the wind is howling. it's dry as a bone. the sky is a clear blue, and it's warming up. little green tints appear in the afternoon sun, where grass got just enough moisture to turn just a little green.

and all that makes it somewhat typical for spring in the mountains of southeastern new mexico, where they consider it "fire season" and are on their total guard against the worst of their fears.

down in the valley, sagebrushes go flying across the valley, hitting cars, piling up against the border patrol or anyone who builds a building that might block them. it's not any wetter down there. we get maybe a half inch all spring, from january to july. this year we got about that much though, so we're lucky. that's what accounts for the tints of green.

we're ok with it; we're trying to move to illinois. my birthday is in april and if this works it will be the last of ten very dry aprils and then i can go back to what i know the best: cold, variable, wet, blustery, snowy, flowery, the whole works all in one month. that's what i'm used to and i'll be glad to have it back.

for now, i'm too tired to take the dogs on a walk. it's blowing too hard and supposedly the wind is picking up. as it goes over twenty it goes beyond "nuisance" and into "threatening." it blows stuff around but what we really dread is fire. if fire starts it picks up fast.

a friend of mine up north lives in a place with a fire; the fire is maybe forty miles from her if i read the map correctly but she's slightly uneasy because the wind switched directions and now it's coming toward her. i'd be very uneasy. i have no idea what happens to fires like this. do they have the people to fight such fires? how would they go about it? the whole thing makes me uneasy. she's supposed to stay home, rest, keep tuned to the radio for evacuation notices? i kind of don't know what to say.

but she's been in new mexico forever - her family, her ancestors, everyone. they know what they're dealing with. and yes, they lose it all every once in a while. it's the price you pay.

countdown, about two months. maybe we'll be out before rainy season, but that's when it's really pretty.