More on spring, wind, and fire

Spring, so once again the Organs are burning. The Sun News this morning said it was 11,500 acres and there is no reason to put it out; Yesterday's paper blamed it on a live fire exercise on Fort Bliss that could have been put out the first day had the military not ignored it. The contractor supplying the quote was not identified.

The fire is on the east side of the Organs, and the low, gray cloud just above the mountains in the picture is smoke. Earlier in the week we could see a little of the glow, but the mountains are deeper than they look, and even after the fire crests the eastern ridge, there is still a lot of landscape before it heads down the western face.

We had spring fires in 2008, 2010, and now 2011, and never before that since moving here in 1990. I suspect we will continue to have these fires after years when the summer rains produce abundant grass and as long as the US is focused on Afghanistan.

Pictures of Afghanistan show a mountainous, rocky terrain that reminds me of New Mexico. I am not the only one who noticed the resemblance. The US Military built an Afghan village in the Organs, complete with real Afghans. And military personnel at Ft. Bliss have confirmed to me the our terrain is similar to that of Afghanistan. I think the fires are here until live-fire exercises in the Organs are not relevant to our defense efforts.

The birds are not liking it. Last week I added mountain bluebird and white-throated swift to the yard list.

The Boyd after the fire

This burned area is about half way between home and Dripping Springs, still west of the worst of the burn. The fire must have been was cool, as fires go. The yuccas in the photo above are burned (they look like short, black stumps). But the live foliage on the yucca did not -- it is there, even if it has since died. This area was south of a road that acted as a firebreak at least in this area.

Thursday (off work), I plan to walk into the Boyd to see how the massive old hackberry trees fared.

We interrupt this vacation...

Actually, we do not interrupt this vacation. Stu and Mel are still playing in Cozumel as Jacob deals with the conflagration about 2000 yards from the homestead. Photo above is from today's Sun News, which, oddly enough, never arrived. This ridge burning in the photo above is visible from the house -- indeed, it is not much farther than a mile.

The latest update is that BLM is fighting the fire. The Sun News reported that 130 people were there, and Jake says that there are only about 4 hot spots visible as of about 8 pm Las Cruces time. It was an exciting day -- he watered things around the house and had stuff (read: pets) ready to go in case an evacuation was called for.

Jake says that most of the smoke has moved on, the dogs have calmed down, and he is keeping a responsible eye on things.

Thanks to all our good friends who called and offered Jacob help. We cannot thank you enough. He is handling everything beautifully and reassuring his parents that they do not need to cut their vacation short.

More on the fire tomorrow.

Update (6/18): The around here fire is pretty much out, although we watched some glowing spots from the porch last night after we got home from Mexico. The fire is not out yet, but it moved east and is now on the Missile Range, where access is a real problem.