One-year-old Jasmine Breckenridge from Clifton takes a ride on the dinosaur ride at Dinosaur Journey Museum this morning.

Harriet Cormine holds her two pigtails as barber Shad Allerheiligen shaves her head as part of the St.Baldrick’s fundraiser at Naggy McGee’s Saturday afternoon.

The Pine Ridge fire hits a ridge line west of DeBeque Saturday afternoon.

A Helicopter drops water on the Pine Ridge fire west of DeBequr Saturday afternoon.

Pushed to the east by a north wind, the Pine Ridge Fire burns through vegetation on De Beque Canyon’s west walls and alongside the Colorado River Thursday evening.

With a map o the area spread out on the hood of a Mesa County Sheriff deputy’s patrol car, Skye Sieber describes how the path of the Pine Ridge Fire changed its designation from a Type 3 to a Type 1 in a single day. The fire, she said, went from being a remote blaze near a wilderness area to one that threatened an urban interchange by its proximity to I-70, prompting the closing of the interstate as smoke and burning embers drifted across the highway’s four lanes in De Beque Canyon.

Mesa County Sheriff’s deputies stand guard on I-70, watching the fire burn along the edge of the Colorado River and making sure it doesn’t jump the interstate Thursday evening.

Fire engulfs cedar and brush Thursday afternoon. Courtesy Mesa County Sheriff’s Office

Residents fill the De Beque Community Center to overflowing for a community meeting Thursday on the Pine Ridge Fire with officials.

Timi Meyer, owner of Fireworks City, is one of several people feeling a financial strain because of the firework ban.

Ricky Bryant is using fans to dry the carpet in the lower level of his home on Hudson Bay Drive after it was flooded recently.

Grand Junction firefighters extinguished a fire in a camping trailer at the Rimrock Walmart Friday afternoon.

An air tanker takes off from Grand Junction Regional Airport, en route to the Pine Ridge Fire burning on the Bookcliffs toward the town of De Beque on Thursday.

A wildfire breaks out on the Bookcliffs Wednesday afternoon June 27th, 2012, covering the Grand Valley in smoke.

Keary Garcia, wearing tie at right, asks about evacuation procedures during a packed community meeting for residents with officials at the De Beque Community Center Thursday. Garcia is a resident of De Beque.

Sonny Landreth plays the slide with his band during the opening concert of the 2012 Colorado Riverfront Concert Series at the James M. Robb Colorado River State Park in Fruita Thu night, June 28th 2912.

Kathy Martin, Heirlooms for Hospice regional manager, works in the store at 635 Main St. in downtown Grand Junction. The store is expanding into the old Tally’s Restaurant location. Hospice will be closed for three weeks during the remodel.

Dave Roper and Bear ride in 10 miles to work at the Grand Junction City Hall this morning as part of bike to work day. The city was serving breakfast for bikers riding to work. Roper said Bear did not help much with the peddling but was not a back-seat driver.

J.C. Johnston, 8, from , left, Gabriel Baleztena, 6, and Katie Johnston, 6,  all of the Loma area, goof around on a fence at the Rim Rock Rodeo recently while watching the mutton busting event.

Larry Bennett, a photographer for more than 30 years, recently opened Aspen Photo Art Gallery at Main Street Bagels, 559 Main St.

Palisade resident Penny Bennett, second from right, and the rest of an upset audience react as Bob Gage, a vice president of GBT Realty Corp., describes Dollar General’s plans for a new store during a public meeting Wednesday at the Palisade Veterans Memorial Community Center.

From left, Camille and Dennis Ficklin, Errol and Michele Snider are all retiring from Family Health West. A retirement celebration was held at the Fruita Community Center Wednesday afternoon in their honor.

Max Schmidt, District Manager for Orchard Mesa Irrigation District stands in front of the pump station at 668 38 Road in Palisade.

Kevin McChesney and Dave Mooney were both awarded the Rotarian of the Year award by the Rotary Club of Grand Junction Wednesday afternoon.

Gil Angelotti, left, of Mack, and Mesa County Commission candidate John Justman watch election returns at Conchita’s restaurant on 24 1/2 Road on Tuesday. Angelotti was Justman’s campaign manager when Justman lost a bid for county commissioner eight years ago. This time, Justman won his primary race against Ken Henry of Fruita.

A victorious Rose Pugliese hugs friend and supporter Sue Benjamin of Grand Junction outside the Blue Moon Bar & Grille on North Seventh Street on Tuesday. Pugliese prevailed over her opponent, Woody Walcher, in Tuesday’s primary election race for Mesa County commissioner.

Sue Altergott drops a ballot into a box at the elections office at the County Services building today. Polls will close at at 7 p.m. Look for results for the primary races soon after the polls close.

Jayne Hyatt walks with her dog Layla on a beach at Blue Mesa Reservior as late in the afternoon. Large beach areas are available on the shrinking body of water as the drought continues in Western Colorado.

A Colorado Parks and Wildlife volunteer loads a tortoise into the back of a truck Tuesday morning.  A person called 911 Tuesday morning to report a large tortoise walking down Patterson Road.

A blue Heron fishes in the Colorado River West Of Fruita. The bird stood very still then slowly walked a few steps before coiling its neck and striking into the water. It appeared to miss and continued the hunt upstream.

A line of Forest Service crew trucks try to find some shade at Grand Mesa Middle School on a layover for the fire crews.

Dr. Calvin Pearson, second from left, of the Western Colorado Research Center near Fruita explains some aspects of Western Colorado irrigation to a group from Pakistan.

The sun peeks under a thick layer of smoke as it sets in a scene a few miles east of Cimarron on U.S. Highway 50. Three southern Colorado fires, the Little Sand, State Line or Weber Fire could have made this thick cloud of smoke.

Laurel Ripple Carpenter prepares a placenta for pill encapsulation in her kitchen.

Blue Mesa Lake is low and dropping as seen from the Lake City Bridge on the east side of the lake.

Artist Joe Burleigh of Carbondale plucks the strings on his sculpture “Songbird” that he has just installed Saturday in the 500 block of Main Street as one of the 12 new pieces in Art on the Corner while he waits for a crew to come weld the base into place.

Double vision—What appears to be a bug-eyed fish about to gobble a snack is actually a mallard drake swimming in a shaded pool of irrigation water beside 26 Road.

Construction at 25 Road and I-70B. Motorists who have become accustomed to driving on the far edges of the U.S. Highway 6&50 corridor will this week drive down the middle of the new road.

Wearing a Grand Junction Rockies jersey, Brian Oliver holds a cap and The Ale House’s new menu sporting the local baseball team’s logo. Oliver is the general manager of the restaurant.

Zay Lopez, left, and Bob Beasley initially met when Lopez responded to Beasley’s Craigslist ad to sell a tractor. Within an hour of meeting each other because they clicked so well Beasley offered to have Lopez farm his three acre plot on E 1/4 Road.

This is the entrance to the ranch of Ohio billionaire Leslie Wexner at the base of Mount Sopris south of Carbondale. Wexner is the proponent of a big federal land swap proposal that has ardent supporters and detractors.

Cindy Burke and Gary Fountain, both part-time Aspen residents, prepare to mountain bike on Bureau of Land Management land in the Crown area at the base of Mount Sopris south of Carbondale. A proposed land swap would give the BLM ownership of nearby land also being used by bikers even though it’s on private property.