A dirt cheap floor, a small green house, and other progressions

My friend Justin spent the month of January out here to progress the status of the dome project, which had been on hiatus for awhile due to a hefty music itinerary. In exchange, Justin left with a set of dome frames to begin his own off-grid abode. It has been awhile since I posted a progress update, so there are quite a few picture for anyone who might be interested. It is at this facebook album link, which I made public.

 

For more photos and the process description, go to this album link

The Mighty Monarch Migration

This last month has been gorgeous and eventful. The monarchs have chosen the Big Bend area as their point of Migration to the south...

view the rest of the album here

I am performing every Friday night at the Chisos Mountain Lodge this month. Last Friday happened to coincide with Yom Kippur. It was a magical night and a good way to start the 24 hour fast:

Panaorama of Casa Grande in the Chisos during a Monkey's Wedding

An above average sunset in the Chisos

more photos here

And last week, I just completed a nice little mini tour of Texas with a great songwriter named David Moss:

Shower House UP dated

After hauling and stacking many locally collected rocks (all within a mile) in the heat of the Texas desert summer, the shower house walls are at a finished level. All in all, I estimate it took between 40 and 50 man and woman hours. Since this wall is a dry stack, it will one day fall down, maybe tomorrow, maybe in 300 years. I just hope it doesn't happen while I am showering. 

The shower now has privacy. The temporary water collection bucket makes it easy to distribute the used greywater to the trees that surround the shower house. 

I spent a day helping a new friend work on a concrete floor in his hand built strawbale house. Greg Donner is here for a year to work on his paintings in an inspiring and distraction free setting. I try to sit in on friends' projects when I can in order to pick up new skills and inspiration. Greg then talked me into going to the hot springs in our national park, which I never would have thought of as a summer option, but any temperature water is a respite in this unrelenting Texas summer . 

Good friends and fellow off gridders Kevin and Zoe stopped by for morning coffee and a tour of Don's Domeland. Kevin and Zoey are also coordinators for our recycling program in town and have been naturally living by example out here for many years.

Texas' Toll on Trees

My fig tree before and after the Texas Summer

I go back and forth on whether to maintain this blog or not. It sometimes seems like a long ramble, and so I am considering a more focused approach, perhaps a short self-published e-book or downloadable PDF, something along those lines sometime in the future.

Anyhow, I am now back in the desert after my tour up the East Coast by train. This last month (after the tour), I have been visiting with friends and family in Houston and Austin, and somewhat dawdling my return to the heat of the desert. Now that I am back, I find the heat quite tolerable. Even though I don't have AC or even a swamp cooler, allowing my body to adjust to the gradual heating and cooling between day and night is easier for me than constantly going back and forth between very cold AC interiors and the scorching outdoor temps that have settled over Texas this Summer.

Sadly, my fruit trees (one plum and one fig) didn't make it through the Summer heat and drought. My water catchment and timer system was foiled. This is because either a good intentioned neighbor or a very evolved rabbit or coyote turned off the faucet that my timer was attached to. I know that I left it in the right position before leaving because I monitored it for the few days leading up to my tour. Perhaps someone was just thirsty and needed water. Who knows? But I've realized that an automated system is far inferior to a manned system when it comes to being a caretaker of life, or of anything for that matter. It is OK. I feel fortunate that everything else is intact. Many people around here lost homes, property and livestock from fires caused by the drought. I may try to plant new trees this Fall. Or just focus on harvesting what this area provides naturally, i.e. mesquite.

Quebec

The Solar House in Montreal with the Biodome in the background. 

I have spent the last week in Quebec, in the middle of the the old European settlements of Montreal and Quebec City. They are perfect models of integration between the old and the new. I asked a few people what the catch was to living here. The answer was unanimous. The Winter. I think this is an area that I would consider moving to if it weren't for the winters being brutal and long. 

Independence in Canada

Toronto

I am a free man in Canada. The train tour has come to an end, after the border agents required that I cancel the Canadian leg (3 shows). And now I am on a Canadian vacation, after leaving my guitar in Buffalo, New York with a friend of a friend. The border agents let me into their country on my 4th attempt under the condition that I didn't bring my "tools of trade" into their country. We were each triumphant in our own eyes. They feel that they prevented me from working illegally in their country, and I successfully got across the border when it was seeming less and less likely. I didn't come all this way from Texas just to go home. It is all an absurd display of protocol, because a guitar is not hard to find in Canada.

Entering Canada with a Guitar is a Red Flag

Stuck in Niagara Falls after being denied entry into Canada

Being declined crossing a border is like being declined for credit. Once you are declined, you keep getting declined. In fact, one of the standard questions at the border is "Have you even been denied entry into Canada before?". Like with bad credit, the gatekeeper doesn't view your circumstance from a fresh perspective but rather, from a lens that is tainted.

DC-NYC-PROVIDENCE

photo by Stephany Yantorn

After being denied entry into Canada, which I'll expand on in the next post, I find myself back in NYC. I am at Penn Station waiting for my final train in about 4 hours. Sleeping is not allowed in Penn Station but using the internet is. And so, I'll take this time to share s photo journal of the past week.

Philadelphia, Jersey Shore, and the Milkboy

Jersey Shore

I reunited with about 20 of my South African cousins in Philadelphia. From when we grew up in Johannesburg together to present day, we went from visiting each other every few days to seeing each other every few years. The addition of a last minute show at the Milkboy in Philadelphia was mostly an excuse for a stop in Philly for a little reunion. The Milkboy is a cool little joint in the suburbs, but it is also one of those venues that feels it's being generous by giving a performer one free beverage and letting them put out a tip jar. Almost the entire audience were relatives of mine, which makes a tip jar somewhat awkward, but I've learned to adjust to many different situations and be flexible.

Playcation

It is hard to imagine a place as lush as Virginia after leaving a desert that is
going on 10 months without a drop of rain

Playcation is the word I am using for a leisurely music tour routed to places and people I want to see. I may not earn very much, but I have a perpetually paid vacation, with a healthy amount of hard work mixed in.

The last couple of days, I stayed with my friends Keleigh and Thomas, who live part time in Terlingua Texas.

The secret hot springs in Big Bend with Keleigh and Thomas.

Niko and Jana Laven sit in at
Oddfella's in Floyd, Virginia.

Serendipidly, mutual musical mates, Niko and Jana Laven (Mother/Son duo) were touring through at the same time. And so we all became the house band for a house concert in Roanoke, Virginia on Thursday where the entire staff of the Roanoke Food Coop were present and contributed gourmet delights. Friday found us all in Floyd Virginia, where the Texas troubadours helped me fill my 4.5 hour set.  The tiny town of Floyd has more going on per capita than any place I've ever rolled through. Our Friday night show was a full house, in spite of the famous Country Store Friday night concert  down the road.  And I had the best Chimichangas I've ever eaten...in Virginia.

Back on the train, I tried to convince the snack dealer to let me use my own coffee mug, but he explained that Amtrak verifies the amount of coffee beverages sold from the amount of disposable cups missing from their inventory at the end of a shift. This protocol doesn't fit with their campaign to use the train as a greener form of travel. It is also incongruent with their their substantial efforts to provide recycling bins on board. But I needed the coffee. 

The Floyd pickers

Virginia

And now my playcation takes me to Philadelphia, after 6.5 hours on the train, where I will reunite with 20+ South African cousins. 

the susTRAINable Tour is Launched

I am a couple of days into my train journey. I have 12 shows in 15 days, and the Amtrak is my portal to the shows. These first train segments are the long ones, but there is no hurry. It is not time lost, like when driving. On board there is a restaurant, a lounge, and plenty of space to walk around while the world streams by outside the windows. It is a good time to relax or be productive. With a 15 day train pass, each day on the train costs me $26, not bad considering the distance traveled. And I don't have to worry about unexpected car troubles. 

My first exit off the train was in New Orleans. I walked a mile to Canal Street to catch the streetcar. And this is when I realized that I may be carrying too much stuff. Besides my guitar, I am also equipped with a small amplifier, a mic stand, a sleeping bag, music cables, food, and clothes. I'll have to play around with redistributing the weight, or consider unloading a few things. I dropped my things off at Chickie Wah Wah and then took the streetcar to the French Quarter, a nice glimpse of how American cities could be if character and architecture were emphasized instead of speed and efficiency.

Food from the Desert

Every year, it seems that I am gone while the Mesquites are podding. Usually I return from the road and they have fallen from the trees and are rotting on the ground. There is such an abundance of Mesquite pods, not even all the birds and hungry desert critters awaking from hibernation can make a dent in the supply. Ever since I have moved out here, I have wanted to harvest the plethora of mesquite pods and make mesquite flour, which is very high in protein and minerals. It is also gluten free and has a very desirable sweet and nutty taste. Yesterday, when I should have been indoors instead of outside in 108 degree weather, I harvested a few gallons of pods in town. I have read that the ones to pick are the ones that snap off the tree easily and taste sweet. This is the easy part, unless it is 108 outside. The hard part is grinding them down into flour. It would help to have the right tools. I'd like to harvest enough to be able to at least sell some mesquite flour at the Farmer's market when the season starts again. And in the future, sell it here on the interweb. But I only have a few days in town in between tours, so I may lose the opportunity once again.

Tour Summary: Through Deserts, Mountains, and Forests

the cost of touring and cashflow over 3 weeks

Another tour has come to an end. Or I suppose a tour never ends. It just pauses on this perpetual road. Of 22 booked shows, 18 actually panned out. I had to cancel two shows due to being sick and losing my voice. A Saturday night in Denver never manifested. And I was double booked in Las Cruces on the way home, but still paid. 18 shows in three weeks is still a rather dense schedule. And while I don't feel road fatigue, I would take a few more days off next time in order to better experience these incredible far away places that took a lot of driving to get to. 

The price of gas was a real killer this tour. I was expecting that though. Car expenses accounted for about half of my touring costs. It was mostly from gas, but also a $200 starter replacement and an oil change along the way. Other than that, Ruby is a true road dog, just hitting 260,000 miles upon returning. She even starting pumping out arctic air again, which she hasn't done in a year. Getting sick was also an unexpected cost, from lost revenue from canceled gigs, having to quarantine myself in a hotel for couple of nights,  and also from prescribed medication which I pay for out of pocket since I don't have health insurance.

Buckhorn Saloon and Opera House

This middle of nowhere venue in Pinos Altos, NM is tied for first place for my favorite venue this tour.

Colorado & Isakov

I've been hanging out with my friend and songwriter, Gregory Alan Isakov for a few days. Out of anyone I know, we have the most parallel lives. Besides being a jewish South African born songwriter, we have also been vegetarian for about the same length of time (over 15 years). And we also have some uncanny details in common, such a the fact that we both have broken speedometers and position our gps devices on our dashboard so that we know how fast we are going. I convinced him last minute to play a show with me at the Jamestown Mercantile. It was a much smaller venue then he usually plays in Colorado, but this tiny mountain community  houses some avid fans of his and when word got out, there was a nice turnout.

Pearl

Ruby's alter ego, "Pearl" this morning in front of the Speedtrap in Palmer Lake. 

The first precipitation I have seen in over 7 months is in the form of snow. Last week in Terlingua it was 105 degrees. And 800 miles North it is snowing. It's incredible what a little distance and elevation can do.

No Paid Sick Days

There are no paid sick days while on tour. In fact, being sick is costly and I figure that the flu has cost me several hundred dollars on this tour.

Rio Grande Gorge in Toas, NM. 

Though this tour has been my best planned and routed tour to date, one can't plan around the potential of getting sick. In a typical job, there is the security that if you get sick that you'll be able to rest and recover at home, while still being able to maintain your budget. This is not the case for a touring musician. The show must go on unless it is absolutely not physically possible, for instance, if their primary instrument is lost. In my case, it is my voice.

ELIPHANTE

This is Eliphante. Perhaps the most unique space I have ever performed in. 

The chapel of Eliphante. 

Ruby gets a Starter Transplant in Tucson

Ruby in Tucson with Terlingua dust. She could sure use a shower.

Ruby received a starter transplant in Tucson. She has had a worsening condition for over two months now and yesterday morning after 10 tries to get her started, I finally got her some medical attention. She only has catastrophic coverage, so this preventative procedure was out of pocket. Luckily, I found a place in Tucson that only works on Volvos and did the job for half of what everyone else quoted me. That is because they use salvaged authentic Volvo parts rather than new junky versions. She has been given new life and is now much more excited to get started in the mornings. 

Ruby Goes Solar

Ruby gets a solar panel

It was one of the things I wrote off getting done before I left on tour this week. But then my neighbor Rusty popped by (out here, anyone within 20 miles or so is a neighbor). Rusty salvaged my pipe dream about hooking up a solar panel to the roof of my Volvo in time for my tour through some very sunny areas.