the week started smokily,
soon followed, which is to say Tuesday, by a run down to town to disgorge trash, forage for food at the renovated Safeway and after a visit to a somewhat rodent-infested Habib turn for home
in the heat, spotting the nascent Pole Canyon Fire [invisible through the haze as was our side
of the mountain], making for a somewhat hazy dinner at Mu and Bill’s up the hill with an interesting cast of characters, some their familial houseguests, some from down the road,
some from BC and we. Wednesday was pretty clear until late afternoon when a disconcerting plume of smoke suddenly appeared, soon to descend upon us which made for an edgy dinner
with John Barr, Christine, Izel and Luz. Fortunately it cleared off in the course of the evening
although some tensions [not shown] persisted…
Friday the smoke cleared again, mostly,
and Saturday, though word from our closest part of the fire was dire, was much the same
and even better brought a small rain.
Sunday there was still smoke in the morning
which, nice for us, blew NW all day.
Come Monday it was trending the other way for our first trip to Pueblo of the season –
Gagliano’s disappointingly understocked, Liz’ Tamales fresh just as they opened, a bicycle helmet to go with the bike from Luz, Brently Grimard’s charming dental hygienist Kaylie, 80/20 where they had all my favorite Sicilian reds, a big Safeway shopping as the day warmed
and more specialized items from Sonora’s Prime…with lunch! Following said lunch we had
one more grocery stop before I-25 south, smoke-adjacent, to Colorado City for gas and south
again to Exit 56, Red Rocks Road, around the corner of the range and 26 miles up 69 to where the True Travesty was that the Post Office was flying its drenched and tattered flag at half mast for that lying closeted asshole who, among other things [and as a vet, no less] betrayed both John McCain and Mark Kelly…but then that’s [Trump’s] Americka fer ya.
The rain, though intense, was brief, and by the time we neared home were kicking up dust.