Southeast of Tucson. Every now and then a full-time RVer gets an opportunity to house and dog-sit. Normally it is during the "off" season, when the homeowner and everybody else wants to get out of town because of the dreadful weather.
The ranch was drop-dead gorgeous. It was my favorite land: rolling grasslands, with an occasional mesquite or live oak tree, and a great view of the Santa Rita mountains, only seven miles away.
It was amusing to watch the culture gap between normal, house-obsessed women and an RV boondocker/camper like myself. I was hoping for some shade to park my trailer under. It was surprising to learn that an entire guest house was available to me. It looked like something that belonged on the front cover of a glossy magazine, Fine Ranch Living Today, or some such thing.
I was only concerned about heat, happy dogs, and good bicycling. After I surprised the women by showing no interest in even walking up six steps to inspect bedrooms and bathrooms -- plural -- the women, being what they are, wanted me to submit to the bourgeois ritual of taking a "tour." What did they really think: that it would make or break the deal if the window treatments in the bedroom were my favorite color or if the bathroom fixtures were stylish and cute? (And do I even have a favorite color?)
But my ears did perk up when she mentioned a washer and dryer. People who live in houses usually consider them mundane and unglamorous. They just need more exposure to commercial laundromats, like RVers get.
I probably won't take the gig, primarily because it lacks a swamp cooler or air conditioner. "But it cools off nice at night," you say. Yea, I've heard that one a few times. In fact it doesn't cool off that much at 4900 feet. Whenever you are in the gravitational field of a metropolis, all cliches about the weather contain an implicit comparison with the metropolis. The comparison might be accurate, but it is irrelevant to me: why do I want to give a place credit for being "cool" compared to some urban hellhole like Tucson or Phoenix?
Sigh, how nice it would be to have friends living in a place like this who would let me camp on the back lot for a week! One reason to try to be open-minded about these house-sitting gigs is that they might lead to something better next year.
Sigh, how nice it would be to have friends living in a place like this who would let me camp on the back lot for a week! One reason to try to be open-minded about these house-sitting gigs is that they might lead to something better next year.
Comments
Don't worry, I wasn't hard on the ladies. I just rolled my eyes. It was just another example of how they are a completely different animal species. But I'm glad that some other guy gets stuck with the high maintenance and high overhead -- not me.
I know what you mean about the last sentence. After I wrote it, I did a double take and wondered where it came from myself. That is what I have been thinking about.
First, to respond to you. Yes, I agree with your statement. Gender differences are greater than the differences between different races, nationalities, etc. I think it makes perfect sense though since the roles for each gender, the reason the genders were evolved as they are, are so very different from each other.
I want to explain my last sentence. It actually goes along with your thinking. As children, before sexual maturity occurs, the nature of the child is to be very trusting, very much integrated into a family social system, and, because of their dependency and inability to survive on their own, pretty cooperative and bonded with the whole process. This marks the way we all begin life and I think we would continue on with this except that we get blasted with the advent of sex hormones and this comes with a degree of aggression. For women too. We are driven at that point, women to fulfill their role (the nest is very important) and men to inseminate and to protect and defend territory (and the nest) so the product of their seed can survive.
We do start with a deep caring, but probably only because as children we are so dependent and the mind so innocent. I'm not sure this deep caring entirely leaves us though for that early bond is so strong, leading to a hope that just doesn't seem to ever die no matter how old we get or what we have been through. What do you think about that statement? We do continue to care, you know. Otherwise we would just be completely selfish.
There are many men as well as women who equally desire the big expensive spreads. It can become the glue, the common bond, which keeps them together and it isn't just the guy who is out there working to pay the overhead. I think a big spread equates to a more secure fortress in some dark recess of the mind. Greater security, etc.