And the Wind Blew Our Way!

Stepping out in front of our place at 4:30 in the afternoon, the sky looks like a winter storm is moving in. But the color is a bit off. The reason for that is this isn't a storm front, it's August and this is smoke from the Zaca fire over 100 miles away!!! You can see that we're on a hill and the sky is blue at the bottom of the photo. The Zaca fire originated by Santa Barbara on July 4th and was finally contained on September 4th! It burned over 240,000 acres and cost over $118 million dollars.
This was taken from the back yard - it was so dark the flash on my camera went off! It's no wonder we all had headaches and sinus problems!!!
You may or not know that this area is second to none for air quality in the U.S. We are in a valley and all the junk from the bay area drifts down here and backs up against the mountains to the south. We actually have days in the winter where the air cops encourage neighbors to tattle on neighbors for lighting fires in their fireplaces.
In the summer months, of course we have all the pollutants from extra traffic on the freeway and from agriculture. And thanks to Mayor Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, we have L.A.'s crap (literally!) spread on some land LA owns which is going to affect our ground water! We voted to ban it (wouldn't you?) but thanks to the wonderful courts, they overturned the desires of the voters. Add all of this to the stew, and you get our air. Now we're getting Mexican trucks, too! AIYEEEEEEE! This is taken from Tehachapi Mountains, looking out over the valley in which I live, in the winter. What you're seeing is valley fog, what we lovingly refer to as "Tule Fog," (pronounced as tu-lee) because it hangs so low. All of the pollutants (such as smoke from wood fires, hence the ban on fireplaces) stick in this fog and make the air unbreatheable for people with lung conditions. And, it's deadly. People drive too fast for the near zero visibility and we have horrific traffic accidents, some involving many cars and big rigs.

The joke in all this is our city council members decided to place a sign at the outskirts of town that reads, "Bakersfield, Life as it Should Be." Sure, if you don't breathe!