Bad Bad Air

I'm getting tired of orange/brown skies. 

Sunrises like this one from yesterday are not beautiful or enchanting any more.

The meadow to the east shows a grey nasty sky of smoke and haze.

The girls were totally unenthused about returning to our meadow.

They can head to the woods and find grasses and browsing, but would rather that I bring them some hay. Which I did.

The grey mule has breathing issues and I cannot imagine that this smokey haze is any better for her lungs than it would be for my hubby.

By noon, it was just this... this shot taken from our porch. I could smell wood smoke from the Canadian Wildfires. My thoughts were this: If it is so dry here in the Midwest, how long before our states experience wildfires too? 

I can't even imagine.

With all the chores done early, I just popped out later to add water to the feed pan that the birds were using as a birdbath and source of water.

My Lego friends and Squatch were on the porch. Apparently they were better prepared than I was for the smoke.

I decided to stay in and run the air purifier and the dehumidifier on the Mini Split. 

That led to doing things indoors that I'd put off. It felt odd to be stuck indoors. Even Charlie decided that being on the porch wasn't something he wanted to do. He did his business and never went to his spot and laid down like he normally does. 

Maybe the dog is smarter than I am. [Hey, no comments!]

This was supposed to be the sunrise today 15 seconds:

At noon today I drove out to get the mail and drop off some egg cartons at Olive's house. This was the ridge views.

I stuck close to the house again and for a little while messed around taking photos in my wildflower gardens.

I think I may have caught two insects mating? 

Well. Even if the smoke is heavy? Love is in the air?

--I skipped the workout at the gym for the past two days. The air is nasty and I'm not thrilled about breathing it in when I can smell wood and chemicals.

We are still at 'unhealthy' status of the 150 - 200 index. Hopefully by noon tomorrow it will fall back into just a 'yuck' status.

Thursday specials...

What a sunrise!

Or should I say...Wow, what a non sunrise!

In fact, there was absolutely no sun orb in the sky at the time of sunrise. My weather app said haze, poor air quality, and some fog.

This is what I saw:

[Taken with my Olympus camera]

However, all was not lost:

An hour later the sun shone through briefly in an odd color:

I went back to the ridge to check the mail and saw this after sunrise. It looks like some scene out of a Science Fiction Movie doesn't it?

This field was corn last year and it should be rotated to soybeans, but I'm not sure. It was sprayed and planted, but it doesn't look too great. The fog/haze finally got some orangish color to it.

The air quality lifted somewhat so I went out and worked at the forest 'pasture'. The forest is deceiving in that there actually is a lot for the mules to graze on. This section is not used in the fall and winter. It is too far out for me to check on everyone easily.

All summer I take a daily walk to check the fencing. The deer don't seem to knock things off the insulators much during the summer.

Mule/Deer trail:

Oyster Mushrooms near the creek in a dry run which has moist air flowing through it. The red arrows point to the delicious fungi.

The girls moving about in the summer meadow after they'd explored the steep woods.

Unless we get some good rain, our black berries in the woods won't be very plentiful.

I am happy to report that A. Corn finally met Fern. 

A. Corn was a bit shy, so he ... well... did this --->

Fern pulled a wild strawberry out of her shoulder bag and ... well... it was a nice date.

I think they will be a pretty happy couple. Neither one of them look lonely any more.

Hotter than...

 

...a well digger's...

Nah. 
Another smoked sunrise with cool streaks of clouds or rising fog coming through it. I was pretty happy watching it come up from the neighbor's cattle gate. 

The fog moved over the land and up from the valleys. Temperatures in the valley and the ridge varied up to 10 degrees.

Dew Point. I decided to find out more about it since the dew point was high and it made me feel as sticky as all get out.

So my take away is that when the dew point is around 72 it means that the air is 'heavy' as Grandma used to say. Heavy with so much moisture that it could not evaporate very quickly. Gooey sticky.

In front of me the sun rose in a dark reddish colored sky that would turn orange from the dust/smoke in the air. Behind me, the fog drifted through the neighbor's pasture and the sky was brilliant with color.

I sipped my coffee and just watched for a while. Maybe truly this was the best time of the day. The heat hadn't yet made the day miserable and the colors were amazing.

All this only moments from my house. 

Just before I went down my driveway I thought I'd take a last look as the sun began to heat up the day.

I best get moving. I had to open up a gate for the mules refill their water tank, move my mini mowers out [Sven and Lil Richard] and water a few plants. 

I had another tank to clean and move along with filling it with water so no one had to worry about my mini mowers over the weekend. They had a nice fenced in paddock with shade and gallons of fresh water.

The Big Mowers would have up to 300 gallons of water and a large field and woods to wander. 

The Big Mowers:

All that done before 8 and a few bowls of wild blackberries picked too.

Let it be hot. Most of my outdoor work was done.

Make your own...

 ...Fun....

on the 4th.

The Teddy Bear Gang wanted to celebrate and cool off. They look very happy.

Saturday night was tough for Charlie. A far off farm set off a huge firework show and the booms were enough to awaken Rich. He figured out what it was  --- and where it was --- while Charlie quivered underfoot. I made a pile of my clothes and a special blanket next to my side of the bed and Charlie got burrowed in. Safe from the noises.

My mules and horse don't get excited about the noises as they are used to things like gunfire at hunting season and fireworks in the distance. The practice runs from the C 130's that fly at tree level rarely bother them any more. 

Storm fronts set them off running. 

Okay. That aside.

Just my luck to spot this guy in the meadow across the fence while Charlie and I returned from checking the mailbox for Saturday's mail. We must have a substitute mail person. I had everyone else's mail. 

I kicked myself for not having the super duper zoom lens. Oh well, more opportunities will arise as always.

This is how Charlie spent his afternoon. I spent some time with him. I find the slight breeze under the trees and the song of birds so much nicer than the sound of fans and A/C.

Charlie loves the hammock. Odd little dog!

Our morning walk have gave us quite the view of Smokey sunrise skies perhaps from the Canadian fires?

This with no filter...it was that dusky as the sun peeked over the trees.

Haze is the word of the day. Hazy and hot:

All critters were moved to areas with plenty of water and plenty of shade to enjoy. 

Sunday's sunrise was much prettier and it was a good morning for a walk in the forest. I got plenty of black berries picked.

It was a fine day for seeking interesting insects too. More later on that. I was really hoping to find some fantastic fungi shots to share...

The advice from my Garden Dragon today is to simply meditate and chill out.

I think I will listen to him.

For whatever reason I feel exhausted. 

I voted

Absentee Ballots. Done.
Voted.

No, I will not tell you who got my vote. And I won't lecture anyone else at this point. Instead, I am going to stop reading the opinion pages and political pages of news. 

I'm not going to just post baby kittens, puppies, and unicorns with rainbow farts...

well...

There you go. This should make you laugh.

Instead I am going to dive into some thoughtful things. Reading some poetry, searching for cool fungi, and looking at the world around me in detail. I'm going to look at sunrises and sunsets and enjoy the fact that I am still counted as a living person.

I've voted. I turned in my ballot to a secure box at our Town Hall. I have done my duty as an American. I used a ballot to speak my opinion.

And now I go

and immerse myself in Nature.

Please go vote.