Wildfire

We have a wildfire in Phoenix right now and it broke out yesterday, apparently due to a lightning strike in the area. It is on the other side of the mountain that sits at the edge of my neighborhood and has now burned over 2,000 acres. There is ash raining down in our yard and all I can say is thank God a tile roof!

It isn't as close to us as it looks but the black smoke and ash are getting closer. I'm sure our house isn't in any danger but let me just say this...it has cut its distance from us in half over night. My husband said if the mountain starts to glow we're out of here but I don't think it will come to that. It's really very small as far as these fires go and the only reason it spread like it did is because the firefighters couldn't get to it since it's out in the middle of nowhere on the Indian Reservation. I saw the airtanker fly past a few times today but apparently they stopped that due to lack of efficiency. Now that it's reaching civilization it should be out in no time. Hopefully by tomorrow.

It sure keeps life interesting here in the desert! We are also beginning monsoon season. Although our neighborhood doesn't get much rain compared to the rest of the Valley we sure do get all the dust storms. Usually at least once each year the dust cloud is so enormous it looks like it's just swallowing us up. It really is a neat thing to see in person. We haven't had rain in months so I hope our monsoon season is a little wetter than normal because then the fires won't get too bad this summer. And maybe all the plants in our yard won't die? We have a sprinkling system but it's been over 110 degrees for a couple weeks now and has gotten up to 115 a few times. The thermometer on my car actually read 125 the other day! Crikey!