Sidetracked Charley

On the brink of climate change migration? Should where you want to move to have the right to say no? Trump would say HE has the right to say no to any people fleeing where they live because it is no longer livable. Taking international borders out of the equation does one state get to say no to people from a drowning coastal area? Or a northern state with cool summers say no to those from Phoenix. Moving requires a commitment to where you are moving. But currently there is a seasonal migration going on. They love Phoenix in the winter but Colorado in the summer. But that means double the houses and double the infrastructure for only one climate migrant. And it reduces the support for the infrastructure in the area vacated by the "Snowbirds" flying south and north. We talk about a housing crisis but some people require twice the housing. Should communities be able to modify zoning laws to say you cannot leave your house empty for 6 months less 1 day? Rates a...

Windows off Main Trinidad, Colorado Every dying town has its cave people. I have been doing research on the Village of Angel Fire, New Mexico for an article I just finished writing. I live five miles south of the village near what was once the town of Black Lake. It once had a store and a school and a church and a post office. Now Black Lake is where they shot the Montana scenes for Lonesome Dove. I love old towns with history. Angel Fire is not old and it does not have history. No old school house or cemetery with tell tale dates to contemplate. It has no grand buildings or even a real main street. No sidewalks. Angel Fire was incorporated as a village in 1986 severing itself from the ski resort of the same name opened in 1965. The resort is still upset. As I was preparing to write this blog it dawned on me I have no pictures of Angel Fire. It has nothing worthy to photograph beyond the mountains which surround it. It has no park like Los Alamos, also a young town, and wh...