Wildfire season. It's here. So are the creditors, and thus, a need for sales, subscribers, and shares.

Photo copyright Aji, 2018; all rights reserved.

June 1st, and the wildfires have already started. There have been four of them up and down the west side of the state for a while now, but we've been lucky around here: a couple of spot fires, one from human stupidity and one from a tire blowout, and a day of small individually-set fires by an arsonist a couple of weeks ago, all of which were brought under control relatively promptly. 

Until 2:00 PM yesterday.

It's not here; it's, as the crow flies, about 45 miles east of us, at Ute Park. For those who know the area, that's ~halfway between Eagle Nest and Cimarron. It's also blown up from a few acres at 2PM yesterday to about 150 by 4-ish to 1,000 by evening when it jumped Highway 64  to more 8,000 by dawn this morning. A dozen structures gone so far (all at the scout camp, which is uninhabited right now, so there are no human casualties). Zero containment. The area is nothing by dry grass and Ponderosa pine, and it's all a complete tinderbox of the worst sort . . . and now, the promised 30-mph winds have whipped themselves into a frenzy. This is bad.

I snapped that image a few minutes ago; that Chinook has been making the rounds since about 8 AM, with loads of water and/or fire retardant and, presumably, firefighters on those trips without the bucket. It's made nearly a perfect circle around us, repeatedly, which leads me to believe that the winds are bad enough that they're trying to get ahead of it on the south side. We are lucky: Provided there isn't a reversal in wind direction, we are safe (although if that happens, all bets are off given how this thing is moving). We can't even see the smoke plume now, just the haze (and, of course, the smell and the effects on our breathing, which so far are relatively minor). But what's in its path? Catastrophic. And not just in human terms; the wildlife and the land itself are casualties.

Normally, I'd want the winds to die down simply because of the degree to which it magnifies my pain levels. For now, though, if folks can spare some good thoughts and, if you believe in that sort of thing, prayers for that patch of land east of us, it would probably be a very good thing right now.

Speaking of pain, it hasn't receded any, so the outage on top of everything else (including the constant dunning from medical creditors, which is shortening my life by the day under the circumstances) has put me in a mood. It also means that I really don't feel much like talking about any of it. But we need to bring in more income, and I can't do that when this kind of thing keeps happening.

I really need to double my Patreon subscriptions (dollar-wise) to get some of the stress that's also killing me off my shoulders. Sales would help, too; Wings has new earrings and a barrette, among other things, in the works, and I may be able to post some of it as early as tonight, with the rest over the weekend. Also, the Patreon? If you pledge today, you're not billed for June until July 1st. Here are the links:

• My new Patreon, The Interstices (Writing Between Worlds);
• Wings's site, for sales, with new items posted;
• Wings's direct PayPal link;
• A way to buy me coffee (which actually goes to all of our medical bills, which continue to mount; something over $300 for Wings last week, to say nothing of all my own);
• Amazon wishlist, which mostly consists of supplies for half-feral puppies;
• Partial registry #1, from Bed, Bath and Beyond. There are new kitchen-y things on it now, stuff that I didn't realize we'd need to replace (either because the RV ruined it or because we gave it away when we had to downsize).

As always, I have more writing, more editing, and more general work to do, and I have to get back on it (and yes, at the moment, again, that which falls into the "general work" category has to come first). Thank you to everyone. I know I owe replies to a bunch of you, and other stuff, too. I'm going to be late with everything, because just breathing is taking up so much time and effort these days that it puts me even more behind than I already am. I'll try to have something new of at least minimal substance up at my Patreon by the end of tonight. So many pieces in the works, and so little time to be able to get them finished.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2018; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.