Razing Arizona
Arizona's Wallow Fire at 339,000 acres is not only now the second largest fire in that state's history after 2002's Rodeo-Chediski Fire which burned 468,000 acres further to the west in the same contiguous stand of ponderosa pine forest, the largest such in the world, but a 0% containment with each day's acreage jump now being in excess of 50,000 acres and today featuring another Red Flag Warning with the expectation of more extreme fire behavior (major runs of crown fire, fire tornadoes, spot fires up to 3 miles distant from the leading edge of the fire, pyrocumulus clouds up to 30,000 feet in height) it seems this fire is a cinch to become Arizona's largest fire within a day or two.
Headed into today, the Wallow Fire, unlike the Rodeo-Chediski Fire which burned several hundred homes, had thus far managed to only burn about a dozen structures. However, late this afternoon the fire ran through the mountain town of Greer, AZ, and one can only imagine what woe was wrought by that but needless to say the fire's first major blow to property has now been struck. Out in front of this fire are the towns of Springerville and Eager, both of which have now been evacuated.
Arizona's 4th largest fire ever is still burning to the south of the Wallow Fire and is named the Horseshoe 2 Fire. Today the weather caused the fire to blow up and jump containment lines and burn additional structures and push the burned area 116,000 acres with 40% containment, a net drop of 15% from just yesterday and a 10,000 acre increase.
Arizona's five largest recorded fires have occurred in just the past 9 years in spite of the fact that during that time firefighting technology and tactics have been the best they have ever been. Clearly something has changed in both Arizona's forests (inevitable outcome of keeping natural fire out of the natural environment to too great a degree for too long) as well as a changing climate towards hotter and dryer). When this happened during an earlier time the Anasazi Civilization of that region did not survive. Will our's?
Summertime Floods in California?
That is now nearly a certainty and without the monsoon being in the equation... go figure! With record to near-record snow accumulations this late in the year and with the season heat about to arrive epic snow melting will occur and it is hard to imagine a scenario playing out in the days and weeks to come for many parts of the Sierra Nevada Mountains where severe flooding will not be a bigger story than the usual forest and brush fires. Already a flood watchin has been issued for much of the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains to last until further notice.
My Flag Has Been Transferred
I have now completely moved out of my faithful old red 1994 Chevy S-10 4WD pickup. Today I cleared out of it everything that will not remain with it for the next phase of its existence and thoroughly moved into my new used-car which is a 1999 Oldsmobile Intrigue. On Monday this week I got my new car successfully smogged and serviced and its known issues repaired for $260. Then on Tuesday I got the car registered in my name and my insurance policy shifted to cover it and my old pickup became uninsured. Then I splurged and indulged in a $30 carwash to place my mark on my new car. Later that day as I drove it around doing chores a problem emerged in it relating to the transmission that caused me some alarm and triggered a Service Engine Soon code to be triggered. The shop it had been in the day before looked at it again and determined it is a particular part in the transmission that is starting to fail and will need to be dealt with at some point. They recommended a good transmission shop down the street so after paying them $40 for determining that I paid the aforementioned transmission shop a visit right before closing time. They looked at the diagnostic results my other shop had discovered and told me the various graduations of mechanical mayhem I am facing but they also said things may not be as bad the two worst-case scenarios. I am slated to have them more accurately and certainly diagnose the problem on June 22 after I get back from Salt Lake City. Tomorrow I plan to visit the Bureau of Automotive Repair official dismantling station just north of Paso Robles and confirm that California is out of money to buy back my pickup to get it off the road. If that is confirmed I will check around to see what a wrecking yard will give me for it considering I can't sell it due to its inability to pass smog and not being worth the expense to determine the precise nature of why that is and then repair it. I am hoping I can get a few hundred bucks.
I Have Snails!
Not in my body fortunately but rather in my new pond. I had been frustrated by my inability to find any when I was gathering flora and fauna in the Salinas River recently. I had not wanted to have to spend money on this project beyond the cost of a new liner but figured I'd have to pony up for some snails. As it turns out a whole bunch of small ones had hitched a ride in all the flora I recently gathered. I discovered them this morning and they are thriving and are all throughout the pond conducting their housecleaning duties.
Thumbs Up ~ Thumbs Down
Over the past week or so I've had the opportunity to see some movies for the first time and here are my thoughts.
Rooster Cogburn (the new one) ~ I absolutely adore the movie and like it every bit as much as the original and its sequel. It is certainly more reflective of the human element of that time period whereas the original was more in keeping with the American mythology of the West and that time period in American history. My understanding is that this remake is also more true to the original book from which the movie was adapted.
Little Big Man ~ I had seen parts of it on regular TV before but never the whole thing uncut and uninterrupted. It equal parts comedy and tragedy and rife with irony and the theater of the absurd. The interlooping threads of various characters connects to the main character and how they keep reemerging into the storyline is very clever. I was surprised at the sexuality in it given the era into which it was released although I do not feel that sexuality was improper or unnecessarily vulgar. In any case I was surprised how much I liked this movie as I didn't expect I would as I began watching the movie. Even the somewhat unsatisfying ending to the movie was deeply satisfying given how it was unsatisfying in a realistic sort of way like how life really works.
The Eagle Has Landed ~ I expected to like this movie but did not. I liked the cast and characters but I'm a World War Two snob and I noticed way too many weaknesses in the plot and dialogue that made the movie for the most part irredeemable to me although I'm glad I watched it and gave it an opportunity to be liked by me. Example: German paratroopers would have demolished American regulars just as American paratroopers made it a habit of chewing up German regulars.
Fini
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