After the Aspen Acres Fire: The House is Still Here, So Is the Blog

Having driven out of the hills and onto the prairie, we stopped for a short break before going on to Pueblo.Where did this blog go? No, I have not quit blogging, but I was a little distracted during the month of July. At around 6 a.m. on June 29, a tree (it is believed) was blown into a power line near the little resort community of San Isabel, on the Custer-Pueblo county line. (Local residents had already put out a couple of little fires previously in that general area.)That spot is in the Rye Fire Protection District. Chief Gallegos and his volunteers got the call. It's uphill and twisty all the way—maybe 15-minutes plus in a car, but longer in a fire truck with a full tank of water.;The weather had been hot, dry, and breezy. The fire was spreading in conifers and aspens. The Rye crew called for "mutual aid" from the nearest department — the even-smaller Beulah fire department (about 20 volunteers) came to their aid. Beulah responded. The big guns of what would become the Aspen…