a lazy snow is filling the sky, not piling up very fast, but making everything white and generally occupying a cold evening. we were lucky to make it home in time to enjoy it, at about two; it had started at noon, but the roads were pretty good as we came through. now they are closed, both going in and coming from cloudcroft, our village.

cloudcroft is about fifteen hundred feet higher than we are; it's at about nine thousand, and it's gotten maybe three or five inches already, and the hill up to cloudcroft from alamo is closed from too much snow too fast. it doesn't take long for those steep hills to fill up with snow so fast that the plows can't keep up with it, and it becomes dangerous; lowland people don't know how to drive in it. they close the mountain in self-defense.

we came through cloudcroft from las cruces at about 12 30. already the snow had started and an inch or two had accumulated in places where there were no cars to make it go away. but even more surprising was news about a bomb scare. burro street, or at least half of it, had been evacuated. my wife got rumors of detonation on her texts as we rolled into town. we heard no detonation, though, and had no evidence of that. the person who mentioned it said that all kinds of rumors were flying.

we were mostly concerned with getting home in front of the storm, so we kept on driving, gingerly, over our own mountain and into our valley where it is not snowing as hard, or as much, as in cloudcroft. we are fifteen hundred feet lower, and further east, from cloudcroft. at home now, we watch the lazy snow and speculate about what could have been happening in cloudcroft. offhand i would say a bomb scare would not be surprising, since we're talking about the one local bar, and people get pretty drunk in this kind of weather. but a true detonation would be very surprising, because why would anyone be serious about truly blowing the whole place up? i figure that that last part was all rumor. and, when they reopened burro street, at about four thirty, that scenario became more likely.

on the facebook site everyone was chiming in right away asking what was happening and wondering if anyone knew anything. unfortunately, whoever knew, wasn't talking, and even when they reopened burro street, they weren't telling. i would imagine that a bomb threat is a crime, and a detonation would be even worse a crime. maybe they just didn't want to talk about crimes, or do anything to get people all concerned or upset, or worse, to show up to see what was happening. enough was enough. having cleared the area, and being sure that it was ok, they probably decided to just clam up about the crimes themselves and let people go back about their own business.

the problem is that, due to the weather, the highway is now closed from both directions. people are stranded in the high school which is for the time being a makeshift shelter. i have no idea how many travelers they catch in this kind of situation if the road is truly closed from both directions. but if they really don't want them driving, they shouldn't be driving. those people might have to huddle up, get some free tea, and avail themselves of somebody's extra blankets.

the town only has eight hundred residents, probably less in this kind of weather, and of course, with nothing to do, rumors swirl, and that probably accounts for "detonation," which was probably a rumor. mind you, i have no actual idea if anything actually detonated, but if it did, i figure, it would be national news by now, and not only because it's the rowdiest bar in the mountains. you blow up a place, you make the news. but if you're hoping people won't talk, or spread scurrilous rumors, forget it. it's a very small town.

once you get away from the place, the motivation is pretty strong to stay away. we have maybe a half an inch, and, though it keeps falling, it doesn't really add up to much. they, however, have about four or five already, and, in a state of great excitement, maybe there's even been a run on supplies. it's a curious town. to some degree they expect the visitors, and expect that a few will get laid up here. they have their plows out working and putting beet heet on the mountain roads. this tends to make the roads pink, which gives them a beautiful sheen, but it really works well on what counts, which is giving you some traction, so that, if you go at a gentle pace, you get where you're going.

concentrating on getting my wife and kids home - my wife had been in an operation in cruces - i was careful on the windy mountain roads, and drove slowly and always on my side of the road (the tendency is to hug the center, and there are some blind curves). most of all i minded the icy patches. it's these that are truly treacherous, because the snow will pile up on them a little, so that you don't see them, and then, you're driving through the snow, and suddenly you're on an icy patch you didn't even see. and remember, the cliffs fall off on at least one side almost all the way, so mistakes can be costly. i wouldn't say you'd die if you went over the cliff, as the trees would cushion your fall to some degree, but you'd break bones, and lose the car for sure. and it would be hard to pull out the car, on top of it.

so i slow down, ease my way around the corners, and remember the patches for later, when it counts. it could be a long winter. i'm glad that, as far as i know so far, there has been no real detonation, not even a real bomb, it's all just talk, and rumors, and such things are known to happen in towns as small as these.