Smoke

I am continuing to worry about the fires. Not only is the smoke affecting Laura and my friends in the Bay Area, it’s been getting worse in Boise too, where Darren is. The smoke is even affecting John and I, all the way out here in the desert. We both have sore throats; I’ve been having red eyes and migraines. I can only imagine how bad it is closer to the fires.

I’m frustrated that I have an evaporative cooler rather than refrigerated air conditioning. New Mexico residents are being advised to turn off their evaporative coolers at night, but it’s hot! No one would sleep. Evaporative coolers, which are very common in New Mexico, work by blowing outside air over water and then into the house, continuously, with the windows cracked open. So we can’t shut our windows against the smoke. We had planned to upgrade this spring, but with cancer, covid, etc., it never happened.

Here are the air quality reports from last night and again this morning:

Santa Clara – where Laura lives

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Livermore – where my friends are

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Boise – where Darren lives

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Albuquerque – we are apparently fine (moderate air quality), but the smoke is still irritating my eyes and throat. Imagine what everyone in the worse areas must be going through!

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Last night:

Am I the only one, or does today’s smoke pattern look like the Native American bear symbol?

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