Promise Unfulfilled, for Skywatch

These days, all eyes look skyward. 

We search for clouds with meaning and substance. 

We look with hope for thunderheads carrying rain. 

We look with anxiety at the fire maps. 

We make lists of what we would take if we ever had to leave. 

We wait for the monsoons.

*****

To see what other cloud seekers are finding, please visit Skywatch Friday.

Smoky Sunrise, for Skywatch

Oh, how I grieve for the birds and animals and people of Arizona, with those horrid fires all over. New Mexico has its share this year, too, but nothing like the size of the fires in our neighboring state to the west.

We are experiencing some smoke down here in the southern part of New Mexico, but I understand that the smoke is so heavy in the central part of the state, up around Albuquerque, that it makes it hard to see and breathe.

This was our rather smoky sunrise a couple of days ago. For skies, both clear and otherwise, all around the world, please visit Skywatch Friday.

Flames in the Night for Skywatch

They say that to become a good photographer you should shoot a lot and keep only the best of your photos. However, I must tell you that I still want to show you these not-very-good photos of one of our recent wildfires. I have done the best that I can with my skills at present and I realize that the results leave a lot to be desired...

In the first picture, the leaves at the top of the photo are blurry because the wind was blowing quite briskly and I was making a relatively long exposure. To see the wildfire, you should click on the picture to enlarge it, then look to the right of the telephone pole. The other lights are coming from the usual city night lights, and that long strip of light in the right side of the frame is from the headlights of a passing car.

In the second picture (enlarged to the point of blurriness), I have cropped out all the other distracting lights from the city, but left in the telephone pole for reference. The flames that you see are up in the Organ Mountains. They eventually came within one mile of the luxurious homes in the Soledad Canyon area of Las Cruces. I kept getting up to watch in the night, and was amazed and saddened to see how the fire leapt from spot to spot, even moving down the mountain, which seemed counterintuitive to me.

Now, a week later, the two wildfires are out, having burned over 7000 acres. No (human) lives were lost, no buildings were burned.

It still looked a lot like terror to me.

To look at skies all over the world, be sure to visit Skywatch Friday.

Fire in the Canyon: Smoky Skies for Skywatch

There's been a fire up in Soledad Canyon in the mountains above Las Cruces for the last week and a half. It was intentionally started as a live fire training exercise on Fort Bliss (Army) land, got out of control, and the last I heard it had consumed 5000 acres and was 60% under control. Now a second fire has now started and has covered another 1500 acres.

On the first day I could see the smoke from the house and took these photos. The first was taken with my "big" Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, and shows you how far away the fire was.

The second picture was taken with my new little point and shoot Canon PowerShot SD 1300 IS Digital ELPH (how could such a tiny camera have such a big name?) zoomed in to give you a better idea of the spreading smoke:

I had trouble sleeping that night, thinking about the fire and all the tiny animals that might not be able to get away from it. I talked with a ranger from one of the state parks over the weekend and he reminded me that fire is "nature's housekeeper" and is a crucial part of any ecosystem (even though these were clearly started by people). He told me how, after the big Yellowstone fires of 1988, rangers took people into areas that appeared devastated by the fires, yet they scooped up handfuls of burned-over soil and showed that it was filled with seeds that wouldn't have otherwise been dispersed without the fire. Scientists are learning more all the time about the beneficial role of fire in the wild.

To look at skies all over the world, be sure to visit Skywatch Friday.

There are just a few more days to vote in the New Mexico Days of Enchantment Photo Contest. You can vote as many times as you want, but only once per photo per day. See my photos here. Your votes are really helping! The response to this contest has been amazing, and the views of New Mexico you will see there are really incredible.