Fire! Fire! Fire!  It is to the east and to the south of us.  The fire in the south, called the "Monument" fire started 4 days ago and has already burned 5700 acres.  It is very close to Sierra Vista and has burned 40 homes in Hereford, AZ.  Steve was contacted last night to see if he had any empty rooms at the base that could be used for evacuees.  The Cochise County sheriff believes the fire was started by illegals crossing the border in the night.  It is an extremely fast moving blaze and very scary.  Fire crews were taken from the huge Wallow fire to the north and east of us to battle this new blaze because it threatens so many homes.  It has been especially hard on animals, pets and livestock.  The news showed several horses who had been burned but are safe and recovering now.  One horse rescue organization lost a whole pasture and had to rescue all of their horses again. 

Personally, I am extremely worried.  I do not remember a fire season this bad in the 7 years we have lived here.  They are too close, too fast and it is way too dry.  I ordered new halters for all the alpacas.  I am looking for a horse trailer in case I have to move all the animals.  I am praying that we will be spared from this disaster.  

The other fire that we can see every day is to the east.  We can see it's billowing smoke just above the Cochise Stronghold and the Texas Canyon.  It is farther way but it is also huge, over 170 thousand acres.  It is called the Horseshoe 2 and it is near Portal, AZ.

Our temperature reached a high for this year, 105 degrees.  The wind continues to blast away every afternoon.  The weather people say the fires will burn and there may be many more before the monsoon rains come.  Usually we have dry thunderstorms for a week or so before the rainstorms come.  This will start more fires.  Monsoon usually starts about the 4th of July but this year it is predicted to be two weeks late. Scary! Scary! Scary!