Smoke Month Arrives

 If I didn't call it on this one.

Just a couple of weeks ago, my lovely PT Eric cursed us all by commenting on how the smoke hadn't been too bad this year...

NEVER ever say this heading into August. August is universally smoke month (and I will never get over the year that it continued through September right up to October, which is definitely possible this year) and the more confident and chipper you are about the smoke that hasn't yet materialized, the worse it will be. I didn't make the rules and I don't like them, but they are what they are. 

Anyways, yes, August arrived and Spokane - the largest city between Seattle and Minneapolis, by the way - got absolutely razed (well, apparently arsoned, which... what the actual fuck???).

 And damn, Eastern Washington is even more "on fire" than it typically is this time of year. Which is to say: really fucking on fire. I can't even wrap my head around what Eastern Washingtonians are going through right now but feels apocalyptic and relatively horrifying.  

My travails do not compare at all to that horror and devastation, but the smoke isn't exactly easy with my particular constellation of illnesses. 

And so it begins.... has begun... will begin anew... After a "smoke storm" we are gradually returning to an "on shore flow" pattern that clears most of it out. But it isn't clear-clear and it could change with the winds as long as Eastern Washington is doing its depths-of-hell thang. 

I'm a little worried this will just be the new normal until late September, but we can only pray for really favorable breezes and the odd monsoon, I guess. 

The chaos of August has actually been a mild bit muted in other areas. Zach, my brother-in-law, is a fairly chill guest and he and Andrew largely spent the days out mountain biking (smoke bomb permitting). 

Things got a bit more claustrophobic once the smoke set in, not gonna lie. 

There are really only two areas one can do much other than sleep in our house: the main floor and Andrew's office. Andrew's office is, well, Andrew's office. Leaving the rest of us to inhabit the main floor in tentative bonhomie that nonetheless wore down a tad with the constant toil of being-perceived by each other.

I personally perceived that our house guest had brought some kind of respiratory illness into the house, and while it didn't seem deathly, I'm still not enjoying that spreading around our household now... and I have some misophonia for coughing and sniffling that made me jump every time one of those events occurred... and then feel bad about visibly startling every time, because it's not his fault at all!

We all survived, and, yes, I need a she-shed with excellent HVAC in our backyard already. 

Otherwise, quite quiet. The playdates I thought were happening got cancelled. For Allan and for me. The meet up with a dear one of a dear one (dear one in law?) evaporated when they decided to go home a few days early. 

A few other things got cancelled due to smoke. And that darned office summer party has been taken off the schedule since Andrew needs to head back to California next week instead. I am not denying little twinges of relief there. 

We did have some excursions, just me and Allan, including a return to Seahurst to break in the new buckets

Allan had so much fun at her last Seahurst playdate making "potions" and "castles" with somebody else's buckets, we decided to make a thing of it. 

I took her out on Sunday, and Zach and Andrew took her to Alki on Tuesday morning when I was at a doctor's appointment. The buckets seem to be more than acceptable for sand salads, potions, and kitty palaces. So, all is well. 

I personally enjoyed a lot of up-close views of the crows and gulls squabbling over pilfered sandwich bread and playing in the water. 

It was a nice vibe. One of those "we could come to the beach every morning and just relax for the rest of the summer..." kind of feels. 

And then the smoke rolled in and that's enough of that.

So... kind of a mixed bag. I can't breathe and I'm exhausted but... 

Alive. So far. For a while longer. 

Cheers to the onshore winds. May they keep kicking around the area until the rainy season!

Incidentally, I decided that the Sony Alpha was my baby. And it will arrive at some point closer to my birthday. Just in time, as my Nikon no longer wants to connect to my computer for reasons unknown!

Hip hip hooray!