Recreational Fires Must Be Eliminated

Do you support clean air? Click the Facebook Like button if you have a Facebook account.

Share
WELCOME TO HELL ON EARTH

The air is smoky from burning wood in North St. Paul, MN, almost every evening. It is a nightmare. What used to be a nice place to live has become a living hell.

WARNING: If you buy a house in North St. Paul, MN, you will regret it! It may be the biggest, most expensive mistake you ever make. You will breathe smoky air almost every day of your life in this town. This is not an exaggeration. The wood smoke in this town gets heavy and gets heavy often. When you want to get out of this dump of a town, how many people do you think are going to want to buy a house in a city where heavy air pollution every night is normal and clean air is rare? This blog gets thousands of visitors every year. The word is out: North St. Paul is a horrible place to live!

Fresh air is very rare around here. If you are considering moving to North St. Paul or buying a home here, I strongly recommend that you do not do it no matter how good of a price you get. The only way you will be happy in this town is if you love breathing smoky air almost every day. North St. Paul, MN, is a horrible place to live because of the smoky air!

Burning wood, grass, leaves, paper, cardboard, and sometimes plastic, construction materials, and chemicals, if it is combustible it gets burned in North St. Paul and you are going to breathe it.

The air was smoky 25 out of 31 evenings in July 2009. We had 37 hours of continuous wood smoke in the air Aug. 29th - 31st. There was wood smoke in the air 19 consecutive evenings from Aug. 21st to Sept. 8th. It rained heavily on Aug. 20th, providing the only relief we got from wood smoke for almost three weeks.

Is this a good way to live? No. It is a horrible way to live. Take it from someone who knows. Breathing smoky, polluted air every day is misery.

Every day in this city several people are having recreational fires. Every evening the air is filled with the stench of burning wood. I am one person sick and tired of breathing smoky air every day. Is it too much to ask to be able to breathe fresh air in your own home?

Who is responsible for this wood smoke nightmare? The four city council members are responsible. Council members Jan Walczak, Bob Bruton, Terry Furlong, and Dave Zick have refused to do anything about this wood smoke problem. They don't care if you have a child with asthma. They don't care if you have to live like a shut-in because the air is so polluted. They don't care if your sinuses burn because the wood smoke is so heavy.

Our four Council members have defended the rights of a small percentage of households to burn wood daily over the rights of all the rest of us to breathe.

You have no right to breathe under Walczak, Bruton, Furlong, and Zick. Burners have the right to burn wood 49 hours a week recreationally. The rest of us have no rights at all.

If you are considering purchasing real estate in the city of North Saint Paul, Minnesota (55109), factor this blog carefully into your decision. Buying a home in this city means that your kids will breathe smoky air while playing in the yard almost every day. Your baby will breathe smoky air in her crib should you leave the windows open around your house. If you leave your windows open you will wake up in the middle of the night choking on smoky air.

Perhaps worst of all, your utility rates will be high because you will have to run the air conditioner instead of leaving the windows open on a cool summer evening. You have no other choice because almost every night the air is too smoky to breathe in this city. Consider this blog your warning.

North St. Paul, Minnesota, is a wonderful community other than the wood smoke. If we could restore fresh air like we used to enjoy, life would be happy again. But that is not going to happen any time soon.

Tell others about this blog!

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Saturday 07/31/2010 Air Pollution

It's another evening of smoky air in North St. Paul.

10:15 AM: Very faint grass smoke coming in on the breeze. Somebody is in the distance is burning grass clippings. If it isn't wood that is burning in this town, it is yard waste.

4:45 PM: No smoke. 85 degrees.

5:00 PM: No smoke.

6:45 PM: No smoke. 87 degrees, sunny, a nice summer evening.

8:05 PM: No smoke yet.

8:40 PM: Very faint wood smoke is in the air. It can be smelled just enough to detect its presence.

9:45 PM: Very faint wood smoke continues.

10:30 PM: Light wood smoke. Now it is getting stronger. If the windows were open, they would need to be closed. Do you want to breathe smoky air in your living room? Almost every day of your life?

11:15 PM: Light wood smoke continues. It is 75 degrees outside at this time. In a normal city where the city council doesn't torture its residents with polluted air, we would shut the air conditioning off and open the windows to allow the house to cool naturally overnight. But we can't do that because the air is so damn smoky!

Bonfires are supposed to be extinguished by 11 PM. So much for following the rules. Why should anyone bother? This city does not enforce them, anyway. What is worse? Smoky air after 11 PM or smoky air before 11 PM? Both options are undesirable and unacceptable! Smoky, polluted air is never acceptable!

Midnight: A very faint trace of wood smoke lingers in the air. The wood smoke reached the faint level again after midnight.

For a Saturday night this was pretty light. Wood smoke often gets really heavy on the weekend.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Friday 07/30/2010 Air Pollution

12:40 AM: A very faint trace of smoke lingers in the air. The air is not fresh.

3:00 AM: The air is mostly fresh.

Scattered rain is in the forecast for this evening. Will our air be smoky?

5:30 PM: No smoke yet. The ground is wet. It just rained lightly. 72 degrees.

6:25 PM: Faint wood smoke at this time. It is already smoky. We will have to leave the windows closed and the air conditioning on with a temperature of 72 degrees. I wish I could convey to you readers just how horrible North St. Paul, MN, is. Do you want to breathe smoky air inside your home at 6:30 PM on a Friday evening? We don't. I do not think anybody would.

8:30 PM: I cannot smell any wood smoke, but I smell some food grilling.

9:35 PM: No smoke.

10:15 PM: Very faint wood smoke.

11:00 PM: No smoke.

Midnight: No smoke.

It was not too bad for a Friday.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Thursday 07/29/2010 Air Pollution

2:15 AM: Light wood smoke continues. It is a smoldering, stinky smoky smell. Wood smoke at 2 AM? That is not uncommon in North St. Paul. It is cool outside at this time, 66 degrees. When I stuck my head out the door, I heard a neighbor's air conditioner running. We are not the only ones who have to run the air conditioner on cool nights because of smoky air.

Do you understand, city council?

6:00 AM: The air is fresh. It is 63 degrees. We should have been able to open the windows last night and allow the house to cool down naturally. Not in this town. Smoky air is the rule and under our city council the majority of households that do not burn have no right to breathe or sit outside or open their windows. Thanks, Bob Bruton and Jan Walczak. You are real assets to the community for making us breathe smoky air!

5:00 PM: A very faint smokiness of some type is in the air. I did not notice it earlier. At this time yesterday somebody was burning paper. Is this an encore of paper burning? 82 degrees.

7:00 PM: The air is fresh.

9:00 PM: No smoke. The air is not fresh.

9:30 PM: A very faint trace of some type of smoke is in the air. It is probably wood smoke and probably the beginning of another smoky night.

9:40 PM: Very faint wood smoke. The burner could be a half mile away. Or could be downwind and a little smoke is making it back up.

10:20 PM: Very faint wood smoke.

11:10 PM: Very faint wood smoke continues.

There was little wood smoke this evening. The very faint amount of smoke in the air would not require the windows to be closed if they were open, which they were not.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Foreclosures in the area

I suspected the smoky wood burners whose home was recently put up for sale were forced out as the result of foreclosure. It turns out I was right. They didn't even bother to clean out their firepit before they left. While I am glad they are gone, I was disappointed to see so many foreclosures in the area. I had been looking for a list of area foreclosures for a while, but did not find anything. I found something today. I admit I am taken aback by how many foreclosures there have been.

There is a house on 19th Ave. near the lake that was torn down within the past few days. That house or the one next to it is in foreclosure. I cannot be certain because the government property map website is not working at the moment and I do not trust Bing Maps to be completely accurate with its address placement.

It turns out that our former mayor was foreclosed on, too. This is of note because the late Mayor Bill Sandberg lived in this city his whole life. He ran the local funeral home. He had to have paid that house off or made enough money to pay it off years ago. His estate must not have found enough equity in the home to pay off the debt. I have found no sale information on the county website and nothing indicating the home is for sale. But somebody is paying the property taxes.

Mayor Sandberg Foreclosure

Mortgage Foreclosure Sale
BAC v Sandberg, William T. & Delores L.;
2825 Division St. N., North St. Paul 55109

In addition to the smoky burners mentioned earlier who were foreclosed and have vacated their home, another burner in the area is in foreclosure.

Foreclosures may be a blessing in disguise for those of us who enjoy unpolluted air. If it takes a foreclosure to get rid of an air polluter, I will not complain. I would rather have a few vacant, rundown homes in the area than breathe smoky air every day.

Wednesday 07/28/2010 Air Pollution

We have smoke from burning paper early.

1:15 PM: A faint burning paper smell is in the air. It varies with the breeze. It did not last long.

3:50 PM: A faint burning paper smell is again in the air. It smells like burning paper. I believe that is what it is. It does not smell like wood. It could be some jackass burning waste. People burn a lot more of everything in this town than they used to because of the city's recreational burning ordinance.

4:00 PM: Light paper smoke is in the air. I do not know what else it could be other than paper. It is stronger now than before.

4:10 PM: Faint burning paper smell.

5:10 PM: A very faint burning paper smell lingers in the air. 81 degrees.

6:00 PM: A very faint trace of smoke of some type is still in the air. It could be paper smoke.

7:45 PM: Very faint to faint wood smoke. Somebody upwind is burning wood.

8:15 PM: A very faint trace of what could be paper smoke remains in the air.

9:00 PM: Fresh air. There is no trace of anything in it. Will it last? It is 75 degrees at this time. It is tempting to shut off the air conditioning and open the windows tonight. But we know all too well that wood smoke is present almost every night. The air conditioning will stay on tonight.

It is a beautiful, cool evening. I spent some time outside enjoying the little fresh air we get in this nightmare town.

9:30 PM: Light wood smoke. I HATE THIS ******* CITY!

10:00 PM: Light to moderate wood smoke. It has gotten smokier the past half hour. It is 73 degrees measured at North High School. This would be a perfect night to turn off the air conditioning BUT WE CAN'T BECAUSE THE AIR IS SO DAMN SMOKY!

11:00 PM: Light to moderate wood smoke.

Midnight: Very faint to faint wood smoke.

Tuesday 07/27/2010 Air Pollution

There was no wood smoke this evening due to a thunderstorm and heavy rain. During the 8 PM hour, it was raining heavily with cloud to cloud lightening. It rained for about an hour. Even without the rain, I am not so certain there would have been wood smoke this evening. It was a hot and steamy day in the Twin Cities. The temperature at 4 PM was 93 degrees. The humidity level was about 60%. Recreational bonfires do not often occur when evening temperatures reach the 90s. The result was wonderful fresh air. Fresh air all evening and night long.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Monday 07/26/2010 Air Pollution

12:45 AM: Moderate wood smoke continues.

6:30 AM: A very faint smokiness remains in the air. It is just enough to tell the air is not fresh.

3:15 PM: Light grass smoke at this time. Somebody is burning yard waste. I am home enjoying a vacation. I wonder how much grass burning takes place when I am not around to notice it.

5:00 PM: No smoke. 85 degrees, sunny, a nice summer day.

7:00 PM: No wood smoke.

8:00 PM: No wood smoke.

9:10 PM: Light wood smoke at this time. There had to be wood smoke tonight. If the air isn't smoky, it is uncharacteristic of North St. Paul, MN, the most polluted city in the world.

9:45 PM: Faint wood smoke.

10:30 PM: The air is mostly clear. Only a very faint trace of smoke remains.

11:00 PM: The air is clear. I cannot smell any wood smoke.

11:30 PM: Faint wood smoke. The air is smoky again.

Compared to yesterday's horrific wood smoke, we got off easy tonight. There was a little burning grass in the afternoon and air pollution that never exceeded the level of light. Yesterday, the wood smoke was extremely heavy. Light air pollution is about as good as it gets in North St. Paul.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Sunday 07/25/2010 Air Pollution

It is another smoky hell of an evening in North St. Paul! Wood smoke is heavy and it is everywhere tonight! I have said before that Sundays tend to be the smokiest days of the week and tonight it certainly is.

5:00 PM: No smoke. It is a beautiful summer day. The Weatherbug widget on this blog reports the temperature at North High School at 88 degrees. KSTP reports the temperature in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area at 82 degrees. It feels closer to 82 degrees.

Will we have wood smoke tonight? Will another beautiful summer evening be ruined by wood smoke?

7:00 PM: No smoke.

8:00 PM: No smoke.

8:45 PM: A very faint trace of something is in the air. The air is obviously not fresh.

At sunset, I went out looking for bonfires. Since today was the day of the big "Silver Lake Splash" fundraiser, I made a special effort to go by the house of the woman who has been the community activist leading the charge to "save our beach" and who convinced the city not to close the beach at Silver Lake this summer due to budgetary constraints. And I found my one and and only bonfire of the evening on her neighbor's property, a very smoky bonfire.

It was smoky all over the northern part of the city tonight. From the time I was a block from home, I could smell wood smoke almost everywhere I went. Starting from north to south.



1) Faint wood smoke at Helen St. & Lydia Ave. all the way down Helen St. to Navajo Rd. It was very faintly to faintly smoky everywhere tonight.

2) Smoke in the backyard of the 2nd house from the corner of Poplar Ave. & Lake Blvd. on the north side of the street. I am not certain if the smoke was from a bonfire or fireworks. I hope it was from a bonfire because city council member Bob Bruton, who supports recreational wood burning, lives just a few houses away. Was your air smoky tonight, Bob? I hope so. If anyone deserves to breathe smoky, polluted air, it is our city council members who make us breathe that toxic poison.

3) Faint wood smoke at Navajo Rd. & Helen St.

4) A large cloud of smoke down on Hilltop Ct. I saw the cloud of smoke when I was on the other side of the hill but could not smell it. It took a while to get back around to Hilltop and when I did I could smell light wood smoke. I could not locate the source.

5) Moderate wood smoke at Park Row & 20th Ave. This is the second time I've found strong wood smoke over there this summer. I could not locate the source. Looking over the lake, I could see a very light haze from the wood smoke.

6) It was faintly to lightly smoky all along the southern edge of Silver Lake. It smelled like wood smoke and burning paper.

7) A smoky bonfire at the corner of Henry St. & 18th Ave. The woman who organized the Silver Lake beach fundraiser lives on 18th. I originally thought the bonfire was at her house. But it was not. The bonfire was on the property of the house on Henry. It is a double lot. I checked the Ramsey County property mapping website to be sure.

8) A small pocket of strong wood smoke at the intersection of Charles St. & 18th Ave. I could hardly breathe! I had to get out of here quickly. Your lungs do not want to expand to intake air this smoky. I had to struggle to inhale. I do not know if the smoke was from the bonfire at Henry & 18th or if there was another bonfire nearby. I could not stay around to find out.

9) Smoky haze at the intersection of 17th Ave. & Charles St. I did not go down to the intersection. I was in a hurry to get out of the area because it was so smoky. I needed to breathe!

9:25 PM: A very faint smokiness of some kind is in the air where we live. It is not nearly as smoky here as it is everywhere else in the city. When I got home, I had to change my clothes and bathe because I reeked of wood smoke!

9:50 PM: A very faint trace of wood smoke is in the air. I can barely smell it, but I can tell it is wood smoke. Nobody around us is burning.

10:20 PM: Moderate wood smoke. It is very smoky outside! The air reeks of wood smoke. I do not know why it gets so smoky on Sundays. It is not a holiday weekend. Don't people have to get up in the morning?

10:45 PM: Strong wood smoke! It is extremely smoky outside. It is about as smoky as it can possibly get. This air pollution is inhumane! 74 degrees at North High School. The humidity level in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area is about 80%. It is humid, but it is cooler outside than it is inside. If we lived in a decent city, we would be able to shut off the air conditioning and open the windows. But we can't! We can't even sit outside because the air is so damn smoky! This is hell on earth! We are prisoners in our own homes. We can't go outside for a breath of air. We can't open the windows. We are prisoners. North St. Paul sucks!

11:15 PM: Strong wood smoke continues. Off to bed. I will not fear nightmares when I sleep. We live a nightmare every day in North St. Paul, MN. A smoky hell of a nightmare.

Share on Facebook!

If you have a Facebook account, you can share this blog with your friends. Just click the "Share" button with the lowercase "f" on it and if you are not logged in to your Facebook account, Facebook will prompt you to log in and you will share this blog with your friends. If you are logged in to Facebook, the share should happen right away.

Share

This blog is not a commercial endeavor. I make no money doing this and I really do not like doing this. But the air is so polluted in North St. Paul, MN, that I really have no choice. This city is a living hell. The only difference between North St. Paul and hell is there is less smoke in hell. The more people who read about how our four city council members Jan Walczak, Bob Bruton, Terry Furlong, and Dave Zick make us breathe smoky, polluted air the better.

Do you like breathing smoky air in bed at night? Do you like sitting outside and breathing wood smoke so heavy it makes your sinuses burn, gives you headaches, and makes you feel nauseous? Do you want to live your life like this every day? If not, share this blog with your Facebook friends.

You do not know how much we have suffered because of the polluted air in this city. Any attention we can get on this issue will help. Thank you.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Saturday 07/24/2010 Air Pollution

It is another smoky evening in the polluted nightmare of a city known as North St. Paul, MN. I saw a sign at Silver Lake for the Silver Lake Splash beach party fundraiser to pay for the operation of the beach. Maybe you people should have a fundraiser to help us pay these high utility bills because we have to run the air conditioning on cool evenings like tonight.

6:15 PM: Faint wood smoke for a minute or two, then it was gone.

7:00 PM: No wood smoke.

8:00 PM: No wood smoke.

8:30 PM: No wood smoke.

As the sun was going down, I went out to see if I could find some wood smoke. I had no problem finding it. A very faint trace of wood smoke was found all over. There is not much of a breeze tonight. There is nothing to blow the smoke away so it just lingers and slowly drifts along with the breeze.

I found one bonfire. A house on the lake over on Swan Ave. was having a small but smoky bonfire. The flames could not have been more than 2 feet high, well within the requirements of the recreational burning ordinance. The smoke was slowly drifting south. Faint to light wood smoke on the southern edge of Silver Lake. I could smell the smoke down on 18th Ave -- a quarter mile away. I did not go any further south.



As I made my way back west, I noticed the people who were having the fire were shooting fireworks off into the lake. They could have been bottle rockets fired from the ground, arcing into the air then into the water. So not only were those jackasses polluting the air, they were polluting the water as well. I do not think flying, flaming, exploding fireworks are legal in Minnesota. According to the state website, aerial fireworks like those being used are illegal.

http://www.fire.state.mn.us/FireworksInfo.html
Explosive and aerial fireworks are prohibited for public sale, possession and use. Prohibited fireworks include firecrackers, bottle rockets, missiles, roman candles, mortars and shells.
9:30 PM: Very faint wood smoke where we live. Back home now. It is going to be a smoky night.

9:45 PM: Light wood smoke at this time.

10:15 PM: Light wood smoke. I was going to call it light to moderate, it is close.

I hate this city. I used to really like living here, but I have grown to hate it. It 74 degrees at this time and the humidity level is between 60% and 65% in the Twin Cities, within a comfortable range. This would normally be a night that we would turn the air conditioner off and leave the windows open. Back in the late 1990s, that is exactly what we would have done. But we cannot do that because the air is so damn smoky in this horrible city! Who wants to breathe smoky air in bed? As I write this paragraph our air conditioning is running. Our thermostat is set at 75 degrees. It is cooler outside than it is inside but we cannot open the windows because our horrible city council makes us breathe smoky air!

10:40 PM: Light to moderate wood smoke at this time. It has gotten a little smokier outside. It is now 72 degrees measured at North High School. Our air conditioner is running again. How much money does this cost us, North St. Paul? Why do we have to run the air conditioner when the outside temperature is a mild 72 degrees? Because the air is smoky!

11:15 PM: Faint wood smoke remains. The air pollution decreased quickly.

Midnight: Light to moderate wood smoke. The intensity of the wood smoke increased since the last check. It is pretty smoky outside. The windows will remain closed all night. Last air quality check of the night.

When I woke Sunday morning, the outside temperature was 64 degrees. A pleasant and cool summer morning. But we had to leave the windows closed and the air conditioner running all night because of the smoky air. The more we residents of North St. Paul have to run our air conditioners, the more the city makes in utility fees. The city has an interest in the residents using as much electricity as possible because the city resells the electricity to the households at a profit. The profits generated by electricity sales go into the general fund which is then spent by our elected officials. I am pretty sure that is how it works.

Friday 07/23/2010 Air Pollution

11:50 AM: Very faint grass smoke is coming in on the breeze. I am enjoying a day at home.

There was no wood smoke this evening where we live. It was what you might call a miracle. It was a beautiful summer day. The temperature at 5 PM was 84 degrees. A thunderstorm was in the forecast for late at night. I do not think that would have discouraged recreational bonfire air polluters in this town. During the 2 AM hour Saturday morning there was rain and loud thunder.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Thursday 07/22/2010 Air Pollution

4:15 PM: No smoke. 74 degrees, cloudy, dreary.

6:00 PM: No wood or grass smoke. Fresh air continues.

7:00 PM: Fresh air continues.

8:35 PM: Still no smoke.

9:30 PM: No smoke.

10:50 PM: Faint wood smoke at this time. We could not make it without smoky air, could we? Not in North St. Paul, Minnesota.

11:00 PM: Light wood smoke. The air pollution has gotten stronger. 70 degrees with 83% humidity in the Twin Cities. The air does not feel muggy with the high humidity. In a normal city, we would leave the windows open on a night like this. You can't do that in this city! I went to bed at this time. Last check of the night.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Wednesday 07/21/2010 Air Pollution

5:00 PM: No wood smoke. 88 degrees, sunny.

6:00 PM: No wood smoke.

7:15 PM: No wood smoke. Cloudy now.

8:00 PM: No wood smoke.

8:50 PM: Light wood smoke. Smoky air again in North St. Paul. I hate this city.

9:05 PM: A very faint trace of some type of smoke is in the air. The smoke from earlier declined quickly. The wind may have changed directions.

9:35 PM: A very faint trace of wood smoke is in the air.

11:05 PM: A very faint trace of wood smoke continues. Last check.

There was very little wood smoke this evening. But there was wood smoke. I thought it would get heavier than it did.

Tuesday 07/20/2010 Air Pollution

It was grass smoke this evening polluting our air. Somebody had to burn grass under cover of darkness. I do not know who was burning yard waste tonight, but there is only one household that I know of that does that this late.

5:00 PM: No smoke. 85 degrees, sunny.

7:20 PM: No smoke.

8:15 PM: No wood or grass smoke yet.

9:00 PM: A very faint trace of something is in the air. It is not strong enough to determine what it is. The air is not fresh.

10:00 PM: Moderate grass smoke. Someone is burning grass. Grass smoke does not often get as strong as this.

10:45 PM: Faint grass smoke continues.

11:30 PM: A very faint smokiness and a lighter fluid smell is in the air. Last check of the night.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Monday 07/19/2010 Air Pollution

The nightmare from hell continued well into the morning hours.

12:15 AM: Moderate wood smoke continues. The air is very smoky outside. Our air conditioner will stay on all night. Hey you people at city hall, do you now know why we cannot open our windows at night and must run our air conditioners? Do you think we want to breathe very smoky air in bed?

1:30 AM: Moderate wood smoke continues.

6:15 AM: Very faint smoldering wood smoke remains in the air. Over 13 hours after the wood smoke started yesterday evening wood smoke is still in the air.

Do you want to live in a city like this? Do you want to pay over $2,000 a year in property tax to live under these conditions?

4:10 PM: No smoke. 80 degrees, cloudy.

7:15 PM: No wood smoke yet. I have a feeling the air will be smoky tonight. Our air conditioning is off and our windows are open. The wood burners in this nightmare city could not possibly let us enjoy an evening without smoky air, could they? 80 degrees. The sun came out a couple hours ago. We were supposed to have some rain this evening. But we will not, unfortunately.

8:00 PM: No wood smoke. I sat outside about this time for an hour as the evening air cooled. The air was fresh. There was nothing in it. The only annoyance during this time was the sound of someone in the distance using a table saw or other type of electric saw. It was a beautiful evening, a beautiful evening to be alive. Here in Minnesota, we get only four or five months of fair weather per year. You must enjoy what you can. As I watched the sun fade from the sky, I took several deep breaths of fresh air, savoring every one. The air tends to get smoky at dusk. It could be many hours before I can go outside and take another deep breath of air. You never know in North St. Paul. Wood burners have all the rights. We have none.

9:00 PM: No wood smoke or grass smoke. Fresh air continues! The temperature fell to 73 degrees during this hour. When I was outside, I heard my neighbor's air conditioner running. The air is not humid this evening and is cooling quickly. It seems such a waste to run the air conditioner and bear the expense of the electricity and miss out on the wonderful fresh air. But my neighbor knows all too well how polluted the air is in this city just as we do. You never know when somebody at one of the hundreds of homes around here is going to start burning. All it takes is one smoky bonfire to blanket an entire neighborhood with heavy wood smoke pollution.

10:00 PM: Wonderful fresh air continues.

10:30 PM: Fresh air continues. Off to bed. Close the windows.

I woke up shortly after midnight and the air was still nice and fresh. I did not open the windows. We have experienced late night burning too many times to do that. When your house is flooded with wood smoke in the middle of the night, it is very difficult to sleep. When it gets inside your home, you cannot get rid of it. The air inside is almost as smoky as the air outside. It is misery.

We were very fortunate to enjoy an evening without wood smoke. Especially when last night was smoky as hell.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Sunday 07/18/2010 Air Pollution

There is no rain in the forecast today. We anticipate some grass burning in the early afternoon followed by an evening of smoky, polluted air.

The good news from all the rain we have been getting is the level of Silver Lake is back up. Tall grasses that sprouted along the shore a few weeks ago are now under water. I do wonder if the lake is drained from time to time. Two years ago I walked by the lake one day and its level was high. A day or two later I walked by again and the level was down considerably.

Welcome to hell! This evening was a miserable smoky hell. A nice summer evening ruined by wood smoke! A typical evening in North Saint Paul, Minnesota! Thanks, Jan Walczak. I hope the wood and grass smoke made it up to your area.

5:00 PM: Light wood smoke varying with the breeze. When the wind comes our direction, we get a burst of smoke. This early, there is only one person I can think of who would be burning now. I fully expect grass and heavy wood smoke tonight.

5:05 PM: Nothing really. The smoke is not coming our direction.

5:30 PM: Nothing really. The direction of the breeze is helping us.

6:00 PM: Moderate wood smoke. It is very smoky outside! I hate North St. Paul! 83 degrees and sunny at this time.

6:25 PM: A very faint trace of wood smoke is coming our direction at this time.

7:00 PM: None.

7:30 PM: Faint wood smoke.

8:00 PM: None.

8:30 PM: None.

9:00 PM: No real wood smoke.

9:30 PM: Light wood smoke at this time.

10:00: Moderate to strong wood and grass smoke! Some jackass is burning yard waste! The air outside reeks! The air is extremely smoky with smoke burning grass and wood. There is no way I am going out looking for it. But I am pretty sure I know who is doing it. The same person who was burning at 5 PM.

10:30 PM: Moderate to strong very stinky smoke continues. I do not know what kind of wood is burning or what other types of waste are being burned with it, but it reeks!

11:30 PM: Moderately strong wood smoke continues. It is going to be a long, smoky hell of an night in this hell on earth town.

Wood smoke continued after 1 AM. When I checked the air at 6:15 AM Monday morning, I could smell smoke from smoldering wood. One jackass left their wood smoldering all night and smoked up the entire neighborhood. City council member Bob Bruton approves of this air pollution.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Saturday 07/17/2010 Air Pollution

4:00 AM: The air is mostly clear. There is a very faint trace of something in it. It is air we can breathe unlike four hours earlier.

There are storms forecast for the Minneapolis-St. Paul area this evening. Will this save us from being bathed in toxic air pollution? Will we be able to breathe the air outside tonight? I am praying.

2:45 PM: Nothing yet. 92 degrees and muggy. Rain clouds are moving in. We may get lucky tonight if it rains through the evening.

There was no wood smoke this evening. Heavy rain and thunderstorms put a damper on recreational wood burning. Mother nature provided the fresh air our city council will not.

Friday 07/16/2010 Air Pollution

Tonight was smoky as hell. It was so smoky it is inexplicable how any city council can subject us to air pollution so high. Our city council members are demons from hell!

If you buy a home in North St. Paul, MN, it will be the biggest mistake you ever make. Moving to this polluted nightmare was the biggest mistake we ever made. A foreclosure may look cheap, and there are plenty around, but you are not considering the hidden costs. You should have seen our eyes pop out of our heads when we got our latest electricity bill! We cannot open the windows most nights because the air is so smoky. We either have to suffer inside a warm, stuffy house or run the air conditioner and pay the price. We pay dearly for living in this terrible town. We are prisoners in our own home because the smoky air forces us inside with the windows closed. We pay to run the air conditioner. And property taxes around here are not cheap! Over $2,000 a year for the pleasure of breathing smoky air!

North St. Paul sucks! Terrible place to live! Beware of this city!

5:30 PM: No wood smoke. 90 degrees and sunny. Will the air be smoky tonight with the high temperature? Temperatures in the 90s usually discourage recreational burning.

6:45: Faint to light wood smoke. It smells like somebody is grilling food with wood. Wood smoke is in the air all the same. Smoky air is smoky air.

7:30 PM: Light wood smoke. It has gotten stronger.

8:00 PM: No real smoke at this time.

8:30 PM: Something is in the air. Not sure what it is.

9:00 PM: No real smoke.

9:30 PM: No real smoke.

10:00 PM: No real smoke.

11:30 PM: Strong wood smoke! The air pollution is extremely heavy! This air is not fit for human consumption! Why the hell do we have to live like this, Jan Walczak? Last check of the evening. The air was mostly clear when I woke at 4 AM.

All I want is out of this horrible polluted nightmare city. When the housing market recovers......

Friday, July 16, 2010

Wood burners moved away!

I now have an explanation for why this summer is less smoky than last summer. A home less than two blocks away from us that had very smoky recreational bonfires at least once or twice a week is for sale and it appears it is empty. The photographs on the realtor website show no furniture or personal items in the home. Nobody is there to burn wood and smoke up our precious air. Goodbye and good riddance!

If we could only get city council members Jan Walczak, Bob Bruton, Terry Furlong, and Dave Zick to move away, this city would be a much better place to live. Our property values would go up.

Thursday 07/15/2010 Air Pollution

There was no smoke in the air this evening where we live. 84 degrees and sunny at 5 PM.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Wednesday 07/14/2010 Air Pollution

More smoky, polluted air this evening. This time it is burning grass with a little wood.

4:10 PM: No smoke. 85 degrees and very humid. There was a thunderstorm and rain around 2 PM. The grass is a little wet.

6:00 PM: No smoke. 93 degrees and humid.

7:00 PM: No smoke.

8:00 PM: No smoke.

9:00 PM: Light to moderate grass smoke with a little wood varying with the breeze. Somebody is burning yard waste. It is a common practice for grass burners to burn wood and throw their grass clippings on top of it. Are we not fortunate to have a city council that allows such air pollution?

10:00 PM: No smoke.

10:30 PM: No smoke. Last check of the evening.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Tuesday 07/13/2010 Air Pollution

Wood smoke is back. Someone could not make it through the evening without polluting our air.

4:15 PM: No smoke. 83 degrees.

9:00 PM: No wood smoke yet.

9:30 PM: Light wood smoke at this time. None of my immediate neighbors is burning wood. It could be someone blocks away. Off to bed.

Midnight: No wood smoke at this time.

This summer has not been as smoky as last summer. But it is still too much. I will tabulate the wood smoke by month for May and June soon to put some numbers on the air pollution we endure as residents of North St. Paul, MN. I will also tabulate the wood smoke we had this past winter to show that fireplaces are used for recreation and not for home heating. Last winter, there was very little wood smoke in the mornings or early afternoon, even on weekends, but there was a lot during the evenings.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Monday 07/12/2010 Air Pollution

There was no wood smoke this evening. It was nice to enjoy smoke-free air on a mild summer evening. The temperature in the Twin Cities only managed to reach a high of 79 degrees this day. It was 74 degrees at 9 PM. After midnight when I woke, I opened some windows around the house as I was confident there would be no wood smoke. We usually have to sleep with the windows closed because the air is so smoky. When I was opening windows, I heard my neighbor's air conditioner running. The temperature at midnight was 65 degrees and the air was not muggy. Why did my neighbor have their air conditioner running with a temperature so cool? It was certainly cooler outside than their temperature inside. The only explanation I have is they do not leave their windows open at night because of frequent wood smoke.

The Ramsey County Fair starts later this week. The fair runs from July 14th through the 18th in Maplewood.

Ramsey County Fair Website
Map To Ramsey County Fair

Monday, July 12, 2010

Sunday 07/11/2010 Air Pollution

There was no noticeable wood smoke in the air this evening. There was a very faint trace of something in the air around 9 PM. It was not strong enough to tell what it was. The temperature at 7 PM was 73 degrees. It was a cool and pleasantly smoke-free summer evening. Every evening should be like this.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Saturday 07/10/2010 Air Pollution

12:45 AM: Moderately strong wood smoke continues. The air outside is very smoky.

3:10 AM: Moderate wood smoke continues. Very smoky air at 3 AM is not unusual in this city. It is 69 degrees outside right now, six degrees cooler than inside the house. Ten years ago, before our city turned into hell on earth, we would have the windows open with a nighttime temperature like this. We would run the air conditioning on a hot day and turn it off at night and let mother nature cool our house naturally. We have not been able to do that for years. Hey, Jan Walczak, can you smell the wood smoke where you live? Do you have your windows open?

5:00 AM: No wood smoke. The air is mostly clear. Thank God!

5:15 PM: No smoke. 85 degrees.

9:00 PM: A very faint trace of something is in the air. I cannot say it is wood smoke. The air is not fresh.

11:45: Still no real wood smoke. A very faint trace of something lingers in the air.

There was no detectable wood smoke this evening. A chance of thunderstorms was forecast for the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. It did not start raining until around 2 AM Sunday morning. It may be that the forecast for storms discouraged recreational bonfire pollution. A summer Saturday night without smoky air is unheard of in these parts.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Friday 07/09/2010 Air Pollution

Have we died and gone to Hell or are we still living in North St. Paul, MN? It is impossible to tell the difference tonight!

4:50 PM: No wood smoke. 87 degrees, sunny, a nice summer day.

8:00 PM: Still no wood smoke.

8:45 PM: A very faint trace, a barely detectable amount, of wood smoke is in the air. I can smell it. It will likely get worse.

9:10 PM: A very faint trace of wood smoke continues.

9:30 PM: Moderate to strong wood smoke. It is extremely smoky outside! This high level of air pollution is inhumane! Our city council should be prosecuted for torture for forcing us to breathe this smoky air! You cannot breathe this air! Anybody in the area who was sitting outside has surely gone inside their house now because breathing this toxic air will make you sick to your stomach. Stepping outside for a few seconds will leave your clothes reeking of wood smoke. 79 degrees at this time. Tonight would be a night we would turn off the air conditioning and open the windows if we lived in a normal city. But we cannot do this in North St. Paul, Minnesota, because the air is so heavily polluted!

10:00 PM: Moderately strong wood smoke continues. The level of air pollution has declined a little. It is still very smoky outside.

10:35 PM: Moderate to strong wood smoke.

11:15 PM: Moderate to strong wood smoke.

11:40 PM: Moderate to strong wood smoke.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Thursday 07/08/2010 Air Pollution

Wood smoke pollution has returned. North St. Paul's most famous feature is filling our air once again and ruining another evening. I guess we've had more fresh air lately than we deserve. Our city council does not think we are entitled to breathe in this town.

4:15 PM: No smoke. 84 degrees and sunny. It is nice summer day.

6:45 PM: Light wood and paper smoke. It smells like burning wood and paper. This time of day, I have a good idea who is doing it. But I am not going to go out looking for it because I do not want to stink up my clothes.

7:15 PM: Light wood smoke continues. 84 degrees measured at North High School.

8:45: A very faint trace of wood smoke lingers in the air.

10:00 PM: No wood smoke.

11:45 PM: No wood smoke.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Wednesday 07/07/2010 Air Pollution

When I was heading out this morning, I noticed a little wood smoke in one location probably from a bonfire that was left smoldering all night. There was no smoke where we live.

5:50 PM: No wood smoke. Light rain at this time. 73 degrees and humid with a relative humidity level in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of 76%. With the ground all wet I am hoping there will not be any wood smoke tonight. It would be nice to turn the air conditioning off with the temperature as low as it is. But you never know when someone will start burning wood or grass in this town.

There was no wood smoke this evening, not even a trace. The rain made everything wet discouraging bonfires.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Tuesday 07/06/2010 Air Pollution

5:15 PM: No smoke. 87 degrees and sunny. Will we have smoky air tonight or will the temperature discourage recreational bonfire air polluters?

There was no wood smoke this evening where we live, not even a trace. Fresh air on a nice evening is always a pleasant surprise. In this town, recreational air polluters have all the rights and the rest of us have none at all. They can burn any evening. We never have a guarantee of fresh, unpolluted air. We breathe at the mercy of bonfire burners. When they burn, we cannot sit outside or open our windows making us prisoners in our own homes. They control our lives.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Monday 07/05/2010 Air Pollution

1:00 AM: Moderate wood smoke continues. The air is very smoky outside. It is a little warm and humid still. We have our air conditioner on. If it was not warm enough to justify the expense of the air conditioning, we would be sitting in a warm, stuffy house because the air outside is so terribly polluted. You cannot breathe this smoky air and you do not want it in your house. Would you like to lay in bed at night breathing very smoky air when you are trying to sleep?

2:05 AM: Light to moderate wood smoke continues. It will be smoky all night long.

6:00 AM: The wood smoke is gone. The air is mostly fresh.

It is a rainy day today which will hopefully prevent polluters from smoking up our air. July is typically the worst month for wood smoke pollution. If it isn't raining, the air is going to be smoky.

4:30 PM: No wood smoke. Cloudy. Heavy rain earlier today around noon and rain off and on this afternoon.

6:15 PM: No wood smoke. Cloudy. More rain in the forecast. 76 degrees and humid.

There was no wood smoke this evening. There was a light rain after 10 PM that ensured our air would be unpolluted as human beings deserve even if our city council does not agree.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Sunday 07/04/2010 Air Pollution

Happy smoky 4th of July. This is the smokiest night of the holiday weekend.

6:25 PM: No wood smoke. 82 degrees, cloudy.

8:00 PM: No wood smoke.

8:45 PM: Light to moderate wood smoke. It is smoky outside. I would not want to breathe air like this for long. It will likely get much worse.

9:45 PM: No wood smoke. The air is not fresh but there is no detectable wood smoke in it.

10:30 PM: Moderate wood smoke. It is very smoky outside. Breathe this toxic North St. Paul air for a few minutes and you will become nauseous.

11:00 PM: Moderately strong wood smoke continues.

Midnight: Light wood smoke continues.

It got smokier after midnight. It was smoky when I last checked the air at 2 AM. We endure horrific air pollution in the city North St. Paul, MN. The only crime we committed was making the mistake of choosing to live our lives in this town.

Saturday 07/03/2010 Air Pollution

There was not as much wood smoke in the air this evening as I expected. There was wood smoke. It never got beyond the very faint level.

2:45 PM: No smoke. 91 degrees and a little humid.

6:55 PM: Still no wood smoke.

8:30 PM: No wood smoke.

10:15 PM: Very faint wood smoke in the air. It is breezy at this time. The wind is blowing west. Someone to the east has a bonfire. Most of our wood smoke comes out of the west. People in all directions are lighting off fireworks. I do not think they are all of the legal variety.

11:00 PM: Very faint wood smoke continues.

Midnight: No wood smoke at this time.

People must be out of town or the temperature and wind discouraged bonfires. It is not often that we endure such little wood smoke on a Saturday night.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Friday 07/02/2010 Air Pollution

With the 4th of July weekend upon us, we are preparing for a brutal assault of wood smoke in North St. Paul. At least it will be warm enough to justify running the air conditioning.

6:20 PM: A very faint trace of wood smoke is blowing in on the wind. It could be from grilling. It did not last more than a few minutes, not worth noting. 87 degrees, sunny, and windy.

There was no wood smoke this evening. We witnessed a miracle. I cannot explain the lack of wood smoke on the Friday of a holiday weekend. It was a little windy and a little warm, but I do not think it was windy or warm enough to discourage bonfires. The air was not fresh. There was a charcoal grill odor for a while and a little sulfur smell in the air later. The wind was coming out of the south and that sulfur odor could have been from the Berwald Roofing company on the other side of Highway 36. But there was no wood smoke. I last checked the air at 2 AM and there was no smoke.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Thursday 07/01/2010 Air Pollution

4:45 PM: No smoke. 86 degrees, sunny, and beautiful outside.

8:30 PM: No wood smoke yet. 82 degrees.

There was no wood smoke this evening. Not a trace. The air was clear all night. There was a very faint sulfur odor in the air but no wood smoke.