Planting

Every knows if it's spring, Susun's planting every chance she gets.  We suspect she's even dreaming of planting when she's sleeping.  If she's not actually planting, she's probably planning on planting; picking up plants, preparing to plant or cleaning up after planting.  Yesterday was no exception.  She went over to volunteer at the Habitat ReStore and, guess what?  They asked her to plant the planters out in front of the store.  Imagine that!  She hurried home all smiles to pick up the tools of her planting trade.  Susun has a special smile when she's planting--you can see it in the photo here.  There's something about "plunking plants" as she calls it that makes her extra special happy.  Way to go, Sweetie!  Keep on Plantin'!

Things appear somewhat stable over in Mogollon, New Mexico.  The little mining ghost town is under a mandatory evacuation.  Fire officials tried to let Denise to leave but she refused.  Consequently, the fire crews are helping her protect her buildings and set up sprinklers and pumps and so forth.  Those of us who know Mogollon know the place has always been a tinder box waiting for a match.  The screen shot clip below shows just how close the fire is to the tiny village. Hang in there, Denise, we're all pulling for you! Here's the Inci Web link for the fire: http://www.inciweb.org/incident/2870/

Being very close to a big forest fire plays tricks in your mind.  In our second year out at Bowery Guard Station in 2005, the big Valley Road Fire sprang up on the other side of mountain beside our living quarters.  The smoke plume hung dramatically overhead and we lived in abject fear the fire would rip across the drainage divide and tear down the hill to incinerate us.  Meanwhile, helicopters would fly low over our little cabin while helmeted people started at us.  No one ever bothered to let us know whether we were in any danger and that elevated our level of concern, so to speak.  Neither of us will ever forget those ominous days.  We can't look at a smoke plume without remembering the fear such a cloud struck in our hearts.  We've talked with Denise and she is keeping up a brave front but we know how it feels to be in her shoes.
Oh, Mogollon, Hear Our Prayers!