if you were totally isolated, nobody would even come visit, and he said that would be fine with him. He’s not hankering to drive, to get out, to move to some better place, although you could say that about the fourteen-year-old. Moving for him was not difficult. he had a small room before, and now he has a fifth-wheel camper. He’s made it how he wants it, and, as long as internet prevails, he’s fine.
no, the point is, the rain can come, the storm can come, and we’ll probably be ok, as long as it’s not a tornado. we know the rest of the world is flooding. the river’s up, and staying up. there’s more rain than anyone can handle. but in this part of new mexico, there’s been a drought for many years, and everyone is nervous, all the time, about the possibility of fire, and a rainy dry season is a kind of relief that means, for once, we can go into summer not over-paranoid, not edgy, not impatient with the clouds that never amount to anything: this year, they’re bringing us rain. green things are sprouting everywhere. the wildflowers are coming out, even before the monsoons.
to get to this place, you turn off the highway at a sign that says, sixteen springs canyon, eight. this cutoff is already about eight miles from cloudcroft, so, it’s sixteen miles, more or less, before you get to our valley. but then, in this valley, you take this windy road along the canyon – past an rv park, through walker’s ranch, past the fire station, and past the bell canyon cutoff. cows graze lazily along the side of the road – they apparently don’t fear the lions and bears around – and deer and elk abound, usually darting off the road as you approach. the weather is gentler than cloudcroft, where it rains more and has more snow.
end of the line, and we're here. the rain is staying gentle, even dying off. that's good. everything will smell good, and be green in the morning.
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