This morning I woke up and it was quiet. Very, very quiet. There were no sounds of birds or cars, airplanes overhead. I looked out my window and today looks worse than yesterday.
My phone told me today isn't worse than yesterday. Maybe the smoke picked up some humidity as it crossed the ocean to come back to shore.
Earlier this morning, I put my mask on to take Fox outside, not to protect myself from COVID, but to protect myself from smoke. When I came back in, I forgot to take my mask off. I felt better with it on. Fox, however, has been coughing.
If Fox is coughing, what will happen to the hummingbirds? Three or four live in my courtyard and I watch them from my window as I work.
Yesterday I went to the market. The most heartiest of souls were out, and a bunch of them were smoking. Are smokers immune to this wildfire smoke? How bad does it have to get that even smokers can't breathe? What about Portland? Last night, their air quality was around 516.
Now, I hear the ferries continually blasting their horns and it is freaking me out a little bit (even though I am on land.) The visibility is so low. I feel sorry and I am afraid for these ferry drivers who are trying to shuttle people back and forth to safety when they can't see ahead of them. It reminds me of an episode of The Crown that depicted the London Smog in 1952 (not to be confused with Smaug, the dragon in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.)
Until this past year, most of the drama in my life was personal, not a shared public crisis. Even with COVID, I had to work from home but still kept my job. I didn't personally get sick, but my mom did. The wildfires, while not destroying my home or town, are impacting the entire Western part of the United States with unsafe air.
Air.
Humans and animals need food and water to live, but first we need air.
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