Sidetracked Charley

  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...