An -est kind of year

This has been, and may continue to be an –est kind of year. To wit:

• The biggest wildfire on record for Arizona: the Wallow fire. The eastern edge of this massive fire is less than an hour’s drive from us.

The fire has consumed well over 537,220 acres as of this morning. It crossed over in New Mexico last week. The forests being consumed are the Apache National Forest, and now in NM, the Gila. In reality, the forest is the same and knows no name. It’s the state line that makes the difference; when you cross from the Gila in NM heading west, you are instantly in the Apache in AZ. So likewise, fire knows no boundaries, lines nor names.

If you want to get an idea of how this fire has grown, here’s an interesting website, even though its last image was June 20.

Remember that the Wallow isn’t the only fire in AZ. There are several others that would total well over one million acres on fire or burned in that state. Nor is it the only fire burning in NM. Last I heard there are 600,000 acres of NM forests on fire or burned. And Texas has been burning, too. In May the report was that every county in Texas except two had wildfires to contend with.

• The driest season across the southwest in many years. We haven’t had moisture since the New Year’s snow. Well, we had two sprinkles that, typically for this area, hit the north-west side of town but not the rest, this block in the neighborhood but not that one, and this side of the house, but not the other.

This is one of the longest dry seasons we’ve had. That helps explain the state of fire emergency – or ‘red flag’ conditions, as we hear most days on the local news. Last year was one of the wettest seasons for this region in years. As the County’s fire expert said, it looked like Ireland. It was, for sure, beautiful. But now all that green has dried into fuel.

Worse yet, parts of eastern New Mexico and across Texas haven’t seen rain since last August!

• It’s the driest in another sense – average humidity is less than 20%. There were days in the last couple of weeks when the average humidity was 3%.

• The windy-est season across the southwest that lifers can remember. Usually our windy season starts in late January or February and calms by April, maybe early May. This year, the winds have howled around corners, rattled windows and most critically, driven the wildfires right up to last week. A good day is winds at less than 30 mph, the best is under 20.

• There are –ests in the rest of the country too. Almost all of the mountain west except for NM and AZ and maybe southern CO have had the wettest winter ever with huge snowpacks and lots of rain. And wettest isn’t limited to those mountain states. The mid-west, from No and So Dakota down the Missouri and the Mississippi rivers and their tribs to the southern states are also experiencing the wettest rainy season.

Progress on the house

Here’s an image of the house from mid-week. It’s starting to look very house-like! This is the south-facing (long) and east end (short) of the house. I can stand in my office on the lower level and look out the “window” or “door” and we can walk around on the first floor and check out the view from the “windows.” By the end of this week, the house should have a roof! The goal is to get the house dried in before monsoons start. And then pray for the monsoons to start!

The next picture you’ll see will have the roof and if things go well this week, the framing for the deck and side porch. And they are working on the walls on the main floor. Once they get those walls and the roof, they’ll pour the concrete floor on the main level and then begin interior framing.

Meantime, we will be moving from this house at the end of August when our lease expires. The owner requested an additional $500/month over the current rent to agree for us to stay month-to-month. I’m sure you aren’t surprised, after my stories about this guy. And I’m sure you aren’t surprised that we declined. We will be house-sitting the home of friends who are spending their ½ year in Switzerland and will return to Silver City by Thanksgiving. And our new home should be finished by Thanksgiving, so it works out all around. So we’ll move twice. S’ok. We’ll be happy to be home.

Foxy Blues get Desert Exposure

This is what I saw at 6 am one morning last week when I took Nutmeg out the back door. This gray fox was standing on a wall right on the edge of our patio. This one, followed by a second fox, slipped along the wall and then down over the edge of the hillside. What a treat! One I didn’t think would be repeated. But later that morning, I was in the kitchen looking at the same wall from the windows. And there was this fox again

I had noticed that Nutmeg was spending a lot of time along that edge of the hill and along the wall sniffing every sorry brown blade of grass. Now I thought I understood why. But, boy, I didn’t know the whole of it yet.

Since there were two, I thought perhaps they were a pair and that they might be denning somewhere nearby, explaining their brazen daytime crossings. The next morning, Nutmeg and I rounded down onto the road for her morning walk and I looked over at the rocky hill that supports our house. There was a perfect doorway in the rocks and I’m sure I saw movement. I hustled down to my neighbor who shares with me a love of birds and critters. She pulled on shoes and came back up the street to sit with me and Nutmeg on the edge of the road watching for more signs of life around the doorway. Either I was imagining things or an adult had just slipped inside and nothing more for the moment. Carlene and I set a date for 6:30 the next morning thinking the family would be active early, just as the adults alone tend to be.

That evening, I went down around 8. This time, there were 4 kits playing around the doorway and on the surrounding rocks. Chasing. Jumping. Climbing. Exploring. I watched until it was too dark to watch. Later I spent an hour dusting off my tripod, and getting out my old, film-based SLR camera and mounting the longest lenses. Next morning at 6:20 am I trooped out weighted down with tripod-mounted camera over one shoulder, digital camera over the other shoulder, binocs hanging around my neck and a cup of hot coffee in my hand. Got out there on the edge of the road and set up the tripod, focused the camera and settled down to wait for my neighbor and for babies. Carlene showed up, but no babies. We sat and whispered for almost ½ hour until I had to go to work. We agreed to meet again that night at dusk, about 7:30 pm.

Later that morning, I took a break from the desk to go to the kitchen, glanced out the window and RIGHT THERE in the juniper trees were those 4 babies racing and chasing up and down the branches and around the clumps of bear grass below. Mama was standing on the edge watching. And keeping an eye on the road over yonder and on the walkway around the house. I grabbed my camera and starting shooting. Those windows are a poor excuse for any visibility, clouded as they are between the panes of glass, but who cares! I got what I could, as you’ll see on flikr. The kits were mostly in the shade so they looked more like silhouettes, but still.

When we met that evening, no babies. Next morning at 6:30, no babies. Mid-day, again, there was mama and 2 kits in the same junipers by the kitchen. Don’t know where the other 2 were. And then they were gone. Just gone! I’m going to bet that since they were moving so readily beyond the confines of the den and doorway, they were ready to really explore the world and start their practicum on hunting and watching out for dogs, coyotes and cars. So mama took ‘em to the school of life.

Silver City’s 2011 Memorial Day Blues Festival

The Blues Festival was wonderful again this year. Went to the opening dance at the Buffalo Dance Hall with a group calling themselves the Coolers from Tucson – a 9 piece band with 4countem4 saxaphones! And 2 of those are women who also do vocals. They specialize in old school blues, r&b, and funk. A great evening and great way to kick off the festival. The musicians over the rest of the weekend didn’t disappoint and we spent more time on Saturday and Sunday than in previous years.

I volunteered on Saturday morning helping vendors get registered, and then volunteered again on Sunday afternoon on a trash-tour. Meaning, I walked around the park picking up trash. There were 2 or 3 volunteers at a time on 2 hour tours doing this throughout the weekend. That prevented a lot of loose garbage on Monday to be chased down by the Town sanitation guys. And one of the vendors, a purveyor of coffee, iced coffee and iced tea treated me to a big glass of iced tea to ease the heat on Sunday afternoon. Only, now I don’t know what I’ll do with the brown-mustard-colored t-shirt that has VOLUNTEER across the back. A painting shirt?

Desert Exposure

A monthly newspaper-newsmagazine here in Silver City. Progressive and, like NPR, takes time to tell the whole story. Great rag. One of the journalists wrote a story on our new house. Harry knew Nick from covering the Office of Sustainability last year and knew that we are building green. So he asked to do a good cover on the house, the design, Build Green New Mexico and the builder and architect. We were thrilled, more because of the educational opportunity than anything. Here it is. Except that I think the Sustainability Czar tag goes a little far. Harry swore that wasn’t his doing. Must have been the editor that likes clichés. Oh well. Just call me Czresta!

The Rodeo Rode Through Town today

Here are just a few shots to tease. I posted the rest on flikr

Leading the Parade

Local Champs

Watching the parade

US Forest Service Smoke Jumpers – and we’re glad they’re here

Future Champs!



And on to the rest….