Not In Seattle Today Smoking 7 Cigarettes

This morning I saw that which you see here, on Facebook, posted by KIRO 7 in Seattle.

Apparently the smoke in the Seattle air today is so bad it is like smoking 7 cigarettes.

I know the smoke is coming from wildfires up north in British Columbia.

I do not know how nicotine is getting into that smoke making it like a cigarette.

Have Tobacco Farms been added to Canadian agriculture since I last lived in the neighborhood?  I know there are now Pot Farms across the Canadian nation, but I have not heard about any Tobacco Farms.

For at least a week I have been hearing from Pacific Northwesterners regarding the smoky haze which has covered most of the west coast.

Below is a dialogue from Facebook this morning of people commenting about the state of Washington's air....

Kimberly Ann Johnson: This smoke is crazy. Just drove home from Bow Hill. Headlights have an orange glow. It looks like October fog out there.

Bruce Forrester: I went to Marysville today and you can see how socked in the valley was from star bird road. I see according to Wa St air quality, that Bellingham and Lynden are worst. I know I smell it in my house, and don’t feel the best.

Kimberly Ann Johnson: I have asthma. My lungs are tight! I hope this goes away sooner than they're predicting.

Bruce Forrester: Lets hope so for you and your asthma.

Sandy Brooling: Bruce even over here in Port Townsend, we have orange suns. And I have started coughing more.

Christina Stockholm: The smoke is so awful!

George Hespe: Ruth & I were headed up to your area today, but by the time we got to Conway we were afraid we'd probably be lost in the smoke and drive right by your place if we went much further north. Glad we left bread crumbs to find our way home.

Tess Sakuma-dunlap: Smog?

Bruce Forrester: Smoke! Forest fires from Canada.

_________________

Now, Miss Tess asking if what these people are talking about is smog is a bit ironic, what with Miss Tess currently in Redding, California where she has been surrounded by wildfires for weeks, along with smoke filled air.

Miss Tess, like me, grew up in the Skagit Valley.

Just yesterday Miss Tess and I spoke of being homesick for our old home zone.

But I do not think either of us would want to head north right now, what with neither of us being smokers....

Two Years Ago At This Very Minute I Was In A Plane Heading To Washington

In a couple hours it will be 2 years since I saw the view in the photo. That is not a stormy wild ocean you're looking at. You are looking north, towards Mount Baker over the Sea of Peaks of the Cascade Mountains in Washington.

A few minutes after this picture was taken I was landing in Seattle, around 9 pm, if I remember right, picked up by a pair of poodles.

Since it is 7 pm Central time, right now, where I was, precisely 2 years ago, was, I think, Albuquerque. I did not have to switch planes, we landed to pick up new passengers and get rid of others.

I remember today, 2 years ago, was HOT here in Texas, just like today. In the high 90s, with the Heat Index in the 100s. I remember overheating checking in at Love Field.

When I arrived in Seattle and exited the terminal, the first thing that struck me was that it was so COLD. When I got to where I was staying, in Tacoma, I was led down to a dungeon like quarters in the basement. It was very cold. That night I laid in bed shivering. When I could shiver no more I got out of bed and searched for more blankets. Eventually I was able to layer enough blankets on top of me to stop the shivering.

I really never did warm up that entire month in Washington. I remember 2 days before finally escaping the frigidity, I was in a Safeway with an enormously obese woman. It was cold outside, yet that grocery store seemed to have its air-conditioning running. I remember the shivering started again. Of course, I got no sympathy from the enormously obese woman, blessed as she was with a natural warming blanket, like a whale's layer of blubber.

Just a second, I must go check what the temperature is in Seattle right now...70!

I have my A/C set at 82, 70 is very chilly.

After several nights of cold terror, spent shivering in that Tacoma dungeon, I discovered a third floor loft which the dungeonkeepers thought was too HOT for human habitation. They'd even added two high-tech air-conditioning window units in the hope of making the loft habitable.

I asked if I could move from the dungeon to the loft. Permission was granted. The temperature gauge on the A/C units said it was 81, cooler than I keep it where I am right now. So, finally I was able to sleep without shivering.

A couple days after my arrival my mom and dad arrived. I proceeded, apparently, to ignore them, while they proceeded to devote a lot of time to processing an awful lot of raspberries.

Time flies. I can't believe it is 2 years since I put myself through that living hell of entire month in Washington. How did I get talked into that? I think I've blocked that memory.