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.