Meanwhile with all this wildfire smoke.

[WI Short Scaler]

Here in Central WI it was really hazy yesterday and this AM with the wildfire smoke moving in. Nothing funny about that.

But, while we were setting up for a private party last night we did have the discussion that being kids of the 70's it was very reminiscent of just about any gathering in our youth. Family reunions, birthday parties, weddings, my dad's gigs.....

 

[Nedmundo]

Yeah, not to mention the cabins in commercial jets! Even as recently as the very early 2000s, I often left restaurants with my clothes reeking of cigarette smoke, but then Delaware (where I worked) banned smoking in restaurants.

The air has been terrible in Philly. I could feel it in my throat yesterday, so I dug out some pandemic era KN95 masks. They seem to help.

 

[5StringBlues]

Was talking to my bro last night about staying at my grandmother's house when we were kids.
We would sleep in the living room,which was right off the kitchen.


I remarked to him that my main memory of this was hearing the coffee percolator early in the morning, followed by the smell of coffee, followed by the smell of cigarettes.

 

[rodl2005]

I reckon the smokiest room I've ever encountered was the staff room at my high school back in the 70s . Phew!

 

[buldog5151bass]

I had an outdoor gig Wednesday in Connecticut canceled because of the air quality.

 

[MindinAction]

I remember regular gigs at Happy Jack's (now The Siren) in Morro Bay, CA. The next day everything smelled like smoke including the speaker cabinet, our clothes, our skin, our hair, and everything else. It was like we woke up in an ashtray.

 

[MegaSwing]

Life in Baltimore is going indoors. I’ve been out in it about three times today, back-and-forth to the recycling can by our alley. I can feel it in my throat just from that limited contact. Replaced the home AC filter for good measure.

My band had a high-profile feet-on-the-street-type gig tonight that got canceled.

I’ve read that today we’ll be experiencing among the worst air quality conditions anywhere in the world.

Not much good news today.

 

[thisheregiraffe]

Apologies for all the smoke you guys. Didn’t think the wind was going to blow that way

 

[J Wilson]

I grew up in East Texas, not far from the Louisiana line on IH10. A very wet part of the country, lots of bayous, rivers, lakes, and big swamps. Strangely enough, you get 'swamp fires', i.e., the above-water vegetation catches fire. No one gets too shook up about it as it's virtually always self-cancelling and by and large, there's nobody out there, but you get a hell of a lot of smoke and steam from these fires. And oh yeah, it can smell QUITE funky at times !

People misunderstand swamp wetlands. They are essentially a forest covered in several feet of water. The Cajun old-timers would hole up in the big ones like the Atchafalaya and find everything they needed to survive between the plants, the animals, and fish and water critters. Another way of life fading in the rear view mirror.

Smoky, the Angry Alligator Snapping Turtle reminds us, "Only You Can Prevent Swamp Fires . . . . or I'll Bite Your Foot Off !"

 

[JazznFunk]

It took until 2007 for smoking to be banned indoors here in NC. It still is ONLY allowed indoors in the State in casinos. I was rudely reminded of it when I took a run of casino gigs and barely made it through. I hate smoking with a deep passion. It killed 2 of my family members directly, due to aggressive lung cancer. I'm just glad my mom finally quit in the early 2000s as well.

As far as wildfire smoke goes, we've dealt with that a number of times in the last 10 years... and we had a nasty outbreak of them in the last 2 years as well here. Dry summers, lightning, and careless campers/smokers aren't a good mix. Time to break out those leftover N95 masks from the pandemic!

 

[Plake]

Yesterday was the worst day here on Long Island. In the afternoon the air quality index was 500. Street lights came on at 4 it was so dark. Was an indoor day for sure.

 

[elgecko]

 

[bluesblaster]

yesterday morning the AQI here was 324 , thats pretty bad, then I heard later that in ELY , mn. where the fires are close by it was north of 1500. There is a air quality station at our local municipal airport, apparently the average summer day has between 8 to 15 parts per Ml. particulate floating about, yesterday it was over 300. I didnt want to go out but I had to and I did notice the effect, thankfully the wind picked up and today its much nicer.

speaking of the 70's.... we went to many a three act rock n roll show at the local civic auditorium, you dont want to know what the ticket prices were unless your of a certain age and remember that, but I digress... when they turned the house lights up between the 2nd and final band you could barely see the other side of the arena. Today its better, I wouldnt want to go back to that, Fresh air is the best

 

[Low Main]

The quality of light in our area reminded me of the solar eclipse a couple of years ago. Dark all day.

I went walking with the dog. There was hardly a bird to be heard.

I tell youngsters today that we used to light our cigarettes off that 12V port in the dash console.

You pulled the thing out of its socket and it would be glowing red hot. They say ***?

I would see moms trying to keep their car on the road while lighting a cigarette and holding a baby in their lap. And that was before cupholders.

I had been driving the family car for a while running on leaded gas before the EPA was even created.

 

[Ostie]

Here in southern MI it’s been bad for a couple days. I’ve been wearing an N95 mask when I have to go out, but mostly I’ve been staying indoors. Oddly enough, it’s kept the heat down somewhat. We had near 100 degree heat at the beginning of the week. We’re in a drought situation and my grass has gone dormant, so at least I don’t have to mow the lawn. I haven’t had any gigs this week but my step-bro has had two gigs cancelled due to the heat and air quality.

I remember the days when I would come home from a gig and my wife would make me leave my clothes, gig bags and furry cabs out in the garage and go directly to the shower. Man, those monkey fur cabs would hold that nicotine smell for weeks. Add to that stale beer, mildew, and 4/20 smoke and it was worse than my old hockey duffel bag.

 

[Gervais Cote]

I had an outdoor gig Wednesday in Connecticut canceled because of the air quality.

Ouch !

 

[basted]

I remember waking up in the morning after pub gigs and all my hair and clothes stunk of smoke.
We had a residency at one place and the owner would turn off the AC to encourage people to drink more because it became very hot and sweaty.

 

[Root 5]

Blame Canada! You’re welcome!!

 

[Root 5]

Apologies for all the smoke you guys. Didn’t think the wind was going to blow that way

It was really bad in Toronto and west of it. The entire sky was dark and amber, I initially thought it was rain clouds darkening the sky.

I second the apologies for the smoke affecting our American friends

 

[gln1955]

This morning was the worst smoke I've experienced here in 40 years. Then when I see the pictures of what folks north and east of us are getting, it looks pretty mild.