John Burridge: ash

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Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Forest Fires, Smoke, and Ash

Cherry tree in early September afternoon sunlight.

Well, let's see. The West Coast has been on fire for a week and our skies havebeen Mordor Dark with a ruddy ember for a sun. It started late Labor Day Monday when Oregon got Santa Ana-style winds. A variety of fires in the Cascade Mountains got pushed down-slope into the easter Willamette Valley. Several mountain communities and towns have been burnt; there are a handful of fatalities. Eugene wasn't under evacuation orders, but parts of neighboring Springfield were.

The air quality index has been pushing 500 for at least the last five days; 250 is hazardous air quality for all populations. 0-50 is generally healthy, 100 starts to be problematic for sensitive groups. The dog and cats don't understand why we won't let them outside. Each morning, Mark takes a wet cloth and mops up the fine ash that has seeped in under our windows and doors. Outside, cars, trees, the sidewalk, mailboxes, streetlights -- everything -- is covered with a fine layer of ash from pines and houses.

Supposedly, the smoke was to clear by last Wednesday; then Friday; then by this last weekend. If we're lucky, a new weather system will blow in Friday and we'll have blue skies -- or at least rain -- again.

Labor Day itself was a warm and sunny day; it seems like a lifetime ago I arranged the Backyard Circle into a Ritual Writing Spot and invoked the four directions to help me write.

One bright spot in otherwise smothering days is that the hummingbirds have been using the fountain as a bathing station.