As August wound down with slightly – just slightly – cooler weather there was

the run up to the super bloopermoon

some walks in the woods

and then

the super

blooper

moon itself…

sending us off towards September

on the wane.

But Burning Man got their webcam up and [intermittently] running allowing one to feast on

scenes such as this the first morning of September, a Friday notable for all kinds of disasters

here including but not limited to word of sculptures damaged in Nebraska though on the positive side we made a trip to Leon and Ariel’s for some bounty from the Western Slope

[and not just apples – pears, peaches, tomatoes, corn, peppers and honey as well as eggs

from their own chickens] before returning home to check on BM Fun…uh-oh, that ain’t

interference, dat be playa dust, rendering those stoned chance encounters even chancier, heh

heh. Dust, however, wasn’t the worst of it as the rains moved in Saturday, making Dave’s last day on the Smoke Creek most pleasant while the Black Rock to the east [somewhere just over

the rainbows*] became increasingly saturated to the point wherein, webcam discontinued**,

I tuned in to BMIR where a couple of radically vapid DJs were about to talk with someone from the “census”, who promised to divulge a ton of info [although it probably wouldn’t get sufficiently granular to reveal how many Burners shit in people’s front yards while stalled in traffic in Gerlach nor how many dogs besides Seth and Sonny’s sweet beloved Tigger were run over by that selfsame traffic] until they lost contact and went back to telling everyone to shelter in place, take in the more soaked and less fortunate, and neither walk nor drive nor bike anywhere.  Come morning a less vapid crew were also issuing warnings about unserviceable porta potties and advising people to conserve food as they’d probably be stuck [literally, if they tried to move] sheltering in place until at least Tuesday.  Since many normally begin leaving as early as Saturday after the Man Burns [cancelled due to high waters, as were all burns by then] this could pose, potentially, a problem…meanwhile here in the mountains we participated in a

familial Zoom celebratory of my little sister’s [far right, in El Granada, California***] upcoming

70th and then went up the hill to Betsey’s with the two packages Fedex, unschooled in decoding

addresses, had mistakenly dumped on us yesterday, home to lunch and a look at the reinstated

BM mudcam, where Burnies were all blissfully slogging about in libertarian defiance of entreaties to preserve the playa and stay sheltered. Once they have internet**** in those shelters and aren’t out trashing around in the mud they might be checking out “Jackrabbit Speaks” to stay current but closer to home, hey, pay attention to “Playa Speaks”; after an early warning a week ago Wednesday here it is, a weekend to remember. So what could Playa possibly be trying to tell all these stranded hearts?  Something like “Enough; I don’t want you?”  Meanwhile [and not too long from now] when those 70,000+ hearts turn out to have 70,000+ assholes and there’s no way to empty the porta potties it’s maybe, uh, think again. Third day in Burning Management is definitely scrambling to meet the challenges…they’re good at logistics but this is….pretty challenging.

Oh, happy daze, dudes.

Meanwhile, a thousand miles to the southeast , we console ourselves with Ariel’s fresh eggs

in an organic frittata, Robert’s bread [toasted] and are back to warm temps and no mud…

*Rainbow photos courtesy of David Rumsey.

**I’ve often noticed that when the going gets difficult the webcam goes dark; the clusterfuck of Exodus ever a case in point…but this time they brought it back. Later.

***L to R; Kirk M., Dave C., Brenda M., Kathy M.; Bryan and Marina in Chianti not shown.

****As of Sunday Management was bringing in cell phone towers and opening up ‘their’ internet to all comers plus providing shuttles out of Gerlach for anyone able to make the five mile walk. Why the shuttles wouldn’t come out 34 to the gate is curious, but then they were cancelled “until further notice” anyway.