El Paso
900-degrees
0- humidity
I’m double posting this, so please forgive me. I’m just trying to get caught up on my blogging and while I do have plans for a Life With Buck transcript/post, I thought I’d just kill two birds with one stone and post this particular post on What I’m Doing Right Now as well. Having vanished from the Interweb for the past couple of weeks I’ve had a lot of inquiries lately as to whether or not I am still alive. This is flattering, thank you, and the answer is yes I am alive and Buck is alive.
Buck has been busy but what the hell have I been doing? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
During this hiatus, my youngest son Max was visiting on his break between school and his summer job on Fishers Island. Below is a photo of Max and I in a park in downtown El Paso that we call Alligator Park (I don’t know the real name, we call it that because they used to keep live alligators in the fountain back in the Old Wild West days). Max is affecting the sarcastic fake smile he always puts on whenever you’ve taken a couple of photos of him frowning and you yell at him, “Smile for crying out loud!” Then he does that smile. If you’re lucky (read wealthy) enough to be “summering” on Fishers Island this year and decide to drop in at the yacht club, Max will be among those who are preparing your meals. You may not recognize him, however, as he will be clean shaven and dressed in chef’s whites, but you should ask for him anyway and tell him you saw him here in my blog. He’ll be appalled, but he’ll (more than likely) be polite about it.
At this so-named Alligator Park, they have stone alligators in the fountain to remind you of what once was. Alligators, as you can imagine, were quite an oddity in El Paso back in the 1800s.
We also went to the flea market that day. Here’s Max in front of a vender who sells only Mexican wrestling masks. Try as I might, I was unable to convince him to buy one.
He made me tiramisu while he was in El Paso, helped Buck trim the notorious palm tree growing up through the middle of our house, and also helped Buck set up my pool. Remember my pool from last summer? I can’t recommend these inflatable pools enough; if you’re not a swimmer and you’re just looking to cool off, these pools are the ticket: 10-ft across, 30-inches deep, and holds 1,000 gallons of water for your cooling pleasure. They’re $49 at K-Mart and come complete with a filter a bunch of chlorine tablets. I keep mine in the shade because El Paso has been about 100+ degrees every day (and night) and I don’t want to boil myself. I take a good refreshing soak about twice a day. It’s good for the soul and keeps me from passing out. Plus, it’s inflatable, so in the winter you can store it in a box.
Although the temperature has been ungodly, Buck has been painting our courtyard every fucking day, ten or twelve hours a day, for two weeks. This courtyard is inside our house, but there is no roof. The doors were a horrible flesh color, like a crayon, and the stucco/abobe was riddled with cracks that had to be filled and painted. Here he is starting on one wall:
Here’s that same wall after he painted it, it’s a kind of cafe color now (with jalapeno doors) and I love it:
We’re having a new floor of stone tiles put in here, and then we’ll be able to add a nice potted garden and a (tasteful) fountain of some sort. In the meantime, the only thing I can grow here In El Paso is a strange grouping of cactus that we inherited with the house. I don’t really “grow” them, they just keep living, but at least they bloom in the spring when I give them some MiracleGro. Here they are getting ready to bloom:
During the day while Buck is painting in the horrid-horrid heat, listening to Coast to Coast on CD, and drinking gallons of ice water or Gatorade, I’ve been hiding in our guest room (because you can’t hear the telephone in there) and reading The Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea (which I am obsessed with), 
Rolling Stone magazine and Vanity Fair. I also make notes about my own book, and take thousands of catnaps. Thousands and thousands of catnaps. The heat does that to me, even when I’m in an airconditioned house. When the sun goes down (and it’s still 900-degrees outside) Buck and I hide in the living room (which is cavernously dark and as cool as a refrigerator) and eat barbecued chicken and fruit salad (which I’m also obsessed with) while watching re-runs of The Office and My Name Is Earl. Below is a bowl of my current food obsession:
And that’s what I’ve been doing, indulging myself in what many people would consider nothing. But for me it’s a good thing. I feel good, good enough to go outside and have a soak in my pool before I retire to the guest room for some afternoon reading.
Peace Out,
Wendy
I’m so happy to see you. Well, not actually see you, well, actually I did see you in the photo so that sort of counts. What’s happening Sister W? I’ve missed you and your witty writing. I’ve missed having a laugh in the morning with my morning water. Yea, I’m still doing weight watchers, 75 pounds and counting. The fruit salad looks yummy. Looks like something I could actually eat.
It’s good to be a catnapper when you can, especially in that heat. I hate the heat. I already hate the tourists. They’re clogging up all the roads. MY ROADS!!
Well, I’m glad to know you are both alive and well and enjoyed having Max visit.
Sister J
Glad you are sort of back and didn’t wilt in the heat. Your sense of humor is still intact. Love the courtyard. Glad I’m not in that insane heat, although if you sent a percentage of it my way, I wouldn’t complain. It’s freaking raining dumpsters full of water out here. One could fill up your inflatable pool in, oh, say, two minutes, with the rain that’s coming down. And it’s NOT WARM. Give me warm, give me sun. Anyday.
I was just about to send you one of those where-the-hell-are-you e-mails, when I decided to check Life With Buck–and there you were as funny as ever.
I love Buck’s paint job–absolutely beautiful, and I can’t wait to read The Hummingbird’s Daughter.
I’m so glad you’re back–Emily will be, too. She checks LWB every morning.
@ Joan – Thanks, Joan, and yeah you could eat fruit salad. I think. I do admit to using more watermelon and strawberries than everything else, but at least they’re good for you. – Sister W
@ Little Miss- Y’know, I forget that the rest of the country isn’t melting under the sun. The heat feels like it fills the world and I forget that it doesn’t, although it’s taken me 4 years to get like this. When it rains here — which is rare — it lasts for about 2 minutes and then evaporates. I do miss rain and, of course, gardening.
Oh hi, Barbara! We must have cross-posted, as I just saw your comment. Yeah, I wasn’t down the infamous Rabbit Hole, I was just being lazy (as you well know I am capable of being). I do love Hummingbird’s Daughter, and I think you might like it.
oooooooo… i wonder if i can fit one of those pools on my balcony?! hahaha…
hey wendy, at least you don’t have humidity!!!
@ mama – If I couldn’t fit this pool on my patio I’d put it in my living room.
It’s true there’s no humidity, but I have to buy tubs of moisturizer and slather it on all day or my skin would look like a lizard!
GLAD YOU ARE BACK
am going home in the moring:P does happy dance!
Sounds like, for someone who’s been doing ‘Nothing. Absolutely nothing.’ You got quite a bit done. The fact that other people ‘helped’ only make it better. Truly shows off your management skills. You are the superdelegater.
Wow – Good to see you! Buck did a fantastic job with that courtyard and I love the color of the doors! I have always loved adobe/stucco. So I’d love to see any photos of it you can put up. Hey your son is a cutie! And he works as a chef? He MUST be spoken for. With assets like that and all.
Sorry it’s been so hot and wiping you out. I’ve been waiting for the hot weather to get here and stay consistently. It keeps coming and going here like some rogue tide. Sheesh. At least you are getting some reading/writing done. That should keep you out of trouble. LOL. I’ve been wondering about those pools actually. I am glad to hear good things about them. I might break down and get one soon (if it would just stay hot – grrrr).
@ Kaylee – Thank you and…Yay! I’m so happy you’re going home! (doing the happy dance with you ♥)
@ Bound and Gags – It’s true, I am a superdelegater. It’s the only way to be.
@ Teeni – Oh, you really need one of those pools! And hey, thanks for liking our courtyard. It’s such an improvement over the flesh-colored trim the previous owner used. Who the hell uses a flesh colored paint for trim?
You seem to be coping well in the heat, and it looks like the many things you’ve been doing have been good for the soul (i.e. time spent with your son, pool soaks, good reading, cat naps, THE OFFICE (ya!)), so I’m happy for you, though we miss your presence here
PS: good on Buck, excellent paint job!
Happy to see you’re back. I was missing my regular dose of hilarity. Your house looks great. Wish I could have a pool in my yard, but have no yard to speak of. That book sounds awesome. Enjoy the napping!
I think that your winter bout with the flu scared us, your loving readers. Reading now of your fruit salad, barbecued chicken, catnapping, novel-reading, and pool-wallowing/cooling gives me the warmest and fuzziest feeling of vicarious comfort.
We are due for a hazy hot & humid wave this weekend, so I’m hoping to follow your example. And as Romi says, go Buck on the painting. The man’s a fucking genius with the paint!
Thanks for the update Wendy!
BTW, how is that color on the doors called “jalapeno”? In my world those peppers are dark green, or purple-black when fully ripe.
ARE YOU OK?
@ Romi - Coping is a good word to describe staying alive in this heat. Buck did do a good job on the painting! He always does. The key is in the extensive prep work, which nobody in their right mind would do.
@ Cassidy Stockton – Thank you, Cassidy!
@ David – Thank you for even remembering I had the flu…I tell people who’ve never had the flu that I really think I almost died from it in Feb., and they can’t really comprehend what I’m talking about. I don’t like the idea of a flu shot but I’m seriously thinking about getting one this year. I’ve had the flu two winters in a row, now, and it’s gotten to be frightening.
Buck is quite pleased you’ve recognized his mad painting skillz. I have no idea why they call that color jalapeno. Jalapeno peppers are indeed green. I can’t even take a humorous guess, it’s totally beyond me.
@ Kaylee – I’m okay, thanks for asking. Do I come off as un-okay? I sometimes do take too long to answer my commenters, however, which is quite rude of me and I apologize.
Buck has been busy! And it seems you have been very sensible in that blistering desert weather!
No, you dont Wendy but, when I don’t seen a comment from you for days I get worried
OH what am I saying? I worry all the damn time and I take forever responding to comments but I have a good excuse right?
I gotta say, the only thing cooler than owning a luchador mask is wearing one to the movie theater on the opening night of Nacho Libre. Despite the fact that my less cool friends and even my own brother kept pretending they didn’t know me, it was the epitome of cool. Well, not quite. The epitome of cool was the guy who showed up in full top-to-bottom luchador regalia (I’m talking mask, cape, underwear on the outside, the whole kit and caboodle), and even had his kids dressed up too.
Not sure if that makes your son regret his decision to not buy a luchador mask or not, but it should!
I used to live in Vegas, and I miss the colors of the southwest. Those doors are fab!