Don Bieber

I was going through an old email account I no longer use due to excessive spam. Some of my friends never caught on and continued to send me stuff via that account. Don Bieber, a good friend I had while living in California, was one such man. I met him through a running club. He was 25 years older than me and was the only person I kept in email contact with in Monterey. He always wrote me in German, a passion of his.

He was born in NYC and moved to Monterey with his wife Cindy in 1967 after a stint in Vietnam. Cindy died years ago, and Don kept his sanity by running most days around Pacific Grove. He'd run in road races around the area.

I remember telling him about my Iraq deployment and that I wouldn't be writing much while over there. Perhaps I forgot to tell him that I was back in the US in 2008; when I'd occassionally would get on that email account I'd just end up deleting row after row of junk mail.

I checked that account again tonight. Again, row after row of junk email advertisting penis enlargements, lottery winnings out of Nigeria, invites to sex pages, etc filled the bandwidth. I deleted them all without reading any of them.

And then I came across two email from Don dated July 2009. Oh my goodness I thought, I had forgotten about him, and my first thought was that he had died since there weren't any newer email from him.

A quick Google search of his name revealed that exact fear. Don had died in his Monterey home on 2 October 2009 at the age of 74. The online obit didn't say much else about him. The enclosed photo of him revealed his as I remember him to be: tall, thin and forever optimistic.

I wrote Don an email apologizing for not having written much sooner. He never answered back.

This is a stern reminder that I need to try harder to stay in contact with people. I found a few other old email. Had I stayed in Monterey longer I would have hiked and ridden my bike more with Don, but our days together were too short and we were so busy with our own lives.

I'm sorry, Don, for ignoring you these last few years. May you rest in peace.

More wild fires

A year ago in late May the eastern Chiricahuas were aflame with the Horsehoe fire. A week ago a second fire again broke out there, threatening the homes of people living in Portal. As of today 10,000 acres have burned with a ten percent containment. When the wind comes from the east, our valley burns brown at sunset.

The Tethered Aerostat Radar System failed

(photos taken from the Sierra Vista Herald and were taken by local witnesses. The paper did not give any name credit to any of the submitters so I can't list the names here. See link at bottom of post.)

Fort Huachuca and Sierra Vista have had this TARS floating over the fort since the mid 1980s. Others just like this one were also over strategic places in Iraq surveilling for bad guys but were vulnerable to high winds and repeated small arms fire. When it's windy or stormy out the aerostat (some call it a "spy balloon" and the city calls it an "anti-drug balloon") the white blimp remains tethered to the ground in a restricted area on the southern part of post and is monitored by the US Air Force.

This white blimp is visible from most corners of the Huachuca mountains. It's a landmark on calm days as one can see it from afar. It allegedly helps track low-flying aircraft flying in from Mexico with drug cargo. But if that's the case why do I still see small aircraft flying low over the desert from Mexico? Apparently the drug runners know where the weakness of this aerostat are and are familiar with its limits.

So it was quite a surprise to read when I got home yesterday that the blimp had been flying in yesterday's 70-90 mph gusts of wind. Not only that, but the blimp got loose and was carried east into a nearby neighborhood before it self-destructed over some powerlines and debris scattered into nearby yards. It broke into many small pieces and now the USAF and Fort Huachuca are frantically scrambling to get all the pieces back due to the operational equipment onboard.

Luckily the tarp landed in a yard of a contracor who works for Fort Huachuca. The Sierra Vista Herald, which is known to write biased articles and half-truths about anything in the area, made this artilce front-page news today. Naturally only premium members can read the entire article on line or buy a hard copy of the newspaper, but other news agencies are picking up the slack for the more local blackout.

Residents were quoted as saying they heard two booms and a thud and the smell of diesel was evident, others who were working nearby said the blimp sounded like a "jet plane taking off" as the gusts swept it eastward.

My question is why this multi-million-dollar surveillance blimp was allowed to fly overhead during forecasted high winds? This is blatant negligence, is very costly, deminishes the anti-drug and other surveillance of the area and naturally the USAF and DoD will expect replacements. Someone will have to pay for this. Luckily no one was injured in this explosion, and damage seems to be contained to a new BMW parked in the driveway of the home and some minor structural damage of the two homes that were hit by the falling, deflated balloon.

This is the second time this has happened over Fort Huachuca, that a blimp was destroyed. Since these blimps are so vulnerable to high winds, I'm surprised that the DoD hasn't found a better alternative to overhead surveillance.

http://www.svherald.com/content/news/2011/05/10/aerostat-deflates-falls-sierra-vista-neighborhoods

FIRE!

It was around 1:30pm when I was in the front yard taking photos of my budding garden when I noticed a fire to my west. It looked like it was at the intersection of Hereford Road and State Road 92. I got up on my roof and saw it was in fact there, and smoke was coming up from the pretty yellow home right off the road.

It was too close for comfort and moving fast.

I drove to the site. Four fire trucks from various agencies were already working the scene, from Forest Service to Palominas Volunteer Fire Dept and the city of Sierra Vista. The lot next to the yellow house on Hereford Road was still on fire, but the main fire seemed to be behind the yellow house.

I then walked around the burning area and saw neighbors trying to wet down their weeds with low-presure garden hoses that seemed rather futile against the gusting winds. "My car's packed and my cat's waiting inside it in case I have to leave!" told me one woman holding a hose. Another man a block away came with a shovel ready to help out.

The main fire was off SR92. What looks like a white brick structure was fully engulfed. This turned out to be a building used for storage and thus was hard to extinguish. Later a woman said her father owned that building that contained $300,000 of stuff she was to inherit. Flames were shooting up from inside, spreading from the west end to the east end of the building, going with the main gusts of wind today.

This area has many smaller trailers and small adobe homes close-by, small lots filled with tall dead weeds and cranky dogs behind chain-link fences or brick walls. The fire fighters took a long time to put the main building fire out. The small lots make this a highly-conjested living area. The fire could have caused so much damage.

One woman who told me she witnessed the fire from the gas station across the street of the fire said she saw a man burning weeds and the next thing she knew she saw a fire take off with the wind. It was that wind that cause the yellow house's yard to catch fire. Nobody in this area keeps their yard trimmed of weeds, and buildings range from single-wide old trailers to nice little adobe homes.

By 4:30pm a KGUN newsvan arrived. A second structure right off Hereford Road was also in ruins. This one was next to the pretty yellow house, whose yard by then had also caught fire. This is a house that the owners built three years ago while they still lived in a dumpy trailer on the lot. By then I was able to walk between the two main burned buildings and could see how much grass caught fire. Easily six homes could have caught fire. The local news said this was 6-7 acres with 11 homes in danger.

The fire is now contained, but this made the Tucson news both KVOA and KGUN. KVOA even used one of my photos for its news section, showing the burned out chassis of a truck parked behind the first structure that burned. KGUN crew were out interviewing witnesses and I overheard one man, whose single trailer is next to the burned lot, tell the reporter somthing about a gas tank. This is sheer ignorance despite our red flag warning AND a burn ban by the fire department. It's too hot, too dry and too windy to be burning trash in back yards!

I never saw an ambulance so I don't know if any lives were lost. but the home off Hereford Road is owned by a woman whose daughter was killed a few years ago crossing the road here. That's what one woman who watched the fire crew told me. Her daughter knew that girl.

Fires like what we had today scare the hell out of me. We live in wildfire country. I can't even trust my redneck neighbors to act safely, but this "Don't tell me what to do!" is typical of the person who lives here.

All is well now, but this fire kept me going all afternoon. Kevin made me a nice dinner for Mother's Day. It was a delicious baked ziti with tossed salad.

http://www.kold.com/story/14595884/brush-fire-burns-home-in-hereford?redirected=true
http://www.kgun9.com/story/14595558/wild?redirected=true
http://www.kvoa.com/videos/wildfires-hit-southern-arizona/

Day one after OBL's death

The US and Arizona flag were flying at half-mast as I arrived at 8am at the middle school. Why was the flag flying at half-mast I asked the front desk attendant.

"It's for the police memorial" said the clerk, in honor of two cops killed this weekend in Phoenix.

The school's principal was also named Arizona's top principal of middle schools. The students were all assembled outside to honor her. Who said public education stinks in this state? I know that the schools here are pretty good.

I had English today, and the students were a fun but loud bunch. I recognized one gal from this weekend's West End Fair. A few others I have had several times before. So I don't know if it's me feeling more confident or I'm getting better at instructing. I don't remember the last time I ended the school day feeling exhausted.

But one girl today was expecially chatty with me. She was telling me about her boxer-mastiff dog that's pregnant. "My mom wants to call animal control and say get rid of this dog, it had puppies in my garage" to avoid paying the surender fee of $50. She volunteered all kinds of stories of evictions due to lack of rent payments and other legal issues. She also gets to babysit her half brothers whenever her mother insists on it, and in her county home there are few girls her age to socialize with. School is her time to chat and chat she did. This girl is in dire need of parental supervision. I would have enjoyed chatting with her some more but I had to supervise the rest of the class, but her need to feel accepted hung over me like a dark shadow; she's an intelligent girl that isn't thriving in her home environment.

In my hour off I listend to NPR discuss the raid and subsequent killing of Osama bin Laden, the world's most infamous terrorist. The question remains: will photographs of his dead body be released to the world? I don't mind looking at corpses, especially of murderers, but I know in the Arab world that only gives the thugs reason to retaliate. Arabs are storytellers, and as long as they aren't convinced that OBL is dead, they will talk about his resurrection.

At least now we can know for sure that the next time OBL speaks via tape or videorecording, he is talking from the afterlife. I don't normally feel good about the death of anyone, but with OBL I feel a great relief is over our collective shoulders. Those countries that becry the US military action are secretly glad OBL is gone. They just want to further the theory that the US feels it can go anywhere it pleases to take out whomever. Pakistan has some explaining to do.

Obama got Osama!

Granted, our servicemembers are the ones who got him, but it was under Obama's watch. I was at the computer chatting via Facebook when the kitchen TV announced that Osama was either killed or captured. I was elated. Newsfeed exploded with headlines that Osama was killed. Cheers went across Cyberia. The #1 terrorist these last ten years is finally dead. I know a new #1 will pop up, but for now I want to celebrate this man's demise. His death will bring closure to many families who lost a son or daughter thanks to al-Qaeda.

Obama's national speech was short. It came on around 9pm. I must say he looked very presidential, very confident, very relieved. He looked, shall I say, presidential again. He hadn't looked this good since his campaign. Perhaps things will look up for us finally as a nation; we finally have something to be proud of. This has been lacking so far under Obama.

I cried with joy. This ugly chapter in our history is now over. This announcement explains why earlier today we got an email from Pat Call, the county's District 1 supervisor, that the post is on heightened alert indefinitely. With the recent bombings in Libya we have to be extra cautious.

Osama's news certainly added some cheer to an otherwise quiet weekend. This is my last weekend I'll be inside studying. Starting later this week, I'll be free to get back into shape and train for the California backpacking trip. I've put on some weight this semester from lack of any real hiking.

It was almost 20F cooler today than on Friday, when it was 73F at 7am. It stayed in the 60s all day with high winds blowing. The Bull fire near Nogales continues to grow although the wind kept the haze away from us today.

I have one more final and for three months I get to do all the reading I want to do. I have close to 40 books I need to read and review for the book galley.

The end is near for me. Hopefully this is my last semester at Cochise. If I get that full-time position this fall, I will cancel my Intermediate Spanish class and focus on my English and History courses.

I took the dogs on a quick walk up Hunter canyon. I noticed green leaves on the oaks finally. This is also a good sign. Still, K and I will sit down and discuss fire evacuation procedures should we get a fire on this side of the mountains.

http://ht.ly/1crpss

We are now in May. The first part of the year is almost over. I told K at the start of this year that there are many changes due us as a family and as a nation. I feel we still have some sadness and grief as a nation (and as a family) and that there are some big changes coming on that are NOT related to the Mayan calendar and the 2012 conspiracy.

Maybe Obama was right about his "Change is coming."

West End Party and Street Fair

I got to this fair around 11:30am and stayed for two hours. It was gusty and hot. My goal was to take photographs of a variety of people, young and old, man and woman, teen and baby, doing and wearing a variety of things. I wanted a composite of the person in town.

My first reaction was that there was much more of a religious theme to this year's street fair. There were many churches with their tents out, several organizations giving out free bibles. I didn't see as much of a western theme as last year with reenactors walking around talking to visitors. There didn't seem to be as much of a crowd, too.

Weather was warm and windy, and vendors had to often stand holding down the tent frame. There were a few food vendors, and the usual military organization with their grizzled veterans (who often make for the best photographs), and a few local musicians providing for free entertainment.

But I didn't see the amount of teenagers this time. Maybe it had something to do with the school's prom being today as well and they were getting ready. I talked with a few people like Suzette, a local ceramic artist who admits she is low income and has neither computer nor internet in her one-room trailer in town. Her art is good enough to sell to a larger audience if only she could get recognition for her work. I told her about the Cochise College computer lab, but she would need to have someone show her how to use basic functions.

I walked up and down the closed-off street to take photos of passers-by. I wanted variety, and sometimes I was scanning through my lens looking at people as I stood off to the side. Some of the vendors started recognizing me. Some school kids recognized me, too. The longer I work in town, the less chances I have of being incognita!

Some things were around from last year: the rock lady who lets kids and adults alike take free rocks off her table, the giant desert tortoise was on display, and so was the Lizard Lady. There were a few vendors for children but overall the excitement this year seemed a little toned down: not as much art, music, food. I didn't even see as many dogs there this year!

I was home by 2pm as the gusts began to strengthen. I drank beer and had a late dinner, chatted with Kevin who was a few beers past buzzed, and left again at 6:30pm to take evening shots of the street fair. But to my surprise the street was empty! The tents had all been broken down and the visitors had all left in the 4.5 hours I was gone. Was this year's fair only scheduled for the day? Or had bad winds cut the fair short? The online calendar listed 10pm as the closing time, with vendors shutting down by 6pm. I wonder why it was cut short this year? Lack of funds?

As I returned home the fires from Mexico were leaving a long brown streak across the sky. I could smell fire.

Another hazy day

It was hot and dry today, so hot I hated gardening so I stayed inside. By the afternoon the haze got darker. Kevin said it was coming from west of us in Mexico. This must be the new Bull Fire that is burning in Mexico.

We have US Forest Service helping put out this fire.

http://www.nogalesinternational.com/articles/2011/04/28/news/breaking_news/doc4db9fb60dcf83231434249.txt