In light In Meant

I can say this having stared into the eyes of the beast.  We all have our deep seated fears....   It might be the smell of rotting food in the fridge or perhaps the rancid stench of your fellow human being.   All I know is they are out there and they are real.  I can’t help but reflect on the night when I was thinking about marinating my arm as the last flicker of light slowly faded into black.  What are we?  Who are we?  And how could it possibility take an electric company over 5 days to restore power!   Living on the frontier is hard.  I knew that.  But going without power!  Come on.  Absolutely savage I say.  Without being able to make coffee we are just a small step above the beasts of the jungle.  That said, it’s true I have found “in light in meant”.  If not that then at least truth.  I now know what my fellow man smells like for real..  Damn.  And who would have thought that forgetting to take out the food in the fridge would actually create new life.  It’s all true.  One never really thinks about where the “hot” water comes from?  I mean you just turn on the tap...right?  In bundling for the cold you actually do realize that you can wear the same clothes for longer than you ever thought was possible.  Yes, wine does get cold when you leave it outside the door in winter.   Amazing.  Being so close to the line between savage and civilized has been an experience for certain.  My advice to you is to never never give up.... and never leave dill havarty cheese in the lifeless fridge ....and always appreciate a warm shower... 

Heart of Darkness.....Terlingua

Entering day 5 of the black out in Terlingua.  Hunkered down in the dark cold at the station hoping to find a morsel of food or maybe a reprieve from the day in the light of the last match.  The town has been without power and most have left if they could find gas.  It's surreal and you feel like you are in some movie about a plague.  The only lights are from the few generators that come on every once in awhile.  The "off the grid" folks have won this one hands down.  As I sit in the dark I can't help think about the Donner Party and look down at my arm and wonder......baked or fried?

Some things are Peaing me Off

Scanned the crowd yesterday in the Ghost Town in Terlingua and didn’t see many of my old friends.  That’s too bad because it was the annual Terlingua New Year’s eve PEE OFF.  Yes, that’s right the Pee Off.  Black eyed peas and some different twists made for an interesting New Years Day.  Had I known what was coming I would have enjoyed it a bit more.  

Tonight I’m sitting with my coat on at the EMS station waiting....not really for the alarm to go off but more to start the death process of hypothermia.  The power is out in the entire area for about 80 miles.  There is no gas for a hundred miles and the town is full of desperate tourists trying to get out of town.  The station is powered down so there is only one light on and now there are 5 people huddled around a makeshift lamp made out of a headlamp and a Nalgene bottle.  At some point food will run out and the light will dim.  It will be slow and painful passing......please send supplies as UPS always gets here.....LaCrema may keep me going.