...so sad

Our forest is on fire.....We have lived here for 28 years. We camp, hunt, fish, get firewood, and just relax and enjoy our forest. There is nothing like a Sunday drive in the cool, crisp air, breathing in that forest smell. It's so theraputic.I have been so scatterbrained since this started. I am SO upset about this fire. We were thinking about going camping over Memorial Day weekend, but, I was worried about the terrible winds we were having, and, how dry the forest already was. I kept thinking IF a fire started, which direction would you go?!? I called the Forest Service several days in a row, to see if there were any restrictions on the forest *it's no fun camping without a campfire*, and she told me each day that it was day-to-day & that you couldn't have any open flames from 10 AM to 8 PM. That really bothered me. They should have closed the forest for the time being...they've done it before. We are in such a bad, long drought that it's sad to see the forest in the condition that it is/was in....
We had company come to town, and didn't go camping after all. It was TERRIBLY windy all weekend...gusting up to 40+ MPH. Low and behold, the Wallow Fire was started in a remote wilderness. It's not public, but, I'm sure it's human-caused.
The eastern side of middle Arizona has the most awesome forest--Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, with the highest peak at 11,000 feet. It is renowned for trophy Elk hunting, *celebrities such as George Strait hunt here* fishing, and camping. Phoenix and Tucson people come here to escape the heat, or play in the snow, in the winter. Families have come here camping for generations.
Today, Alpine and Nutrioso were evacuated. The evacuation point was 60 miles away, NOT here, in the dome.....that is scary! They say this fire has the potential to be bigger than the 2001 Rodeo Chediski fire! I can't even begin to fathom the scope of this! Nutrioso is only 16 miles from our home.
Who knows what tomorrow will bring. It's supposed to be windy, again.
Here's some random pictures I took Wednesday evening....This first one was my yard, Wednesday morning.....not fun breathing!

Windy, and you can't even see the mountains in the background...

 

  

I spent the day at the little house, until 9PM, working stuff for my punch class tomorrow.

I had a very hard time concentrating on what I was doing, and, I spent alot of time on the phone with people, as new developments came about with the fire information.

I almost felt like canceling the class, but, I think we need the distraction tomorrow.

I just hope I can pull it off without looking like a babbling idiot.

Thanks for your visit!