Fires? How is everyone? Rain dances needed!

lazy_gardens

18 years ago

We're seeing the plumes and smelling the smoke, but nowhere near any of the fires.

Drive through a nice frog-drowner near the airport, but we need to get the rain dancers in action!

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Comments (12)

Kathleen W
18 years ago
It's scary up here in N Scottsdale, lazygardens. We got rain last night too. But last night you could clearly see the line of fire over the top ridge of that mountain just north east of here. It's probably 8 miles as the crow flies. It smells terrible at times (I suppose when the wind shifts) and other times, you can barely smell it. I just heard on TV they are letting the Tonto Hills people back in their homes. I still can't figure out if the 20 homes that burned were up in Camp Creek only (north of the ridge line) or if any were touched in Tonto Hills (south of the ridge line). Hard to imagine the devastation of losing home, belongings, even your yard.
usha
18 years ago
Hi Kathleen,
I also live in N scottsdale and equally scared of the fire. Let's keep our fingers crossed!
usha
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AzDesertRat
18 years ago
I am stuck in no man's land here. I can see the smoke from the fires in Cave Creek and saw the glow from last night's fire on Mummy Mountain. Hopefully the increase the increase in humidity will help the firefighters control these fires and save peoples' properties and homes.

I guess the all of the rain we had last winter was a mixed blessing. All the extra brush that grew from our rainfall is providing the fuel for these fires. Come on monsoon season, let's start early this year.
Garden_trolip
18 years ago
Vizualizing heavy and prompt Monsoons for all my friends in the danger area ;)
tiger38
18 years ago
HI all
Up here in Black Canyon City the Sunset Point fire was stopped (finally) 4 miles from us. My DH & I went out at five that morning & watched the flames. 2 months ago they tried to evacuate us because of possible flooding. One of these days our luck is going to run out. Hope everyone is afe out there.
Pagancat
18 years ago
You can borrow some of my luck should you ever need it. Be safe, take care!
eileenaz
18 years ago
Jeez, guys, DH's Type II team finally gets called out on a fire and you want to stop it immediately...
But seriously, I hope everybody here stays safe and doesn't suffer from the smoke.
Meanwhile, DH is driving around late at night like he often does on the big fires, only this time he's driving down Scottsdale Road instead of some dusty washboard in the middle of the desert. He'd missed lunch and dinner because they ran out before he could get there and was starving, and was looking for someplace to grab something to eat, then a Basha's appears, so he runs in and buys some sushi for the road.
This probably conveys some meanness of spirit on my part, but if he's going to be gone two or three weeks at a time he should be having some hardships going on- I find it irksome that he's cruising Scottsdale Road and eating sushi for dinner without me! ;-)
Kathleen W
18 years ago
Eileen,

Thank your DH for me, what would we do without these hero firefighters who help deal with these disasters? BTW Eileen, that Basha's is more like an AJ's with lots of gourmet stuff. You should come up here and join DH for lunch :) .

On the status up here (just south of Carefree), you can still see the smoke but it hasn't been blowing this way since last week. Thank goodness for that as I had to shut up the house one day and put on the AC. I really prefer the evap but it was so strong my asthma was kicking into high gear.

I haven't heard today but last night it was only 20% contained. Sure hope they can stop it soon. Rain with NO WIND would be really good.
debaz1
18 years ago
Did anyone feel the ground shake tonight? I did all the rain dances I know.....LOL
Chitown33
18 years ago
Oh yeah, you think you all need rain?

Try having .20" this whole month with 90's every day and blazing sun, and even 100 today. Well I know what you're saying, been there done that. Well, at least you already live in the desert where most of your plants are accustomed to that. Now here, our trees, plants, and grass all expect at least 3" of precip each month of the growing season, with even cooler temps. The grass is like straw now, and the native 30 year old trees are begining to look sad and droopy. Some are already yellow. We have water restrictions also. I've been spending hours of my time watering these fracking water guzzleing plants just to keep them on their last limb.

Think twice before how much you say you need rain!

Chitown
Chitown33
18 years ago
Well then again, I is a shame to have fires. That is a very bad thing and I think you all don't deserve to go through that. I was just explaning the damage of no rain in a place that literally needs rain.

The best of luck to all of you who are threatened by fires.

Chitown
PoledraDog
18 years ago
Also keep in mind that just because we live in the desert, doesn't mean we don't need *some* rain. What rain we do get, we typically get in the summer, and if we don't get it our water levels (where we get our water from) suffers. And also as you can see, the dryness increases the incidence of fire.

That said, my best to you. :) I work with (via telecommuting) several people in the Chicago area (Aurora), and I've been hearing about the horrible drought. I do hope you get some rain soon, as I know that kind of damage can take years to recover from, depending on the length and severity of the drought.

Fires? How is everyone? Rain dances needed!

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Kathleen W

usha

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