For those in the smoke, how are you coping?

[Jack Valentino]

20. The day it hit me in mid-Michigan, I had opened most of my windows,

trying to cool the upstairs of the house during the night,
since we had been in a heat wave---

when I woke up, I could smell the smoke in the house,
and ran around making sure nothing was actually burning up---

the smell most reminded me of the time when my electric water heater burned out---
within a few days after I had move in permanently---

(Actually I was GLAD that the electric water heater died,
so I could replace it with natural gas--- I had lived with
an electric water heater before, and it's electricity costs---
and didn't want to do it again)

Once I figured out the problem, I of course closed all the windows---
or did it before I figured out the problem, since that was my plan anyway---
and didn't spend much or any time outside after that---


Now, as far as smoke coming from distant fires in the Canadian northwest,
this was the MOST I have ever seen here, and the MOST I could actually SMELL!

I used a mask to walk to the store last night... tonight, I couldn't smell it anymore---

but the SMOKE yesterday, was like FOG....