Update: Well, after a crazy summer dealing with the wildfires winter has hit hard and early and we've been running hard to keep the boat afloat, getting up to 100% occupancy (at monthly vs nightly rates) just to keep the lights on and wood in our stoves but we're still hanging on and only a week or two behind now and catching up rapidly. The FEMA lawsuit is going to take years to settle but I am confident we will get a sliver of the 2.5 Billion dollars allocated for the disaster so I'm put down my burning torch and letting my attorney do her magic on that. All in all we stand to lose every penny of my retirement IRA, about 9 months of rental income and about 5-7 of our 20 acres that is now toast and FEMA still has the cajones to tell me I was not affected by the fire so you best believe I'll fight this in any court in the land tooth & nail. I just need to focus now on keeping the lights on and all the tenants warm and toasty in their cabins and get through till Spring. Due to all that is on my plate for the foreseeable future I will not be teaching this season at Sipapu...the sole reason I moved up here in the first place. (major bummer) We've tightened our belts on lean supplies and everyone, especially Joseph and Harmon have hoisted the sails and swabbed the decks of this old Pirate ship as we set forth upon the turblant seas of another harsh winter up on the open range with one eye kept on the burned hill out back which will surely slide down as soon as it thaws out.

If anyone should want to toss us old dogs a bone Joseph's GoFundMe campaign could use a little boost.