As the midpoint of July approaches, it becomes evident that we will, indeed, survive the summer. Caddy and I have had “Slab names” bestowed upon us -The Captain and Admiral Nelson, respectively. Humorously, I’d never really had a nickname my whole life until I got given a playa name at Burning Man a few years back- now I have a second (but it’s still my name, so I’m not even sure if that counts as a nickname.) We’ve gone completely nocturnal, emerging from the container in the afternoon to socialize in the living room and give tours to relieve the “day shift,” and then work into the night on repairs, capital improvements, and, of course, art. We’re still not used to the humidity on top of the sweltering heat, but then, no one seems to be used to it. But we haven’t lost our marbles completely and we certainly haven’t died, so now all that’s left is to ride it out.
Our wizard returned from Vietnam, so Caddy and I picked him up from the airport and took him to go crash a fancy masquerade ball in LA where we bumped into Brianna. There are no coincidences. Nathan the Texan visited us over the July 4th holiday, and a convergence of other visitors resulted in an impromptu party. Flip, Aaron, Joe, and Zippy have spent plenty of time here at their second home, bringing goodies and lending a hand. Sue has tended lovingly to the art garden, Ken changed the oil in the generator, Dreamcatcher has stubbornly kept the crops alive, Caddy has built and scavenged, and I’ve maintained the batteries. We’ve rearranged the living room slightly to accommodate the larger crew we’ll have this winter, pruned the trees, cleaned out the workshop, messed it up again, organized and reorganized. Everything from small quality of life improvements to urgent tarping lest the rains come in fast has filled the time that has passed at a relentless pace. Our 501c3 paperwork is in, and we await the IRS’s verdict as to wether or not your future donations might give you a bit of a tax break. We did our first test printing run of East Jesus booty shorts; I have deemed them fabulous and kept 2 pair.
The animals aren’t too keen on this summer business either; 2-3 of them can be found under the brothel enjoying the slight dampness from our frequent showers. Smokey’s keen ears know the difference between threat and social barking, and Sammy will nip at anything that tries to get past him without being identified. Baby Jesus prowls the living room and zen garden in the early mornings, before standing at the gate and yowling for a solid 10 minutes every morning. Marni generally refuses to leave the container unless she intends to go get sopping wet in the shower or if the sun is down and she’s feeling particularly social. Ted Nugent, who is not quite our cat, has struck a peace with the other animals, became social to the people, and spends most of his time under the brothel with Baby Jesus and Smokey.
The power system seems to be holding up reasonably well; we finally were able to run the 100 hour equalization cycle Charlie so very much wanted done. It’s expanded our capacity significantly, and I look forward to the results of the next few scheduled cycles. Nathan sent us a converter thermostat to turn a chest freezer into a fridge; the inability for the cold to “fall out” combined with the vastly superior efficiency of freezers should be quite a boon to us. Now we just need another chest freezer. We’ve made art (of course;) some in the form of signage, some in the form of lighting, some in the form of structures, some just to make and create. Muralist Christina Angelina (starfightera) gave Walter a STUNNING facelift, and Dre, Lou, and the Union Features crew have sent us some really fantastic new photos of East Jesus.
We’ve had hundreds of tours, dozens of overnight guests, and a handful of family returning to us in the fall. An art project Caddy and I are involved in, The Last Outpost, has received a substantial grant and done a successful kickstarter for Burning Man, and will come to live at East Jesus afterwards. So that’s at least ONE giant spectacular installation you’ll get to see for the first time this fall. All in all, the summer continues, life continues, and art continues.
I’d probably type some more, but I have to go make more good thing before the sun comes up.