Home Again – AKA The Apocalypse

I had a great trip. It was exciting, and entertaining, and a time or two a little trying. I suppose some people might even think it was maybe a little dangerous. Yeah, the Komodo Dragons were NOT behind a fence. We were walking freely through their home. Yet I never got the feeling of impending doom.

Then I went home.

Getting home was not all that trying, but we did have to dodge volcanic ash and race against a super typhoon. If our flights had been delayed at all, we might well have gotten caught in Typhoon Goni as it hit Taipei. Instead, our flight left right on time – several hours ahead of the storm.

All that time while I was in balmy Bali – or Java, or some other part of Indonesia – my poor family was plunged into the thick of Forest Fire Season. This year was worse than most. Not quite up to how it was in 2000, but bad.

Up until a few days ago we were getting smoke from California to Canada all pooling in the valley. Fires were flaring up everywhere. I passed one about twenty miles to the East while driving the last leg home.

While I was in Indonesia, three volcanoes were actively spewing ash into the air. I hardly noticed. Forest fire smoke is quite a bit more insidious. It permeates everything, including your lungs. Walking? Bicycling? You put your health at risk if you do things like that when the smoke is thick.

It didn’t surprise me at all when The Girl came home from work, flopped into the seat next to me, and announced, “It’s The Apocalypse out there.” With so much smoke in the air, the sun glows a baleful red.

I was going to insert a picture that Mr. Al took while I was gone, but he hasn’t forked it over yet.

We generally open the windows at night to let the hot air out and the cool air in, then close up in the morning to trap the nice temperatures. It’s a technique that works well and saves on electricity. Can’t do that when it’s so smokey outside. That means the temperature climbs, and climbs. Between the stifling heat and the dark days, it really gets oppressive.

Then Winter hit. Yes, already. All right, it’s just Fall with highs in the 50’s and snow on the mountain peaks. But the difference between that and highs in the 90’s (Fahrenheit for those of you using Celsius) is striking when it takes place literally over night.

I’m not too happy about having to put my furnace on, but it’s worth it to get all the fires put out. Now if only this weather system would cover all the other places sending us smoke. Then I could pray for the return of warm weather for a few weeks.