Sidetracked Charley

Hoop House 2018 When I first moved to Black Lake it was a zone 3 and had only about a 90 day growing season. I wanted at least 120 days so I could grow lettuce. At that time the local market only sold Iceberg Lettuce. I do not call it lettuce. But it seems the Moreno Valley was famous for it at one time. Some old timers even claim it developed, raised, and popularized it. And so began my experiment on how to stretch my growing season. The use of pvc for hoops to support 6 mil plastic over raised beds promised to give me ten days on either side of summer. In its last season 2021 I planted in the beginning of May and continued to harvest through September.  Essentially I had lengthened my gardening season to 150 days. But not without trauma. As in late heavy spring snows which required going out and pushing the snow off the plastic every hour all night long. When the snows begin the plastic came off This year we had the snow squall in December. It overturned the garden shed. And then...

  The Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak Fire is at last contained. That does not mean out. It means that the perimeter is 100%. Crews are not trying to restore areas they rearranged in an effort to establish that containment; put fences back and erase some dozer lines. And then there are the containment lines they put in for the fire which did not get there. Sounds silly but when you know the extent of the sickness of our forests due to drought it is necessary.  This far and no further lines are out beyond the established perimeter and are based on preventing the worst case scenario. Some nights that is where my goes, out beyond the perimeter and to the worst case. Even with all the wonderful rain I know the drought is not over. We need more than one good monsoon year, more than one fantastic year of snowpack. But while it does no good to obsess about that it is silly to not do what you can do to make things better. The sunflowers are a last blooming. They are a month behind. Every...

The Fall of Stars 20 x 30 Mixed Media on Gallery Canvas $1350 Been trying to get my studio, my yard, and my life back to normal, whatever that is. I seem to bounce from project to project. I complete them but without a sense of satisfaction. In the last month I finally got the above painting finished. The canvas had been on my easel for almost a year. But with the but with the studio tour looming the end of September it had to be done. Flower beds and yard rescues seem to draw me away from what needs to be done inside. Maybe it is because of Ernestina Pacheco. Any excuse to go to her nursery and cheer myself up. She and her family are from Chacon, near the heart of the fire. They have survived though at the moment their well is contaminated. It does however have water. Their house is okay but they are living out of trailers on the nursery property. She makes me smile. I have visited her too often and bought entirely too many plants. I waste too much time watering them, but their flower...

The Once Great Hoop House I read just today that the Taos Pueblo has not reopened since it closed at the beginning of the pandemic. I believe I fully understand. The Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak Fire and dozen day evacuation has me radically re-examining my life too. I am thrilled my home was not burned down. And no doubt the residents of Taos Pueblo are thrilled their community and its lifestyle survives the two year pandemic. They may even be very glad to not have to cater to the visitors. Living in the home of a friend for 12 days gave me a chance to see how others live. And living in another town as not a visitor but not a resident allowed me another view of that town and my neighborhood. Initially I just became overly involved with my house now that I was back in it. I had left it in a horrid mess. Running from room to room finding everything you wanted or needed to take aways from the fire with you leaves the house a total mess. I was shocked. Putting it right seemed so overwhelm...

  I watch no other news but the fire brief twice a day. And the fire weather brief between those. I cannot walk outside without scanning the horizon for smoke. Question every cloud that it might be lying to me. I have traveled no further than Eagle Nest, and can feel the anxiety build as I near Angel Fire. Some part of me knows the Calf Canyon and Hermit's Peak fire will make it to West Angel Fire or Taos Canyon or both. Because I know how very hard 3000 fire fighters have fought for that not to happen. Today in an Eagle Nest store the new owner asked me where I was from and I said Black Lake. And she said, "I bet you are happy that fire is over." "It is not I said. Won't be over till after the monsoons." Another friend thinks it is under control. Fifty percent contained is not under control.  I now know more about wildfires than I ever wanted to know. I know you can burn a pile of downed logs, put the fire out. Let mother nature bury it in three subsequent ...

  In the middle of January I began leafing through the garden catalogs. But the Calf Canyon fire erupted from beneath its burial under snow April 9 and joined with the Kermits Peak fire inadequately put out and awakened by wind. It was clear this was not going to be a normal spring. The flowers, wild and domestic, seemed in a rush to bloom and die. No spring rains came over the mountains to moisten the ground. It was not yet May and the snow no longer graced the top of the mountains. And days when the sky was adorned with smoke instead of clouds. I put aside the garden and seed catalogs, looked at the damage the winds had done to my hoop house, and ran my fingers through the powerery soil in the beds. Then came up with a much downsized plan for gardening in 2022. I had just sown the sunflower seeds in one bed, and begun an assortment of starts for lettuces and greens when we were evacuated. Eleven days of no water or rain and only wind put quit to that effort. Back home I found the...

The Sangre de Cristos   I drove to the market yesterday for avocados. It was Thursday before the Memorial Day invasion. The tourist season comes on Harley Davidson motorcycles decked out in their leathers. Supposedly they are "celebrating" a war I marched to end. I usually just hide away in my Black Lake home and try to shut my ears as they roar down Hwy 434. The rest of the tourist season will be quieter but also not welcome. This year I feel like a tourist. I have just returned from exile in neighboring Eagle Nest. I have been an evacuee for 12 days. I have been glad to be back in Black Lake on the land I love but it has not yet felt like home. I feel like a cat on a hot tin roof. Thicke, my cat, has settled in better than me. I stand in my studio and pace trying to figure what to do next. I come up with a plan to unpack this or rearrange that. Move a few things then abandon it.  I had planned to go to Taos and stock up with groceries for the invasion, and go by Ace Hardwar...

Calf Canyon/Kermits Peak Breathing   I am home now. That does not mean the fire which chased me away is out. There are times I think I can hear it breathe. I know where it lives. Where it sleeps when the winds are still. I watch the horizons in the morning as the winds begin to pick up. Every white puff in the sky gets queried. Are you a cloud? Or smoke. Forest fires lie down at night but they are alive in the pine needles covering the forest floor. Alive in the huge log emerging from the melting snow. And alive in the roots of the burned spar above the snow. All it takes is wind to bring them out of hiding and wake up the fire. We have had a quiet few days but the Fire Weather begins again today. A forest fire is not like a house fire on your street. It cannot be drowned out with a pumper full of water. It isn't easily surrounded and watched. The perimeter of the Calf Canyon and Kermits Peak Fire is 600 miles. It covers portions of five counties. It has compromised several state r...

  Someone said in the last couple days that the Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak wildfire has been going on for 48 days. So let's say 50 by now. It is actually Hermit Peak unless you are from Mora in San Miguel County where it stands. They call it Eagle Peak. The Anglos renamed it for an Italian religious recluse Giovanni Maria de Agostini, who lived in a cave on a narrow ledge on the southeastern side of the mountain about one hundred feet below the summit rim. Regardless of what you call it that is where our massive wildfire began on April 6th. It was declared contained but winds spread it to Gallinas Canyon to begin the Calf Canyon Fire. I get rather confused about then because there was the Cerro Pelado Fire, Scott's Ridge Fire, and the Cooks Ridge Fire. All the same fire with different names? Or all wind born spawn of the Hermit Peak fire. What I did know was Mora was evacuated and I had a friend who lived in Mora. I invited her to stay in my vacation rental which I wasn't...

  A friend of mine just stated she had put her bug out bag in the hallway just in case. Bag? Just one bag? I returned from evacuation last night and began the unpacking of the Explorer - a full sized SUV. First out was the 15 Orchids. Okay I will admit they were not a necessity for life. But happiness. Definitely a necessity for happiness. And of all the things I packed in a rush to get out of the fire's path they made me the happiest and that is definitely important. Maybe the most important. I have seen numerous lists of things to pack when evacuated (none of which fit in one bag) and nothing listed as for your happiness. In fact most lists do not ascribe a value for items. And in this modern digital era most are now unnecessary if you bank by computer. Insurance papers, mortgage documents, tax records all can be obtained on line with your smartphone or tablet. I also brought my laptop because, well, because I have one and find them more comfortable to blog on, and as it is ...

  Thicke and I in happier times. Before the Cafe Canyon and Hermit Peak fire. Before we had to leave our happy home. Before Facebook once again banned us from communicating with our friends. Zuckerberg needs to change his policies and also care about the status of the people he hosts. At a time when it really matters that we connect he bans posts and connection. Facebook on the front lines of a fire, in an emergency is a necessity and he blocks communication. After a careful analysis of key words I have determined being thrown in Facebook jail is dependent on only one word with total disregard of context. I have been evacuated from my Black Lake home for my safety and exiled from my Facebook page because of Zuckerberg's community standards for one word used in a comment meant as a joke.

  This was where I last felt safe! I cannot go back there now because the Fire Crews are trying to make it safe again. I do not know if it ever can be safe again. But it could be home again? Can it? I joined a group for evacuees and that is a question I want to ask but they are all still so very angry and have already hired lawyers and are screaming money. I do not think money can make me feel safe. And I know for a fact anger cannot do it. Not ever. Anger takes away your well being. Sitting at this table surrounded by my art would make me feel home.  This morning in my home away from home  am trying to make Thicke feel comfortable by typing a blog where he is safe but not at home. Part of me wants to go to the kitchen of Carol's house and make coffee, and sit with my friends here but that would leave Thicke alone. Divided, It is all so fractured. My home in Black Lake where soon the sun will rise and dawn will  rise, here in Carol's studio where Thicke has settled o...

So many improvements and memories. So many losses. This the deck I built and standing on it is Magique who I lost. The lost pets are many. Google and Facebook remind me constantly. Some memories are good. Some so sad. I was just beginning this gardening year when the fire began on Kermit Peak. It was to be my second vrbo year and but beginning slowly. I was happy to have ample time to work on the gardens when Mora was evacuated. I invited homeless friends to stay in the empty rental. A frolic. Soon they would be able to go back home. Two weeks later I was ordered to evacuate. Kate had asked how long before she could go home and I didn't know. I did not know how long before I got to go home. I had a place to go. To stay with a friend in a near by town. It would be a lark. Soon I would be back here in my home of 30 years of memories. Today it hit me it would be more than a weekend when I had to fill out a temporary change of address. Suddenly I was discussing all the truly difficult ...

Black Lake, NM   This view welcomed me home in my traveling days with art fairs. This was my view as I emerged from Guadalupita canyon, home of Coyote Creek, and I am sorry to say I do not know this mile marker. I always know mile markers. I was the navigator when my family traveled. I had a notebook and kept important notes. Maybe not always for my family but important for me. Other kids had to memorize their address and telephone number incase they got lost but in the beginning for me, living in the Missouri countryside or the a New Mexico air base it was the turns I would have to make to get home or my father's name, rank and serial number. I discovered when accidently abandoned outside of Liberal, Kansas during a trip at Christmas the license plate number was important. The highway patrol officer was impressed. Also important for me when we traveled about the country was how long. How long would we be at this base, this camp, this trip, this school. When I moved to Black Lake I...

An Unstable Air Mass   Yesterday evening the winds laid down and the world was silent. Even those under the skies were quiet. We were exhausted not just because of the winds in their ceaseless blowing but of the agitation of the people because of contradictory messaging from demagogues seeking center stage.  The one good thing about being a big fire, the biggest fire in the United States, one which at least in part was the fault of a part of the United States, is all the big guys show up. The professionals. And one thing we owe climate change is we have gotten very good at dealing with wildfires. They have learned not just how to battle the flames but how to herd them. And make no mistake herd the people the fires are chasing. And message about it. They travel with their own dog and pony show which gives two major performances a day. No room for those that first found the fire when it was a little thing which will be over soon they thought. And yesterday on day 34 they wanted ...

  End of Canyon Days Day 33 Calfs Canyon/Hermit's Peak Fire, containment 21% Acres burned 172,284, Firefighters 1,535 Yesterday I learned how to make mobile deposits on my corporate account. Just enough different from my personal account to be utterly confusing. First big tech cell phone thing I have done without my tech support. I miss my sister for that and morning talks over coffee. Then I decided all the beds around the house needed watered. I am not sure I am gardening this year. The Fire Winds have close to destroyed the hoop greenhouse so I am gardening in raised beds and protecting best I can the bees and red butted bumbles and all I planted last year. Besides having the vegetation around your house wet and healthy is best.  I love my two blue spruces in the front yard so after mastering the mobile deposit I began pruning the branches up off the ground and away from the house. My Mora friends sheltering with me joined in the sweeping up of all the pine needles and pick...

I live in an unincorporated area of Colfax County. Black Lake is a recognized area of that county and the farthest from the county seat of Raton. In fact I am closer to Taos and Mora. I routinely get summoned for jury duty in Mora and have to deline. I do my grocery shopping in Taos. I have been assigned the Angel Fire Zip Code. And get my mail on my rural route through Ocate which is in Mora. My legal address is Black Lake, NM 87710 and because of that Angel Fire Zip code designation everyone from my short term rental agency to UPS and Google tags me with Angel Fire. That actually works in my favor when it comes to short term rental occupancy because nobody books vacations in Raton. Since the coal mines closed they have been slowly dying. The current population of Raton is now 5734, down from 9000 and still declining. Its current source of income is county offices. We drive two hours to respond to jury duty of apply for licenses. Which is what they want me to do. The whole county ...

  As frequent readers will know it has not been an easy 2022. First there was the incident of black dog one followed quickly by tripping over black dog two. Followed by the snow at last. Fortunately I discovered Bob and Brad on YouTube. And I have learned to sleep on my back. At least for half the night. But they are not as good with thumbs as they are with backs. I decided to redo the decor in the upstairs of the vrbo, went positively manic about decorating beds with pillows, and stupidly did not count how many screws had to be removed to be over the bunk beds. This aserbated my skier's thumb big time. I do not remember it took 30 days to recover before but it did this time even if they called it Mommies' thumb. But that long not using your fingers, thumb and wrist take a toll. So when I went to lift my battery out of my Corolla I had to ask for help. Bought a new battery and guess what? They are as heavy as the old ones. And you cannot drive a batteryless Corolla to the mecha...

  Winter really never came, but also seems to not want to go away. We got all the ugly parts of winter: high winds, snow squalls, subzero nights. And very little or none of the pretty parts: the angel soft snows, the fairy frost on the trees, the silence of a gentle blanket of powder. We got the spring breakers who would rather be at the beach, and the families who found the snow not nice enough, and the prices too high. My vacation rental, on its first winter, had good attendance but most seemed happy to not ski, but thrilled with the hawks soaring over the fields and hills, and the birth of two new calves behind my property. But not a good March for me. I developed a horrible case of inn keeper's thumb (skiers' thumb with a vengeance) which had my left hand and wrist not merely totally useless but terribly painful. Not only could I not use that hand but could not sleep and barely dress myself. As if sensing my disconnect my Microsoft Windows 10 computer failed. That was...

Heading Out   My last Microsoft ten computer crashed. I still have my laptop and I have been surviving with it while I made up my mind about trying an iMac. And figuring out whether I wanted to transfer all my old photo files once again from the cloud to McMac. Meanwhile I casually asked the local computer guy if he could just copy the hard drive to an external one and he did. It was then I remembered the trunk of photos in my mother's basement. Of all her age relatives she was the one with the space for storing the family's history. And it was there my sister and I discovered the trunk after Mom's death. It was too heavy to lift and locked. We managed to pick that and found it full to the brim of Kodak black and white prints of complete strangers. My mother once had photo books she had carefully arranged photos in. Attaching them with those cute corners you licked in exactly the right place to slip the image into. And she would use a white or silver ink to label under each...

Making a selection among many   Test day. Testing hand on repetitive motions like typing. Testing iMac on what of my routine computer things I can do without more software. All while considering how important is it to have all my cloud data downloaded to McMac or an external hard drive. Since 2010 when my computer, in the care of a recommended nerd, had its drive completely wiped, and the external hard drive failed. I have been obsessed about not losing photos or documents. Memories and also inventory as I am a photographer and a painter. Insecure about my backups I have subscribed to an cloud service. And when my beloved HP Windows 7 failed I transferred its brain to my Acer Windows 10. It took days. And since then I have taken important to me things and put them on jump drives. I knew I had 30 days from the crash of MS10 on the Acer to transfer files to a replacement computer. I discovered there are a lot of them on my HP Laptop. And with the increased capacity of scan discs none...

Thicke in the Sun My automatic coffee maker failed. And without even a moment of silence I began looking for a replacement to my Ninja. The conversation on Facebook became which is the best value. Everyone these days has such an investment in their preferred products. All we have done the last two years is shop. It is who we are. I was reminded I had a French Press on the kitchen counter. It was too tall to fit in a cabinet so it had to stand outside. No way could I get rid of it because when the power goes out that is how I make coffee with the help of the wood burning stove. So a decision about the replacement coffee maker did not have to be done that very morning. I opted to go low tech for a while. Discovered I liked it. Loved the ritual. Remembered I had a hand bean grinder also for when the power was out. It was easy to adjust the grind on it. Course is best for French Press. Easy to brew just what you want to drink. Not wedded to half pot or full pot or just one mug full. After ...

It all began with walls and rug   When I began the project of the short term rental I was not even sure it would work. I just knew that for the last ten years of being a land lady it wasn't working for me. Tenants had changed in the years since I bought the duplex. First couple which rented the attached apartment stayed for nine years. They treated the places as theirs and even planted flowers and a couple trees and painted walls. I expected the next tenants to be not as wonderful as Jeff and Susan. But some did not come close. I wound up having to file eviction papers, even defend myself in court. But worst part was spending all my money to put the rental right so it could be rented again. It was not helping with my mortgage payments. I could not even get tenants to contribute to clearing the driveway of snow. In the end it seemed wiser to drain all the pipes and shut of the electricity and keep it empty. Covid-19 pandemic happened and the studio was shut down by the governor. To ...