Fire Season is Here!

When I opened our door this morning, the strong scent of smoke hit me and the world was obscured by smoke! Checked and found there is a forest fire burning near Alpine.

Wallow Fire Burning on Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests near Alpine
Body (Posted May 30, 2011 at 12:20 p.m.) A wildfire called the Wallow Fire is located about 15 miles southwest of Alpine, Ariz. in the Bear Wallow Wilderness area. Updated acreage will be provided later today.

The fire is believed to be human-caused.

A Type II Team will be briefed and transitioned today at noon.

The Reno Fire Lookout and some campers have been evacuated, and Hannagan Lodge residents have been notified. The Forest Service is asking recreationists and travelers to avoid the area at this time.

A road closure is in place from Wildcat Point on Forest Service Road 25 to Highway 191. The public is asked to avoid this area as well.

Windy Day

It's been cold and windy today, made it unpleasant to load up!

Elephant

John made this cute elephant today. He doesn't like him and I do, so guess who gets to keep him!!

Tweet, Tweet

We've been bird watching the last few days. We sit in the sunroom for our breaks and we watch two beautiful tiny yellow birds as they hop around. They don't ever sit still for very long, they are hopping and flying all over the place. I wonder if they are catching bugs?

Cold!

The snow is all melted, but it's so cold and cloudy today! Spring where are you? The locust tree says it's not here yet and it knows!


I found another red chili today. I've picked chili's off the plants I brought inside all winter, so nice!

We Got Snow!

When I got up this morning about 5, it was snowing! We got about 2 inches of snow but it didn't stick around long, by noon it was all gone. Even while it was snowing, it was melting. This has been a cold spring!

Cloudy and Cold!

It was pretty overcast when we got up this morning. It had cleared up a bit by the time we walked, but it was cold!

Hop, Hop

Our bunny was at the cattleguard again this morning. He must live close by.

Discouraged

The other day while I was updating and adding photos to my blog I got a message that blogger was doing maintenance and would be down for a bit. I don't know what happened, but when they were done, a bunch of my photos were missing! I think more than just what I'd uploaded that day. So discouraging! Dumb Blogger!

We drove over to Show Low again this morning to deliver one of John's scratchboards and one of my photos to City Hall for the Art Exhibit. Jan, the lady in charge had gone to the Casbah and seen our exhibit there, where I have my duck photo, and wanted me to put it in the show. She also requested that John bring a scratchboard, so now we have a couple more things in the show. They will have an open house in June and hopefully lots of people will see our stuff!

New Water Heater and a Family Visit

I walked by myself this morning, John wanted to hang around in case Andy called to say they were on the way. I haven't walked in several days, we've been too busy, so I needed to get out and walk! I made it to the cattleguard, our usual stopping place these days.



Andy's family came over today so Andy could help John install the new water heater we got in the attic and clean out the junk from the old water heater that plugged up the faucets. Everytime we've drained the old one and refill it, it has spewed out junk and plugged things up. After the guys got the heater in, we had a BBQ and Andy tried out the scooter John is building. They had a set back, the transmission stopped working after Andy took it out for a ride. John will have to investigate to see why. We had a good visit with the guys. Jessie tried out John's bike, I'm amazed that she can ride it, the seat is so high! And Josh got in some skateboard time in the shop.

Ice Cream Parlor

Andy bought the equipment from an Ice Cream Parlor that closed and John and I rode over to Pinetop with our trailer so they could load it on there to get it home. Wow, we had a truckload and a trailerload!

Show Low City Hall Art Exhibit

We took John's bear and little horse Rosie to ShowLow today where they will be living at City Hall for the next 6 months. They are having an artist exhibit there and invited area artists to display their work. Unfortunately, while unloading the bear John wrenched his shoulder and it has been pretty painful ever since.

I rode out to the dump with John this afternoon and on the way home we saw a herd of elk grazing in a field just outside of town! Not sure how many there were, we couldn't get a good count because they were so bunched up, but there were more than 20!

Summer Splash

They are irrigating now, one of the fields we walk past was getting flooded, should be getting green before long! We happened upon a rabbit, I think he thought he was invisible if he sat still, he gave me time to get a good shot of him!

I rode out to the dump with John this morning, they are sweeping and washing the road, there were soap bubbles on it! Wonder what they are up to?

The poor treeless DQ.

This evening we went to a show at Jessie's school put on by the kids. It was called Summer Splash and was really good. We enjoyed it. I was amazed again at how talented the kids are, the classes are small, only 7 students in the 8th grade, but they sure can put on a good show! The songs were all familiar golden oldies and it was great! Here's the 4th and 5th graders, Jessie is on the back row, 3rd from the right.

Ode To A Fallen Tree

They cut down the tree in front of Dairy Queen! I'm not sure when they did it John said there was a sign on DQ when he went by earlier that said "Town of Eagar, you stink!" I gather from that they didn't want the tree cut down and the city did it against their objections. Dumb city anyway, it was a beautiful shade tree!

Historic Greer Lodge burned this morning!

Fire Destroys Historic Greer Lodge
Updated: Tuesday, 10 May 2011, 10:49 AM MDT
Published : Tuesday, 10 May 2011, 7:33 AM MDT

Photo from the web

Adapted for the Web by
myFOXPhoenix.com Staff
GREER, Ariz. - The historic Greer Lodge has burned to the ground.

The fire started after 4:00 a.m. Tuesday and destroyed the building.

John Raven was staying at the Greer Lodge and said they were given a five minute warning to evacuate.

Barbara Keehn, who is staying at the nearby Molly Butler Lodge, said it was a scary sight - "it looked like the forest was on fire." Looking out of her window around 6:30 a.m., she said the fire appeared to be contained, but you could still see a lot of smoke.

Caitlin Sandhal, the daughter of the Greer Lodge owner Doug Sandhal, said her father recently had some renovations done to the building. She adds that they're all in shock, but she wouldn't put it past him to rebuild the lodge because Greer means a lot to him.

Doug Sandhal said there was no damage done to the 70 cabins surrounding the lodge.

The Lodge's restaurant and cabins remain open.

No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is unknown.

The Greer Lodge was built in 1948 and contained 10 rooms and a restaurant. It's a popular eastern Arizona getaway spot in the White Mountains. Sandhal says he will rebuild the lodge.

As we were walking this morning, we noticed smoke on the horizon in the direction of Greer. We thought it was a control burn, but I wonder if it was the lodge? The smoke is just to the left of the tower.


A rabbit we saw on our walk. We're seeing lots of them now.

Wind

The wind has been horrible today! A good day to stay inside!! I missed going for a walk, but didn't want to get blown away!

NOAA says:

WINDS: SOUTHWEST FROM 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS OF 40 TO 55 MPH...WINDS PEAKING ESPECIALLY BY MID AFTERNOON TO LATE AFTERNOON.

A WIND ADVISORY MEANS THAT SUSTAINED WINDS OF 30 TO 39 MPH...OR GUSTS FROM 40 TO 57 MPH...ARE EXPECTED. CONSIDER SECURING LOOSE BELONGINGS ON YOUR PROPERTY. (Good advise, our table and chairs are trying to blow away! The wind blew the stone we had on top of the table off and the legs and top were blowing away! John gathered them up and put the stone on them.)

Home Again

We visited with Charles, Nikki and Patrick for a bit this morning, hitched up the boat and headed out for home. We had a good visit, except for the hot temperatures, LOL, they probably didn't think it was hot, but we did! My arms even got sunburned! We had an uneventful trip home, it was too long, but we stopped several times to stretch our legs and work out the cramps. We stopped in Show Low at Lowes and picked up a water heater for the attic. Everything John drains the one that we have and fills it up again, it gives off rust that plug up all the faucets. No fun taking them apart to clean them all the time!! It was windy when we got home, I didn't notice the wind in Tucson, not sure if it's been blowing all the time we were gone or not.

Saturday

ate bfast, toured old town, saw the elephant sculpture, ate at golden corral

friday

travel day

Nice Day

It's warming up now and was nice this morning for our walk. John's ankle was bothering him and I felt hammered from not sleeping well last night, so we only went to the windmill and back, about 1.88 miles total

Mother's Day visit

We took Mother's Day flowers and cards to our Mom's today since we'll be gone on Mother's Day. Had a short visit with Mom, she was heading out with Carleen to go to Carleen's Doc appointment. Her computer is acting up and I stayed and tried to fix it, updated windows hoping that would fix the glitch, but it didn't. John visited his Mom while I was working on Mom's computer.

Nice weather today, we walked to the cattle guard again, and had an easy time making it, yea!

It's Freezing!

We started out on our walk this morning and it was so cold that we didn't even make it to the end of our street! The breeze felt like it was coming from Siberia! Burr! Did someone forget to tell the weatherman that it's May today?

What The Easter Bunny Does After Easter

We were walking along this morning when we spotted a bunny hiding in the weeds. I wonder if he was looking for lost eggs?

Wind Again

Windy again today. We walked earlier, but it was still pretty windy by the time we got back. John is working on his bike again, he's remodeling it, he is oging to move the engine.

Dentist and walks

John had an appointment with Dr. Tenney for crown preps on two teeth. It took them 3 hours! I went for a walk while he was gone. It was pretty nice out, just a bit windy. Later, I went for another walk along the river and it was very windy by then!

wednesday

John took a trailer he built several years ago down to St. Johns this morning to license it. While he was gone, I went for a walk, I'm making it to the bottom of the hill easily, as soon as the weather is better, I think I'll try going up the hill.

Wind

We braved the wind and took some sculptures over to Pintop and Little Shops at the Casbah today. The owners picked all 5 that we took, 4 of them are on the patio and one, the computer dude, is at the entrance. Ordered a microwave at Home Depot, hope we have better luck than ordering online! Shopped at WalMart and came home.

Monday

John and I walked this morning, it was windy and cool. John is remodeling the goat again, LOL, this time he's adding some "skin" to him. The dino is almost finished, he is going to add a few more finishing touches. But, most things aren't finished until they get sold, LOL. John is always remodeling.

Easter is Here!

Easter dawned cloudy and breezy. We had a quiet day. John worked on his dinosaur until his welder died, then he ran down to visit his mom and borrow their old welder. I stayed home and walked.

Easter Picnic

We met Andy's family and Mom and Carleen at the Midway and went up to Bucklelew Spring for a picnic. The day was overcast and windy when we left, but the trees dropped the wind to a breeze and the sun came out and it ended up being a nice day.

Jess visit

Jessie asked if she could come over and spend the night, so after her family colored their eggs, they brought her over. We colored a few eggs here, it would have seemed so strange not to, she's been spending a few days with us around Easter time since she was about 3 and we've celebrated Easter with her for the last eight years.

John challenged Jessie to a dogfight and she ended up beating him most of the time! LOL, he usually wins when I play him, so it was fun to see Jessie winning!!

Walks, Blooms and a Set Back

John and I walked this morning. We went past the end of the pavement a bit so a little over 2 miles. It was a bit windy and cold, but not too bad. John said I walked his legs off, LOL. I was going fast to keep up with him and he says he was walking fast to keep up with me! I think we probably set a time record. John spotted this little guy plugging along the road. Love his colors!



Unwalked territory, the road ahead. One day we'll venture farther and see what's at the top!



My amaryllis is booming! And I bought an Easter Lily the other day. They brighten up the place and the lily smells so, umm, strong? It smelled good at first, but it's kind of overpowering now. But it's beautiful!



John had a set back with his dino, one of the welds broke and the head fell to the floor and broke the weld holding it on! So he spent today fixing and making it stronger. Bummer!

Dinosaur

John worked on his dino today, he decided to go with the chain for the backbone and tail. Tony gave him a piece the other day that was enough to make his backbone but not tail and he offered John another piece to do the tail, so it can all be the same, thanks Tony! Here's the dino progress today. Those teeth look wicked!


The air around has been hazy lately and John found an article in the paper about a fire up near double cattleguards, so we went up to check it out. I don't think the haze today was from that fire, looked like it was out, but it was still hazy. We saw a field of horses and geese grazing together in Alpine, cool sight! The geese are the tiny things in the forground, you can barely see them.

Still Breezy

John and I went for a walk this morning. It was breezy and a bit cool. I was glad I took my hat along with me, I ended up with it on to keep my ears warm. We didn't go as far today, the wind was picking up and we didn't want to fight a strong headwind on the way home.


John has been trying to track down the source of the cold air that he and Andy felt when they were diagnosing the studio water pipes to see how many froze last winter. They could feel cold air coming out of the wall the shower is on, so that's probably why it froze the pipes. John got some insulation and has been pouring it into the wall and he caulked up some spots where we could see light coming through from outside, in the bath closet and he caulked up a spot where the siding has started pulling away from the building. Hopefully, this will save us from freeze damage next winter!

Breezy Monday

Another breezy spring day! Not as bad as it's been though. While John went out running errands and going to see Dr. Heap to see if he has metal in his eye, (luckily it was just a scratch) I went for a walk. I made it to the end of the pavement and a bit beyond, a little over 2 miles total. John called while I was walking, he'd gotten home, so he met me at the corrals on my way back and we walked home from there together. I met Joaquin out walking his dog on my way back, sad that he's alone now.

Eric came up and spent the afternoon working on a project for himself and John worked on his new sculpture, a dinosaur. Wow, it's going to be huge! It looks pretty scary to me right now, with only the feet and legs done! Can you imagine meeting this guy somewhere!

Here's a look at what his head will be made of.

ADSR Sunday

Sunday midnight is the deadline for the weeks ADSR challenges and it seems like lots of racers like to leave it to the last second and beyond to post their layouts! Then they don't do them right, I don't think they read the directions well, just skim them and go do a layout, never checking to see if they followed the rules, like post in your credits what you used where to fill the requirements! This week I checked in my teams, the teams of a checker who is at a Big Losers Camp and the teams of an ill checker. I was pretty burned out by the end of the day!

John has started on a new sculpture. This one is a dinosaur and it is going to be pretty big! Here's John standing by its feel and legs. WOW!

The world is blooming now! These blooms are on a tree at Basha's.

Chrome In The Dome

Today was the annual Chrome In The Dome day. John and I spent a couple hours looking and wandering and drooling over the vehicles! There were some beautiful ones there. I saw several that I would love to have!




Andy's family came over so he could help John take a look inside the wall in the Studio bathroom with his little camera to see what froze and broke last winter. Luckily, they didn't see any pipes broken, just the faucet! Whew, they got the parts ordered and on the way. Hope that fixes it. They could feel a breeze coming out of the wall and so we need to find out where the cold air is getting in, so we don't have freezing problems next winter! We ate BBQ burgers for lunch and then Jessie, Susan and I went down to the Thrift Store to shop, Jessie got watered down when her bottle full of pop went pop when she opened it and she needed a change of clothes. We all found some good bargains! I got a cool jacket, and Jessie and Susan found clothes. Had a good visit with them all.