Las Conchas Fire

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

We've been keeping an eye on the Las Conchas Fire, in Northern
New Mexico. Just over ten years ago we worked at Rocky Flats
Environmental Technology Site near Golden, Colorado. The
company we worked for had jobs at the Los Alamos National
Laboratory doing similar work to what we were doing at Rocky
Flats. We love the area and had been nearby many times. We
hadn't been to Los Alamos before though so we checked it out.
Earlier that year, Los Alamos had suffered from the devastating
Cerro Grande fire which burned 48,000 acres, including 400
homes. We witnessed the horrible aftermath as we drove around
the area. We decided not to pursue the jobs at LANL, which
would have deemed a move to the small town of Los Alamos
a necessity. We eventually left Rocky Flats and began to work
in Antarctica. However, if we had pursued those jobs, we might
be living in Los Alamos today. As of this evening, the fire is
90,000 acres and the entire town has been evacuated. It's a
very sad time for the local residents as the fire is still only 3%
contained. Please keep the residents of the area in your thoughts
and prayers.

The Wayback Machine

We were sitting at home tonight and the phone rang.
It was our friend Vickie. We used to work with Vickie
at Rocky Flats, and the last time we saw her was on
September 11, 2001. She and her sister Claudia, were
in Grand Junction on their way to Southern California to
pick up her daughter from College. It made us feel a
bit old because her daughter was still a little girl in
elementary school the last time we saw her. We met
for dinner at a restaurant near their hotel and shared
lots of funny stories and laughs. it was good to see
them and we hope to stay in contact and not wait another
nine years before visiting again.

Like the Wind

Last week I attended a presentation by a gentleman from NREL
(National Renewable Energy Laboratory) who is down here working
with the Kiwi folks building the wind turbines on Arrival Heights.
I was particularly interested since NREL is located in Golden,
Colorado and we have driven by it many times. He said a lot of
interesting stuff about the turbine project, which I have highlighted
several times here, but I was most interested about what he had to
say about wind power and alternative power in general being
implemented in the United States. I found out that one needs an
almost constant wind velocity of 12-13 mph for wind power to be
effective and also why there isn't a wind farm at my former
working location at Rocky Flats (only 9 mph). He also discussed
solar energy a bit, which was particularly interesting since that
would be our best bet in Grand Junction. Overall, I walked away
with many questions about renewable energy answered and I felt
motivated to implement it in our daily lives.