East Jesus at Night, photo by Gosia Stechman
As Frank stepped away, Caddy and I have had to step up. Honestly, of all the curator’s duties I’m less than secure about being able to fulfill, this is the most intimidating. Frank’s writing is a hard act to follow.
We’ve got a beefy, five-person summer crew; Ken, Sue, Dreamcatcher, Caddy, and I. I’m incredibly grateful for Sue, as she’s tended lovingly to the art garden. The hurricane force winds of last month rolled the 20-sided die of distraction (TWICE,) relocated some ducks, and made one of the more vertical sculptures substantially less-so. DC is an early riser, catching morning tours and nursing our horticultural endeavors along- and thank goodness for that, since Caddy and I are night owls. She’s also the new department head of “frozen concoctions,” keeping us cool with a seemingly endless variety of smoothies. Some things are progressing almost seamlessly; water flows, delicious meals are cooked and consumed, the carpets get vacuumed, and buckets get dumped. Some things are incredibly challenging; one of the charge controllers is acting up and has to be manually reset more frequently than I’d like. The fridge started going insane- but a computer fan aimed at the compressor seems to have done the trick. There is a sudden, bizarre infestation of giant crickets, and the stinkbugs have all but disappeared. I’m finding keeping up with the internet a tough routine to get into; facebook, the blog, the EJ emails…I’ll figure it out eventually. The post office here may actually drive me insane.
Some things have gone better than expected. The “cool pool” has been a resounding success; thanks to SCIENCE it’s as cold as the canal, but doesn’t require leaving the compound and can be used all day long. We’ve used the laser thermometer Mike gave us to find the heat leaks in the battery box, and can keep it in the low 80’s all day and night only running the generator sparingly in the evenings (because it’s still 100+ well after sunset.) DC, Flip, and Aaron tiled the kitchen counter, and it’s been an even bigger quality of life improvement than any of us actually expected. The chest freezer we got last December has yielded incredible dividends not only in reducing the amount of ice we have to buy, but in a bounty of fruit smoothies, ice cream, and freezer pops. Thanks to relentless swapping of LED’s for CFL bulbs and incandescent Christmas lights, the compound is brighter than ever for a teeny fraction of the power use. We actually got about 25 hours of EQ’ing done on the batteries before we had to start running the air conditioners, and now we rarely dip below 48.0v. The new panels we put in this spring are pulling in power (though we really need to sink another 2 grand into panels if we want the batteries to ever fully charge.) We’ve filed the paperwork to become a really-real California Non-Profit and a federal 501c3, meaning that donations will soon be tax-deductible. We’re sneaking in bits of art here and there, but mostly (for now) we’re focusing on maintaining this ever-expanding canvas for YOU to unleash your creativity upon.
Marty, Mopar, Bob, Kat, Matt, Barry, Gary, Tracy, and Frank are very much missed, but the tales of their travels bring us joy as we look forward to their homecoming next season. Wonderful guests, both old friends and new, continue to stream in and out from around the globe and are welcomed under the shade with DC’s frozen concoctions to break Jenn’s freshly baked bread over Caddy’s delicious cooking.
Dawn breaks, and I prepare to turn the lights off and crawl into my cave. Baby Jesus will emerge from the morning shadows for morning pettings. DC and Sue will be up soon, ready to start the day shift. The bread I baked last night will be this morning’s toast. The charge controllers will begin to whirr and click as they wake up. The birds chirp, twitter, and coo. The song of crickets is subsiding to the emerging buzzing of bees. A new day has begun in East Jesus.
Welcome to East Jesus. What brings you out to the desert today?