When smoke gets in your eyes (or the really hazy lazy days of summer).

[Tabonga | 2,314]

There are four large fires in the mountains that have burned over 100,000 acres and we are seeing the effects in the Denver metro area.  Lots of haze and burnt wood odor in the air.  Both Mrs. Tabonga and I have irritated eyes and the swamp cooler just sucks in the smell.  I went out this morning and down the streets I could see the haze - which is bad enough that I could only see a couple of the taller buildings in downtown Denver - where normally we have a pretty good view of that.

While it is basically inconvenient for us I do feel sorry for anyone whose homes may be threatened - and it has to be miserable fighting those fires.  The short term forecast is for high temps and only widely scatter rain showers.

We have had it worse - one of the times there was a large fire we actually had ash settting down everywhere.

[JamesRobot | 5,786]

Yeah, air quality has been pretty awful.  Was driving back from the zoo today and could barely make out the mountains it was so hazy.  No AC in the house either so we usually sleep with the windows open.  Brutal.

[Tabonga | 2,314]

47 minutes ago, JamesRobot said:

Yeah, air quality has been pretty awful.  Was driving back from the zoo today and could barely make out the mountains it was so hazy.  No AC in the house either so we usually sleep with the windows open.  Brutal.

You should look at putting in a swamp cooler. They work really well in our climate and aren't that expensive to have installed.   THey are cheap to operate too.  Ours has been running pretty much whenever we are awake and at home - our last utility bill was $110 for both gas and electric. We have central AC but we never use it - I actually prefer the swamp cooler.

Edited August 16, 2020 by Tabonga

[phart010 | 1,705]

They should do some logging out in those Wildfire prone areas. Just to isolate sections of wooded areas from one another. Maybe that could help control the spread?

[Tabonga | 2,314]

1 hour ago, phart010 said:

They should do some logging out in those Wildfire prone areas. Just to isolate sections of wooded areas from one another. Maybe that could help control the spread?

It generally isn't feasible to economically* log in the mountains - most of the wood is not very valuable. Most of the time the trees are actually not very densely clustered and you don't want to denude the hillsides because then there are erosion/mudslide problems,  So there winds up being a lot of deadfall that accumulates which is what really fuels the fires.

*Not many access roads either - so you have to build them in order to get equipment in.  Not to mention whatever state and federal regulations a company has to copewith.

 

[Tabonga | 2,314]

The air has been of dubious quality since I first posted this - some days worse and some better.  

Today has been really nasty - really strong odors and tonight when I went to Target to get a few things* it was visibly the worst I think I have seen.  Mrs. Tabonga is a lot more sensitive to this than I am but even my eyes were stinging all day. In addition a lot of the mornings since this started I have a minor sore throat when I wake up.

*I was going to get some Butterfingers for Halloween (which looks like it won't happen trick and treat wise) and discovered they are apparently no longer made (don't know when they stopped since I don't get candy bars very often).  Apparently Nestle's has stopped making candy of any sort except Kit Kats.   The end times are indeed upon us. (Lifesavers also seem to have largely vanished except for Butter Rum, Wild Cherry and the variety rolls.)