a dry-erase fridge and a composting toilet!!
that's right, friends. but it feels good to be out of the rain.
just a little over a year ago i had my first desert experience when went camping with shana, idil, and alex in angeles national forest. but it wasn't really a forest. it was the desert. and i was terrified. we saw a scorpion within hours, i was sure we were being stalked by mountain lions, and i stomped on the ground where'er i walked, expecting a rattlesnake to strike at any moment. seriously out of my element.
as you can see, the sexy danger is "very high"
in the woods, there are hiding places. there is shade and water. there are little bugs under every rock that you can eat if you're desperate.
not in the desert. not during august.
the first part of the journey was smooth sailing. we booked it down I-5 all the way to l.a., with rowdy and a sedated t.k. (we decided to drug him for sure after the little shit ran away the day before we moved!) napping comfortably (for the most part) in the backseat.
sedated t.k. on a leash
a close-up
we left l.a. at 5am on friday morning. it started getting hot around 9am, somewhere in the arizona desert. nothing a few bags of ice and some dorky matching neck bandanas for the whole family (minus asha) can't fix!
and...it really hasn't really stopped being hot since then. at first i thought i was just being a baby, but it turns out everyone in texas is complaining about the weather, too.
so, here we are. now i live in the desert. practically. well, not technically, but there are still rattlesnakes in austin. i looked it up.
but the benefits outweigh the rattlesnakes and maybe even the heat:
tex mex food trucks EVERYWHERE.
a magazine called garden & gun??!!
an amazing food co-op. (everything is cheaper!!)
a local timebank.
two hip 'lil coffeeshops around the corner from my house.
shiner in a can. in fact, there is a place here that gives you free beer while they cut your hair.
a doula co-op.
and gays everywhere, apparently. our landlady, our neighbors, everyone we buy something from on craigslist. without even looking for them. gay!
there are plenty of great things to do, but not until we have jobs.
until then, aside from craigslist furniture round-up and ikea treasure-hunting, we've mostly stayed in for xena marathons and master chef (liz t. and amy, you should finish the season!). it's too hot to sleep in our loft right now and we don't have a bed anyway, so the entire family (minus asha) has been curling up on the living "space" futon in front of the a/c every night. i had a job interview at an abortion clinic (ask me how i re-worded that one for my mother another time...), am waiting to attend a birth for the co-op, and have sprinkled various other job applications throughout the city. leslie got tricked into signing us up to perform in a talent show to benefit planned parenthood at the end of the month. tonight we're going to see a free los lonely boys show at blues on the green.
so much to explore as soon as we're done with six seasons of xena.
friends, wherever you are in the world right now, we miss and love you!!
