Taos Winter Update

It’s been a while since I commented on the Land of Entrapment, so here you go. For one thing, Taos is still here…

If you’re thinking of moving, note that there’s no money for music in the school budget, so your kids won’t have to join that icky high school band. Rents are still way too high, as are house prices, because denial lives on in dark red greedy corners of the soul. (Most of the realtors I know are taking odd jobs or gambling on Google ads, which might be relevant.) I saw nine or 10 help wanted ads in the local paper last week, and only one required an education, so leave your Ph.D. at home. Just bring lots of money and make sure there’s a big hole in your pocket!

Basically, if you care about the artifacts of what passes for civilization, you should just stay in Ohio or wherever you are right now. That’s pretty much a given, anyway, no matter what the economy is or isn’t doing. It’s still dirty, rough, isolated, unfair, ludicrously hectic for being nowhere, and a great town for singles if you’re gay and female, so they tell me.

Nature rules, however! And thank God for that.

It’s goddamn cold (below zero already overnight). This is shaping up to be one of those Mongolian winters where the dust blows and there’s little snow. So far that’s just fine with me, as the tiny bit of snow already on our doorstep will still be there when the Easter Bunny comes, and maybe on Memorial Day. Like I said, it’s cold. The topography is absolutely STUNNING, too, and probably accounts for why most of us are here. You eventually freak out — very appropriate — say your goodbyes, load the car to get the hell out of Dodge, and then you look up: big mistake!

We were coming back from Dixon yesterday, and I got dope-slapped by the vista of the Gorge again. Oy, vey… When people speak of “terrible beauty” in these parts, believe them. The power of it is so huge, it sucks the life right out of you. You may yearn for cute little gardens, soft air, and quiet country roads with actual pavement, but the gods don’t like you, and you’re screwed. You just can’t leave by normal means, and if you do somehow make it back to where people believe in shopping at the mall, it’ll be so boring, you’ll O.D. on prescription drugs or open a little bookstore for your soul and starve to death. Besides, you can do all that right here and save on gas. We have a Walgreen’s now, so you can buy your pills and booze to wash ‘em down with right up until closing time.

There are compensations, obviously. Not living in the “real America,” wherever the hell that is, has got to be one of them. Another is that in just a couple of hours, I get to hear an angel play the piano while real singers belt out opera choruses. Yet another are the Natives. I don’t know how I ever lived without Indians before — very handy for reminding oneself that this definitely back home in Whereverville.

Related posts:

1. Taos Winter Update #2: More Wood Stove Talk
2. Winter Hike
3. Adobe Winter Lockdown
4. Brutal Winter
5. Winter Reset