Sidetracked Charley

  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...

Thicke, prince of cats   I always considered my family from Kansas City. A town I was not born in (St Joseph hospital was closer) and only partly raised. My father was born in Iowa but Mother in Missouri somewhere. Her family was from Mexico, Missouri where as far as I have been able to ascertain her grandfather was the town drunk. From the second grade on we were military gypsies which saved us from dying of starvation on the plot of land now under the Kansas City Airport runways. In the era after WWII there was a return to the land movement and a belief with a couple acres of land and enough side businesses you could survive without working for The Man. Mom and Dad were obviously their generation's version of hippies. We had a truck farm on an acre, chickens to produce eggs we sold, and kennels where Dad raised hunting dogs. He also showed and trained them.  The Korean Conflict and my father being a pilot saved us from all of that. And in the second grade I was in Roswell, N...

My digital indoor/outdoor thermometer says it is 41 F outside predawn. The low overnight was 36 F.  An old fashioned thermometer in the greenhouse says it is 33 F. It is June 9th.  It is very difficult to depend on the survival of my food source for the summer.  I began the challenge of gardening at 8250 feet altitude because I did not like iceberg lettuce and that was all the local store carried. I persist in gardening because of e coli and other persistent problems in food sources. In the United States you could once count on safe food. I grew up certain about water sources and safe food. If you went to Mexico or Cozumel you should not drink the water but here regardless of where you were in the country you could drink the water. Then there is Flint, Michigan. And soon a lot of other places because Trump repealed the clean water act. And clean air. In the mountain west we only had to worry about where the US stored its nuclear waste. Too much of it is in New Mex...

The  2018 Polytunnel Gardening at 8000 plus feet altitude is never easy but living a good drive from organic food sources has made it essential. When I began this exploration only iceberg lettuce was available at the store nearest me. Over the years I can now get it in gourmet varieties in plastic boxes when seem to be subject to recall from time to time due to various ills trapped inside. And it is hugely expensive. Not that gardening is cheap. It was on the internet I first came across the concept of the poly tunnel developed by an agricultural school in Kentucky to extend growing seasons for large farms.  A friend in Utah built one and sent me info on one he adapted.  Soon there were YouTube videos touting small backyard versions. The first I built was small and just covered two 4 x 4 beds of greens. Success meant they grew. A few years ago I finally upped my commitment to 11 x 20. Other refinements were also made like going from 4 mil plastic to 6 mil, and cr...

Bristle Cone Pine with open cone The drought has sort of killed spring. Greening up of grass and the blooming of wild flowers is WAY behind schedule. But yesterday in the Val Vidal I saw signs of hope. Or a desperate attempt to reproduce before the plant expires to the drought. Standing Brave While the flowers were a sign of hope they were also sad because of their reduced numbers and what if there is no rain will be a failed attempt to reproduce. There were flowers but also an alarming absence of bees and butterflies. Nor were the flower sin lush green meadows but surrounded by dry and brittle grass that crunched when you walked on it. There is a trout pond behind these flowers but the water is so low that when I got down to photograph the flowers the water did not show. I got this one photo with just a hint of water by going up a hill and then lying in a depression, like my friend Jessica below. So both photographers and flowers are going to extreme leng...