Where there's smoke...

The other morning, I looked out my window on the side of the hill to this sight, part way up the hills to the north of the bowl that holds Prescott. Living in the dry Southwest, smoke is scary. Living where the skies are clear, smoke is very evident, from miles away.

The smoke had already drifted well to the east of its origin. Fortunately, within maybe 20 minutes, the fire was completely out and the air was clearing. A closer shot suggests that whatever was burning was just up the hill from the old officers' houses at Whipple (below).


The Arizona Snow Pack: What an El Nino we've had! Take a look at them purple mountain majesties on this map, representing as they do a big winter for snow in our fair state. I'm told that Flag has had about 10 feet this year, not quite an all time high but almost. See what you've missed by moving to Alaska, dotter?

Ready for the firemen

I'm an innocent when it comes to such matters as building codes and similar arcana. However, it is obvious, just looking at how commercial and institutional structures are outfitted, that dealing with potential fires is a major concern. I understand the hose hook-ups, ever ready. But what might a sprinkler room be?

The hexagonal arrangement of heavy-duty spigots here at Lowe's makes a lovely pattern, as well as being thoroughly functional.

Belt and suspenders? These hook-ups are elsewhere on the Lowe's building.

Fire department connections at a new church building are bright and shiny enough to reflect my black pants. I couldn't get a good angle on the dang unit that didn't include my legs.

A fence-side hook-up near the street at a local school (above) and a carefully fenced-in unit on Whiskey Row near The Palace. What is it being protected against -- or is the ornamental iron being merely ... ornamental?

Linkage: Tombo offers some local restaurant reviews for your dining pleasure. And if you like walking around Prescott with me, you might enjoy walking up in Edmond Washington with Ron (though he is a madman who gets up before the sun rises, a feat I'm incapable of.) I'm also happy to report that my SIL has made one of his rare periodic posts from up in Alaska.

Needle fall

It's wonderful to live in an forest of evergreens in winter. Though our deciduous trees are now bare skeletons, the ponderosa pines retain their everyday deep green.

However, if you look carefully at any cluster of needles, you will see that there are always a handful that are brown and dry. Which fact brings up another characteristic of our pines: no, they don't loose their leaves in the fall. No, they are evergreen -- and ever-shedding. All it takes is a half day of strong winds in any season and we have a major needle fall (below).

Covering the ground. Making the sidewalks slippery. And producing the one good reason I've discovered for a leaf blower: how else can one uncover those beautifully landscaped river rocks above?

Our little street now has patches of needle fall (above), much of it quickly worn down by passing automobiles (below). In our Arizona mountain forests, which are dry much of the year, the pine needles pile up inches to more than a foot deep over a period of years, producing a duff tinder just waiting for a lightening bolt or tossed cigarette to set the world on fire.

From the Link Lady: First the local -- Rich caught the downtown Christmas lights on a cold night this past weekend; better him than me freezing at the Square! And we have a new Prescott Daily Photo, currently focusing on the major features of our town. Moving down into the warm country, you might like to visit Kim who is documenting her historic neighborhood in Tucson. A different kind of documentation: Sweasel, your atypical American girl, has just moved herself to Sussex and is reporting on those strange cousins of ours, the Brits. For your handyman edification, Google has now scanned 100+ years of Popular Mechanics and Popular Science. Finally, a feast for the eyes and the soul: an Advent calendar featuring spectacular Hubble space photographs.

Control burns -- a necessary evil

Living in a world that is always on the verge of drought, one becomes very, very sensitive to the sight of smoke. When we first moved to the Prescott area, we lived on the other side of the Prietas, in Wilhoit. The settlement is in the foothills, with an incredible view of valley, mountains and mesas. The smoke curling from a single fire was visible for miles.

The threat in Wilhoit was brush fires; here in Prescott, it is a very large, very dry national forest verging right into town on two sides. Control burns are an important tool of the Forest Service in getting rid of dead brush, needle litter and other flamable tinder; currently, some 8000 acres near town are scheduled for burning in 2008. Though these usually take place in the autumn, when wind direction and other factors are optimal, part of the burn took place in January. I caught these pictures looking south about a month ago. The sight of all that smoke is frightening, even though one is aware that the fire is, presumably, under control. Better this way than Nature's way!

A Sad Finish to an Historic Building

The Coronado Apartment building at Montezuma and Willis was built shortly after the turn of the century as a boarding house for railroad workers, according to the Courier. (The old depot and railroad yard were just around the corner, back when trains actually came into Prescott.) The historic building is no more, following a fire that gutted it last Wednesday.

Fortunately, only one tenant of the structure was injured. But it's sad to see history disappear right in front of our eyes. If I engaged in magical thinking, I'd say that this block of Montezuma is jinxed. Remember the former restaurant/bar up the street? On the other hand, there is another old apartment building (this one without an historic sign in front) which did survive a fire nearly a year ago.

What's the future of this corner? It's well underway across the street from the burned out hulk; the Compass Bank will occupy much of this new edifice; don't worry -- the yellow is slowly disappearing beneath a brick skin. I would guess that the apartment fire has created a choice piece of downtown real estate.

Note: Despite today's pictures, I'm not attempting to do on-line news -- for that, you might consider an on-line subscription to the Courier. Not only is the newspaper now posting its entire content, but it even features blogs written by staff members and its new web editor. Also the paper links to locally oriented blogs (including Walking Prescott--thanks, guys!) Free to present subscribers, but cheaper on-line only.

Rising from the Ashes

Well, that's overstating the matter. What is fact is that back in March, when I was just learning to use the digital camera, what should I happen across but a fire in progress, over on Willow Street. Pretty exciting.

Especially for a journalist who was lucky to discover early on that she was destined for magazine work, not the competitive, frenzied world of big-city dailies. Unlike some of my free-lance photographer buddies who monitored the police radio hoping to catch major action, such as a 5-alarm fire or similar tragedy.

Any way, yesterday I was walking in the same neighborhood -- and there's the spiffed up building, complete with for rent sign. Nice to see things back to normal.