The gears churn. This has been a week of waiting to hear from people. To keep my mind occupied, I took a trip up the mountain with my cousin and her daughter. We removed a couple more trees and put all the timber in the appropriate piles—one to age, one to trim further, and one to chip.

While I trimmed some of the surviving trees of their burned branches, my cousins attacked an area with several pines and a mountain cedar that didn’t make it. I managed to get these shots as they brought down one of the fir trees.

First Reader and I will have arrived at our lodgings in Las Vegas by the time you read this. We had put off our travel plans for months, expecting our financing and such to move ahead. Of course, now that we bought and paid for our trip, the logjam is breaking loose. Cross your fingers that we win big while we have the chance. 😉