Sidetracked Charley

The Hondo Fire of 1996 burned the forest on this mountain. It has not regrown. Photo taken in 2018 Forest fires are complex issues. They harm things the flames don't actually touch. Like watersheds and streams and the life in the streams and the ponds and reservoirs downstream from the fire. And wild life. Even those which are fleet of foot and move away from a fire are impacted, and the established herds in the non-fire forests are unbalanced by extra numbers. There may have been no homes or structures burned but utility lines and poles and the things like fiber optics and telephone lines which are strung on those poles are harmed. Service can be disrupted both up-line and down-line. Serious repair work cannot be done until the fire is out and the area safe. Evacuation orders have been lifted but the roads to and from those homes have been damaged. Extreme heat buckles tarmac. Debris has to be cleared, pavement repaired, fallen rocks removed. Yes, the fire crews at t...

Yesterday was tightly scheduled. I was the first to appear at our precinct polling place. And the first to vote. And then it all went wrong. I was prepared to go from there direct to the local Department of Motor Vehicles to renew my driver's license. I did not do this before my birthday because our MVD was not manned. And then it was supposedly staffed but she was in training in Rio Rancho. May was not an easy month with the Trinidad showing, etc. And the wait gave me an opportunity to hear all the horror stories about renewing my license. Seems our state had for a decade been giving just anyone a driver's license. Including but not limited to illegal aliens. They even defended this practice based on the number of workers lacking green cards which were driving illegally unless they allowed them to get a license. And they would know where to find them. Nobody noticed they all had the same residence in Jal, New Mexico. There was a booming tourist trade in a town with n...

Dawn of Day Two The two bumps on the left side of the photo above are actual tops of the smoke column from the Ute Park Fire. I am on the safe side of that mountain. Though as a survivor of the Hondo Fire I know there is no safe side. That fire set a ground speed record (no crowning) of nine miles in a half hour. As the crow flies I am about 20 miles from the Ute Park Fire. Too close. But I set for 22 days within a mile of the Hondo Fire. Things I learned from the Hondo Fire 1) The longer you are given to evacuate, the less things you find important enough to take. Note that can include husbands.  2) Animals are important (maybe more important than husbands) and every evacuation plan should include them. 3) If you cannot take cows and horses cut your fences so they can flee. 4) Stay put until told when and how to leave. 5) You are never too tired to be totally (and instantly) awake the minute the wind shifts. 6) I will never forget the sound of an exploding Ponde...