Wallow Fire

We live about 60 miles away from where the Wallow fire is currently burning in Arizona.  We can see smoke plumes and sometimes smell it from where we are.  It is the largest wildfire in the history of Arizona at 478,000 acres, which was reported at about 10am this morning, so most likely it is much larger.  I have never been so near to an active wildfire, and it's a little scary.  Lots of the people I work with went through the Rodeo-Chediski fire in 2002 (that was previously the largest wildfire in AZ until the Wallow fire). They said it was one of the worst experiences, just thinking that you'd have to pack up what you can and leave not knowing if you'd have a home to come back to.  

I wanted to share one of the photos that really moved me, it's of a "Hot Shot" crew moving to their next destination within the fire. They must be able to hike 3 miles with 45 pounds of equipment in 45 minutes.  This photo came from our local news paper the White Mountain Independent.

I took a couple photos of the smoke from the fire over a week ago.  The first photo is the plume seen when driving into town.  The second photo is taken from the Show Low Days festival.  It's a little scary to think that you can see the smoke from 60 miles away that well!

The last thing I will post is a map of the fire progression since the start.  ABC 15 showed an overlay of the map on top of the Phoenix area and it pretty much covers the entire Phoenix metro area.  This map is from inciweb where you can follow the progression of the fire.  Note: inciweb has been down recently due to high traffic to the site.

Time to finish what I started!

Well, I started this whole 30 Day Challenge to get me back into the blog, but here it is JUNE and I still didn't finish this back in March- whoops!  I like to finish things, so that's what I'll do.  I apologize in advance for the long post.


Day 24 — A movie no one would expect you to love
I was going to say Gangs of New York, but I LOVE Leonardo DiCaprio so that's probably not unexpected.  I will say 27 dresses, I'm usually not much of a chick flick girl, but I did like that movie quite a bit.


Day 25 — A recipe
I have a couple good recipes that I like to keep in my pocket. When I cook there are two outcomes, complete masterpiece or total disaster.  Usually when I try out a new recipe it's a 50/50 gamble so that makes cooking a little less enjoyable for me.  My husband has told me (when my food turns out) that my cooking is amazing, I guess I just need to work on the consistency thing.  I will share a very dangerous recipe that I got from a co-worker (these things are to DIE for if you're a chocolate lover)!


Oreo Truffles
- 1 16oz pkg Oreos
- 1 8z tub whipped cream cheese
- 12 oz semi sweet baker's chocolate
Put the Oreos in a food processor (or blender like me if you don't have a food processor) and finely crush the Oreos.  The Oreos should almost be a powder, then pour the Oreo powder into a bowl and mix in the cream cheese.  I find that it's best to use your hands to mix in the cream cheese, so make sure to wash your hands well. I find that 1 TBSP makes a perfect sized ball (form the balls with your hands) and put them on a cookie sheet covered with either parchment paper or waxed paper.  After all the balls are formed heat the baking chocolate in the microwave for about 3 minutes stirring every minute until the chocolate is melted. Drop the balls into the chocolate and then place them back on the cookie sheet.  Put the truffles in the fridge for about an hour to let the chocolate harden.  Be sure that when you aren't serving the truffles that you keep them in the fridge due to the cream cheese in them.  I find that they taste best about a day after making them!




Day 26 — A childhood memory
I was quite fortunate to have a pretty wonderful childhood up until about the end of 5th grade when my mom got cancer (probably the worst time one could pick for a kid to have a parent with cancer- during middle school).  Anyhow, it was after a game of T-Ball and it was incredibly hot out.  I think we had just returned from Dairy Queen and it started to rain, but the sun was still out.  Our parents let my sister and I run around in the rain (the usually wouldn't let us do stuff like that) and ended up soaking wet. My parents took a picture of my sister and I together standing in the rain and we look so incredibly happy, I think my dad still has the picture sitting on his dresser today. 


Day 27 — A physical feature you love
From 2006-2009 I struggled with my weight, I had completely stopped working out and was eating far too much food for someone my size.  During that time I struggled to find something I loved about my body.  I thought to myself, I've always liked my freckles.  They're not the unsightly orange kind, but the nice brown ones, they help disguise how truly white I am.  So I love my freckles and I also love my shoulders!  

Day 28 — A scar you have, and its story
Unfortunately I have far too many scars, I manage to injure myself almost daily.  My husband has told me that he's never met anyone in his entire life as klutzy as me!  Anyhow I have a rather large and nearly perfectly round scar on my right knee cap.  I got that scar while on vacation in Washington state visiting my Aunt.  We were at Gasworks Park in Seattle.  My aunt had brought a bunch of fun things with to the park and one of those things was a soccer ball.  I decided to run after the soccer ball along the top of a retaining wall.  Well as I got to the end of the retaining wall there was a bit of a difference in height where the two walls met at the corner, I hooked my foot and landed knee first on the pavement below.  My Aunt had a friend along who was training to be a nursing student at the time and she patched me up.  She even drew a Mickey mouse head on my knee  with batadine using my wound as the nose.  That wound turned into a hard, purple, scar that my parents would look for whenever I was swimming in a swim meet, since we all looked the same in our matching swim suits and caps!  The scar is no longer hard and purple, but it's still on my knee and quite prominent.  I remember always asking my mom to tell me the story about her scar on her leg when I was a kid, and I'm sure I'll do the same with my kids about my scar on my knee.


Day 29 — Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
I have always had a "plan" or goals for myself and where I see myself in the next 5 years or so.  I currently am in the process of applying for my AICP exam and I hope to pass that this November.  I also plan to finish my first triathlon in the middle of August, after which I will head to Minnesota where I will spend a glorious 11 days with family, friends, and fried foods on a stick.  I dream that I will loose another 20 pounds and look amazing in a bikini, but if not it's really not the end of the world.  


Day 30 — A motto or philosophy
Never take anyone or anything for granted!