Friends, I’m calling a pregnancy audible today. A week of ceaseless back pain, plus Jibs needing constant supervision after getting neutered, has tuckered me out. In lieu of all new material, I wanted to:
Unlock one of the paid specials so you can see what’s hiding back there.
Resurface some of my favorites from a couple years back.
For the paid special, earlier in March I wrote about some of the things people have said to me while pregnant that make me want to lacerate them. Read it here:
Cabin Notes - March 20
Here’s an unhinged rant about the things people have said to me during my pregnancy that I have recorded and filed in a folder in my brain called “I hate this person”.
#1: You get the baby you need.
I’m sorry, but what?
Every week, a paid subscriber special like this one comes out on Wednesdays (sometimes Thursdays), and it typically includes a mini-essay, recommendations, what I’m not buying, what I’m hoping for and practicing, and something called Tiny Delight, recently accompanied by Tiny Horror. Paid subscribers are what keep this newsletter going, and both literal and metaphorical fires burning.
Next up, some oldies but goodies. If you’re interested in lot sizes, population maxes, studies about metabolism, the onslaught of grey design, mice, or living in 10,000 feet in a strange town in a stranger cabin with strange smells, I think you’ll find something you like.
What's that smell? - #29
I wanted to know the weird things about living in town, the stuff that only a local would know. And he shared three things:
1) You need to be a little bit crazy to fit in.
2) The Jeepers from Texas and Arizona in the summer will drive you nuts.
3) It smells like shit in the summer.
this is your body on altitude - #22
This pile of logs sits just shy of 10,000 feet. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not that high. Go to Bolivia, Colombia, Nepal, and many other countries that are not the United States and you will find millions of people who live above 10,000 feet. It’s not that Americans can’t live that high — it’s that we don’t really have very many options to.
But does it have character? - #31
When we said we wanted character, we weren’t looking for something specific — we were avoiding something generic. We were avoiding off-white walls that come to neat little corners. We were avoiding white cabinets and quartz countertops. We were avoiding a house that felt like it came off a construction company’s inventory list — we were avoiding a home that was built by efficient profits instead of inefficient and painstaking love.
So you want to live in a cabin in the mountains - #47
As self-checkout and Amazon and Doordash and every other horror that came in the last ten years quickly sucked the last drops of community-thinking from American culture and instead sold us the idea that we could literally always be working, many people reached a breaking point, looking around at their window succulents and their Tinder and thought, “fuck.”
Thanks for giving me the day off. See you guys next week when a physical therapist will surely have helped make this back pain more sustainable because I am not allowing for any other reality.
Hope the PT is able to help you feel better! If you have the energy, I found brain puzzles were helpful to get my girl Juno to relax a bit. One thing that worked for us and didn’t require anything new is to lay out a towel, sprinkle kibbles/treats on it, then roll it up and maybe tie it in a loose knot for him to explore and unravel. Good luck, and solidarity! Juno’s on week 4 of recovery from knee surgery, with 4-5 more to go before anything more than a slow walk is allowed, so we’re doing lots of these same things again. Hope Jib lets you get some rest!
Hope the pain eases up soon soon soon 🌿 I’m with you re puppy neutering!! My pup had this in Feb and trying to manage her energy was INTENSE