Well, I got a postcard from my dad last week from Ireland addressed to "K. C. Tynan". Either my dad has decided to stop being an ass by addressing me by my husband's last name when he knows I kept my own last name, or else he has forgotten my husband's last name completely.
posted by Kirsten at 11:57 AM
Well the town of Summerhaven on Mount Lemmon is pretty much gone. Hundreds of structures including homes and businesses have been levelled. Ski Valley, the southernmost ski resort in the United States, is also being threatened along with a multi-million dollar telescope complex on Mount Bigelow and several radio towers among other things. With high winds in the forecast for the next several days and dry tinder from the multi-year drought in this area, the fire is expected to burn for at least another 2-3 weeks.
One of the businesses confirmed gone was
Cabins and Cookies of whose cookies I have fond memories. Nothing like a hot cookie on a brisk fall afternoon on Mount Lemmon. Owner Vic Zimmerman vows to get the cookie part of the business up and running, though he isn't so sure he will continue the rental cabin side. A possible new name for the business?
Cookies sans Cabins, he says. I've heard no word yet on the fate of the Summerhaven Coffee House whose sourdough bread bowls filled with a hearty minestrone were the very definition of comfort food. I have also been known to make the trek up Mount Lemmon to partake of their wonderful curried chicken on croissant.
Something like this is devastating to the people who have lost their belongings, homes, and businesses. But at least we can understand what is happening. You just can't explain it to your pet. The Humane Society of Southern Arizona is working to provide emergency shelter to pets displaced by the fire.
Donations are being accepted to help supply them with food and shelter.
I didn't live there. I didn't own property there. But the fire is heartbreaking for me just the same. I have great memories of
hiking and picnics on Mount Lemmon as well as spending our wedding night at a bed and breakfast there. I can remember only one unhappy time on Mount Lemmon when my husband and I narrowly avoided a car accident and subsequently helped render aid to those involved. Recently my husband and I took our dog Pepper for a hike on the mountain, and she just had a fabulous time sniffing all over the place. We let her sniff her way back to the car and she often seemed to be getting off the trail. We'd pull her off the way we thought we should go only to discover that *we* were the ones who didn't know where we were going and Pepper's nose was dead on track! In recent weeks we've been talking about a picnic, but we never got around to it. Chances are that by the time we are allowed up the mountain, our hidden away, lush green spot with a view that doesn't end will be destroyed.
posted by Kirsten at 12:27 PM
After last year’s wildfire season in Arizona which included the largest wildfire in state history dubbed the Rodeo-Chediski Fire, we are once again experiencing a very active fire season. More than five fires are burning throughout the state covering several thousand acres. Mount Lemmon, which was heavily hit last year by the Bullock Fire, is now sustaining another fire called the Aspen Fire. The news today isn’t good. The fire has jumped a control line which was hoped to protect the town of Summerhaven on the mountain and is now moving toward homes and businesses. Firefighters have pulled out of Summerhaven and the town is now at the mercy of nature. The easterly view from the Old Pueblo is grim. Large billows of smoke in the Catalinas to the northeast mark the Aspen fire, and then panning to the south the Helen’s II fire is also marked by smoke in the Rincons.
Meanwhile, firefighter
Rick Lupe’s death reminds us that the firefighters who protect us and our property take very real risks and make huge sacrifices just to do their jobs. Lupe, who was instrumental in keeping last year’s Rodeo-Chediski far out of the town of Show Low, has passed away as a result of third degree burns sustained over 40% of his body while working on a controlled burn in May.
posted by Kirsten at 2:46 PM
The Catholic Church disgusts me. An admission that he concealed abuse allegations and shifted priests accused of child molesting around from parish to parish rather than taking action to protect innocent kids was
not sufficient for the Pope to accept Phoenix Bishop Thomas O'Brien's resignation. Oh, but now this Holier-Than-Thou Man o' God has hit a 6-foot 235-lb pedestrian, fled the scene without rendering aid or even reporting the accident, attempted to have his windshield repaired, claims to have thought he either hit a dog or cat or had a rock thrown at his windshield, and did not come forward even after he was informed that authorities were looking for him. Suddenly,
the Pope is accepting this fucking creep's resignation. I guess some things are just too hard to explain away.
posted by Kirsten at 7:26 PM
I have recently been distracted by the presence of law enforcement in my neck of the (mesquite) woods such that I am now forced to acknowledge that I am living in nothing less than a police state.
A United States Border Patrol "high intensity enforcement zone" has been set up along my only realistic route between my place of work and my home about 50 miles north of the border. This has entailed several BP vehicles being stationed strategically for surveillance of the highway as well as a mobile tower from which agents can observe and do whatever else they might be doing.
My husband was recently followed a substantial distance for no apparent reason by a BP agent all the way to our home. I have since taken up the habit of photographing the setup each and every time I pass by the station.
On the evening of 8 June 2003 as my husband and I were on our way home, I snapped a shot of a border patrol vehicle and agent who then pulled out onto the highway and followed me in excess of the speed limit in order to catch up to me. He passed me on the left and appeared to lean over into his passenger seat in order to photograph me. Keep in mind that I was driving the speed limit- 65 mph- and he was passing me so he was going a bit faster. He snapped my photo with a digital camera and then sped off down the highway.
Shortly after that, we encountered him again. This time he was parked on the shoulder on the opposite side of the street facing me. Once again he was photographing me- this time as I slowed down to make a turn.
Each time he snapped me, I snapped a picture of him back.
I don't have my film developed. I'm using a cheapo throwaway camera I had leftover from a vacation trip, and I've a ways to go before I finish it. And I've been snapping shots at high speed without worrying about photo quality just for the purpose of indicating to these people that if they are going to watch me, then I will be watching them. Chances are good that few if any of my photos came out. But I continue to take photographs and am comparing notes with a friend who independently decided to do something similar to improve my technique in the future to capture actual useful information.
The presence of these agents bodes ill for the health of the community. Already
some rabid folks are calling for charges of treason to be levied against those who dare to speak out against the militarization of our community.
posted by Kirsten at 5:26 PM 