REMEMBERING YARNELL ARIZONA

 

KELLY’S FAVORITE YARNELL STOP IS/WAS THE CORNERSTONE BAKERY ON HIGHWAY 89…NO IDEA IF IT SURVIVED THE FIRE

So sad to hear news this morning about 19 firefighters losing their lives in that ongoing Yarnell fire. Nineteen young men leaving Prescott Arizona to battle a forest blaze about 25 miles south of them. Nineteen young men who would never return home again.
 

YARNELL’S WIDELY KNOWN HARDWARE STORE WHERE I BOUGHT MY WHEELBARROW ETC LAST NOVEMBER
We have many fond memories of Yarnell & the surrounding Peeples Valley. With the exception of passing through Yarnell on a quiet dark early April morning on our way home a few months ago I think the last time we drove around up there was with Aunt Jean last winter. We drove through the very neighborhoods that are now or were on fire. Watching video clips from the parking lot of the RANCH HOUSE RESTAURANT we can see fires burning homes across the road. Think the last time we ate in that restaurant was when Kelly's brother Peter & wife Leslie were out to visit us last winter. I forgot GEOGYPSY had left the area awhile back to resume her summer job at the Grand Canyon's North Rim. Judging from the videos we saw this morning I would say it is doubtful Gaelyn will have a place to come back to in the Fall. The video clips showed fires destroying homes in that very area.
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RIGHT ON HIGHWAY 89 IN YARNELL

We are not too worried about our house in Congress because it sits at the foot of the Weaver Mountains. No forests of pine trees there like atop the Weavers. The difference in landscape between YARNELL & CONGRESS is like night & day.  Yarnell, about a half dozen miles away from our house sits nearly 2,500 feet higher & the terrain is green & forested.  Congress sits on the floor of the Sonoran Desert & fire just doesn’t have the same abundant fuel source the higher elevations have.  I would think the only danger to our house would be if the winds began blowing south carrying hot embers over the town of Congress. Lots of old wood buildings there but at least it is not a densely populated area. We have a few things going for our house. Three quarters of the roof is tin/steel. The old wooden structure is now encased in adobe & I spent a lot of time last winter clearing dried brush, grasses, & dead tree limbs all around the perimeter of the property. Part of my reason for doing that was the risk of a brush fire.

  

  

NO IDEA IF ANY OF THESE PLACES ARE STILL STANDING
If anyone types ‘Yarnell’ into the search bar near the top of this blog’s right side column they can find my past posts pertaining to Yarnell.  I'm sure we will see a difference this fall when we pass quietly through the tiny town on our way to Congress. Double checking MAPQUEST this morning I see our house is 10 road miles southwest of Yarnell. Much closer & half the distance I thought it was in Sunday night's post. I'm guessing maybe 5 or 6 miles from our house the way the crow flies.  Last we heard tonight the fire is moving northeast & that would take it away from Congress.  And thanks to the folks who have sent in ‘fire update sites’.

 

THIS IS THE ‘RANCH HOUSE RESTAURANT’ THAT APPEARS IN SOME OF THE FIRE VIDEOS I HAVE SEEN…THEY HAVE GREAT FOOD HERE….OR AT LEAST THEY DID

  

FROM WHAT I SAW ON NEWS REPORTS TODAY THE FIRE DEFINITELY WENT THROUGH THIS AREA WHERE GAELYN FROM GEOGYPSY SPENDS HER WINTERS

 

NOT SURE IF THE FIRE WENT THROUGH THIS AREA OF THE PEEPLES VALLEY

Rather than write a lot today I decided to include photos of Yarnell & how we saw it not so long ago.........................

 

 

WE DON’T KNOW IF THIS ‘SHRINE OF ST, JOSEPH’ SITE IN YARNELL HAS BEEN DESTROYED BUT IT WAS ON THE SAME SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY WHERE THE FIRE WAS

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A professor arrived late for his lecture and found a most unflattering drawing of himself on the whiteboard. Furious, he asked the class, "Who is responsible for this atrocity?" From the back of the room, one joker whispered loudly, "I strongly suspect your parents!"

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- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.