Sunday, August 25, 2013

Smoke Gets in my Eyes

As the ‘Rim Fire’ in California burns into Yosemite National Park, I understand that precautions are being taken to protect two grove of giant Sequoia. What a shame it would be to lose these giant sentinels to time and endurance.



Here on the shores of Lake Tahoe we are caught in the fall out of this fire. SMOKE.  For the past five days now the entire area has been shrouded in the eerie haze blowing up from the south west. It’s covering our landscape in a thick blanket than has visibility down to a minimum and completely obliterated the normal clean pine scent.



I woke up at about 2 AM with its thick stink clinging in my nostrils and that acid taste coating my tongue. My throat hurts and my eyes sting. I’m beginning to get a headache and I can’t seem to fall back to sleep. Earlier in the week I spent some time down in the valley (Reno and Carson City) and it was worse down there as the cloud had settled in like an unwelcome blanket.

The last few days I’ve been praying for it to rain and the wind to change, so that the air quality might improve. Early this morning in my Internet search for news about the fire, I learned that it is so large its creating a weather system of its own. The news agency claimed that there are over two thousand firefighters and a dozen aircraft currently battling the blaze and yet it remains only about 5% contained. The citizens of San Francisco fear for their water supply and power grid and the inferno creeps steadily toward their largest source of drinking water and hydro plants.

Previously, when I enjoyed the beaches of the Caribbean or lived among the Intermountain West of the Rockies, I took it as a fact of life that portions of California quite literally went up in smoke every summer. This year living out a different dream, on the blue waters of Tahoe amid the wonder of the Sierras, those fires are an unfortunate reality that is taking a toll on both my lungs and patience. And yet, complain as I might, along with a lot of sneezing, coughing, and sputtering neither I nor my possessions are at threat of anything but smelling like a campfire for the next several weeks.


So, I guess the choice is to ride it out and hope for the best or pack up and take an extended trip toward clearer air. Since a trip is out of the question, I guess I’ll continue to cough, sneeze and complain, but I may begin to do it behind a surgical mask.

15 comments:

  1. I hope the area does get a heavy rain soon.

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  2. A lot of us who don't get fires like that tend not to think about the collateral damage that you are suffering. Reminds me of a few months ago when Malaysia was having this problem because of burn-clearing in Indonesia. I hope things change for those in the path of both fire and smoke soon.

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  3. Blah not fun at all, hoping rain will soon fall

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  4. Hope the air quality improves soon. I've never been close to that kind of fire or smoke. It happens in our interior areas more often, not no much here on the coast.

    Take care of yourself.

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  5. Not living out west this is hard to imagine, but I feel for all of those people who are so afraid right now of losing... everything.

    As for you: I would pray for rain but wear the mask. Hope your throat feels better soon.

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  6. >>... What a shame it would be to lose these giant sentinels to time and endurance.

    I think it's more likely they would be lost to fire than to time and endurance, but I could be mistaken.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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  7. STMc - as you should know by now, you could make a career out of correcting the grammar on my blog.

    Everybody else - thanks for the well wishes.

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  8. Oh no! I'm so sorry for you- we have lived through several forest fires here. When I was pregnant with my first we were forced to evacuate our home. We left, not knowing if we would have anything to come back to. Such a horrible feeling. Also, the smoke was so thick it made me violently ill. It was such a scary thing-my heart goes out to you! I'll be sending prayers your way.

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  9. Actually, I don't know that there was anything wrong with your grammar. I think I just saw an alternative way of interpreting it.

    Several Emails have gone out, but my InBox be empty. Like, wha's up wid dat, Sistah?

    You in Tahoe? Or drunk like a 'Soul Crusader' at The Peppermill Fireside Lounge?

    ("Just like a woman..."
    can't depend on them for timely answers.)

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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  10. Earlier in the summer when that Waldo Canyon Fire was raging here in Colorado the smoke was pretty bad as well. The sky was permanently orange, and just from going outside you'd feel like you'd been smoking your whole life. I couldn't run or bike for weeks. And keep in mind we're about 100 miles away. I could only imagine how it was right next to it.

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  11. Forest fires are scary, particularly if they are accidentally or deliberately set by humans. But forest fires are also a natural occurrence and some trees have evolved in such a way that they need fires to survive. I suspect some of those giant redwoods that are 1000 years old or older survived fires when they were young. It is the loss of human built structures that makes forest fires so dangerous.

    We get smoke here in Texas from fires that are set in fields in Central America and Mexico. It can be hard on the eyes and lungs sometimes. And now in our 4th year of drought, fires are a very real threat.

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  12. So terrifying. Take care of yourself. Hope that the rain does come.

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  13. I love those big trees. Hubby and I spent our honeymoon up at Calaveras Big Tree. Amazing. I've been praying for rain. We sure need it here in the West this year.

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  14. We've had a few fires near where I live over the years that have left things smoky and ash covered. It's bad. I had to see trees burning. Yesterday one of the radio talk show guys was lamenting all of the lost material for redwood decks. I'd rather have the trees.

    Lee
    Tossing It Out

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