Pray For Rain - Wildfires in Arizona.

So I was going through some of my vacation photos today while I've got the strength to sit up here @ the "Idiot Box" and it occured to me that the state of Arizona is burning up! (on a related note, my buddy Freak Magnet's state is SINKING!) These are photos taken last week.

The first one is the Navajo/Grand Canyon fire. You might have heard about this one on CNN - it stranded people on the North Rim. It was only 2 days old when I was there 6/21/06. Now it massive.

The other 2 are of the Sedona-Brynes fire. These were taken on 6/20/06. And as BAD BAD BAD as fire is, these are SO PRETTY. Yeah I know - my mind works in mysterious ways.

But, on a positive note, it looks like our monsoon season is arriving early this year by some unknown grace of God and the Sedona fire is 75% contained as of this morning. It's supposed to rain every day for the next week (scattered T-storms), but then again, meteorologist is the ONLY job you can have, be wrong OVER HALF the time and still retain your job. So we'll see about that.

And something else I wanted to say is that I've been an Arizonan all my life (not counting that 10 month stint in Palm Springs, CA) and I don't EVER remember wildfires getting the press they've gotten since 2000. I don't know if it's because the draught is causing the fires to spread like butter melting on a hot skillet or if it's because in the summer time, CNN has nothing better to cover? But they make it sound like we're ALL in DANGER and THE END IS NEAR....pshhhh. It's not as bad as they are making it seem. It's not like there's NO FACILITIES @ the North Rim for those "stranded" people to stay in or use. I mean, YES -"fire = bad", and if not tended to, it is almost always a fatal thing, but we've got firefighters and rappel crews all OVER this state that do an EXCELLENT job that goes unrecognized most of the time. So how about less coverage on "THE HORROR" and more coverage on THE HEROES? Here's to them! :o)