On Sunday afternoon Wakana and I were headed home, driving south on Marine Corps Drive. We noticed that the clouds in the southern sky looked funny, the color was wrong. As we drove it became clear that what we were looking at was a huge plume of smoke from grass fires.

Grass fires are not unusual this time of year. It쳌fs pretty dry now. The last substantial rain we쳌fve had was in early February. The center of the island is mostly grass lands where the tall sword grass grows. Sometimes that grass burns off in patches.

We drove up on to Cross Island Road to see what was going on. We had to go all the way to our old house on Bishop Felixberto Flores Drive. There we walked across a lawn to look down into the valley.

The terrain is pretty rough out there. The valley is cut with gulches and high ridges. You could walk for miles over ground that a crow could fly in only a mile. The sides of the gulleys and gulches are steep and the soil is rocky and sparse. It쳌fs perfect for growing grass but for little else.

We heard the fire before we saw it, a crackling roar that seemed to fill the air. Then we saw the flames leaping high into a smoky sky and the grass withering and blackening in torment. The landscape behind the fire was blackened ruin. At one point a deer broke cover and fled up the gulley. All in all it was a pretty dramatic sight.

The residents of the house were there, a young military couple and their five year old daughter. They had a friend with them. Their home was in no danger. There was at least an acre of neatly trimmed lawn between the sword grass and the house. We chatted while we watched the fire. They had sent the little girl off to the house to bring two beers out to the men. She disappeared into the house and reappeared a little while later carrying the two cans. The house sits up on top of a sharp slope and the little girl was faced with the prospect of carrying the heavy (for a five year old) cans down the slope. She solved the problem in typical child fashion. She rolled the cans down and then walked and slid down after them. She picked them up at the bottom of the hill and only dropped them once or twice getting them to her father and his friend. The cans were covered in dirt and bits of grass and obviously were not going to open peacefully. We all got a good laugh out of the incident and praised the child for her hard work.

As it turns out the fire was one of the biggest seen in Guam in several years. It was a busy day for our firefighters. There were actually three fires. The big one we saw burned 2500 acres and threatened the military families living up at NavMag. There were about 30 homes that had to be evacuated. One local guy left and drove through flames to get out of his dead end street. But nobody was injured and property only suffered smoke damage. The other fires burned an additional 500 acres.

Yesterday I went over to the Japanese School to sign my employment contract. I will be paid $19.00 per hour and $9.00 per hour for each meeting I am called in for. I start my job on August 24. My first meeting is in April.

I also got paid yesterday for my substitute teaching. I am now rolling in filthy lucre. $325.00! What joy. In addition to that I finally received my income tax refund for 2003. That date in NOT a mistake. Here on Guam income tax refunds come in 2 years after you file them.