Recreational Fires Must Be Eliminated

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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!

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Tuesday 08/31/2010 Air Pollution

5:45 PM: No wood smoke. A brief rain sprinkle occurred earlier. 81 degrees, cloudy. A thunderstorm is in the forecast for tonight.

7:20 PM: No wood smoke. The fresh air is wonderful.

9:30 PM: Still no wood smoke. The air is fresh and clear.

10:00 PM: No wood smoke yet. This will be the third evening in a row without wood smoke if we can make it a few more hours. 78 degrees at this time.

There was no wood smoke this evening. Fresh air all night. Not trace of anything was in it. I do not think it rained as forecast. Living in North St. Paul is much more enjoyable when the air isn't smoky. People who don't have to breathe smoky air almost every day like we do will not understand how much of a negative impact it has on the quality of one's life.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Monday 08/30/2010 Air Pollution

It is a warm and humid day. The high reached 92 degrees. It is a windy evening. It remains to be seen if the warmth and wind discourages recreational burning this evening.

7:00 PM: No smoke yet. We are enjoying that wonderful fresh air. 89 degrees.

8:00 PM: Fresh air continues.

9:30 PM: Fresh air continues. 82 degrees with 66% relative humidity at this time.

10:30 PM: Fresh air continues. If we can just make it to midnight without wood smoke......

Midnight: No wood smoke. We made it!

This was our second evening in a row without wood smoke polluting our precious air. The plausible reasons for the lack of wood smoke tonight are the warm temperature, wind, and high humidity. The pyromaniacs in this town do not burn as much when it gets hot. It was nice to step outside for a breathe of air without inhaling wood smoke pollution.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Sunday 08/29/2010 Air Pollution

2:30 AM: No wood smoke. I checked the air on my way back to bed.

6:00 AM: Very faint to faint wood smoke coming in on the breeze. I smelled wood smoke instantly when I opened the door to retrieve the paper. Smoky air is what this city is known for. Don't you want to be greeted first thing in the morning by smoky, polluted air?

9:30 AM: Faint wood smoke coming in on the breeze. Somebody is burning wood early or whoever was burning last night left their bonfire smoldering all night long. The burner is not near us. They could be a quarter to a half mile away. Wood smoke travels wherever the wind takes it, from the burner's property right into your lungs and into your bloodstream.

10:30 AM: The wood smoke is gone. For now.

5:15 PM: No wood smoke. 93 degrees. It is warm but the humidity level is not high. It is nice in the shade with a strong breeze.

6:00 PM: No smoke. Strong breeze continues.

7:20 PM: No smoke. Breezy, 89 degrees with 45% relative humidity. I am going to sit outside for a while and enjoy the beautiful summer evening before the air gets smoky.

8:30 PM: No smoke. Still breezy. 86 degrees and beautiful at this time. I spent some time outside relaxing and thinking about how nice it would be to live in a city that was run by people who actually cared about the citizens of the community. I savored every breath of that fresh air. Wood smoke was in the air for the six prior evenings. I expect smoky air again tonight.

There was no wood smoke this evening. Wood smoke was in the air each of the prior six evenings so we deserved this evening of fresh, unpolluted air. It was a beautiful, warm summer evening. I thought there would be smoke in the air. We got lucky. One evening of fresh a week air is about the best you can hope for in this town.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Saturday 08/28/2010 Air Pollution

It is another smoky evening in North St. Paul, MN. This is the sixth evening in a row with smoky air. I hate this city and I hate the clowns on the city council who make us breathe smoky air every day! North St. Paul is a polluted nightmare! This city is a nightmare you relive every day. The nightmare never ends. You wake up and 12 - 14 hours later the nightmare starts all over again.

5:15 PM: No smoke. 89 degrees. It is a beautiful summer day. This is a great day to be alive. Until the wood smoke starts. Then we will be prisoners in our own home once again. Living in North St. Paul is like living in hell.

6:00 PM: No smoke. Enjoying that fresh air while it lasts. We are going to sit outside and enjoy the evening air before the air pollution starts in this horrible nightmare city.

7:00 PM: No smoke. The temperature is dropping. There is a nice breeze. The breeze is blowing to the west. Most of our wood smoke pollution comes out of the west. I am hoping for a smoke-free evening.

8:00 PM: No smoke. Fresh air continues. We enjoyed some time outdoors. The wood smoke should be starting soon.

8:40 PM: Light wood smoke at this time. Just as it starts getting dark people start burning in North St. Paul. I hate this city. North St. Paul sucks!

9:00 PM: Faint to light wood smoke. It is breezy at this time. Nobody is burning around us. The wood smoke could be coming from blocks away. 80 degrees at this time. We would like to turn off the air conditioning before going to bed but the air will likely be smoky all night long. This would have been a beautiful evening if not for the wood smoke ruining it.

9:15 PM: Faint wood and grass smoke varying with the breeze. Somebody is burning yard waste. It is windy outside right now.

9:40 PM: Light to moderate wood smoke. It is pretty smoky outside. As it usually is. 78 degrees and breezy.

10:00 PM: Very faint to faint wood smoke on the breeze.

10:35 PM: Very faint wood smoke varying with the breeze continues.

11:00 PM: Very faint wood smoke varying with the breeze continues.

11:30 PM: No wood smoke. Last check for tonight.

There was no wood smoke in the air when I woke after 2 AM. When I got up for the day at 6 AM I was greeted with faint wood smoke when I opened the door to retrieve the paper. Wood smoke continued after 9:30 AM Sunday morning. Somebody must have left their bonfire smoldering all night long.

On Twitter

I signed up for a Twitter account to help reach a wider audience and further spread the word about our city council making us breathe smoky, polluted air every day.

http://twitter.com/northsaintpaul

My goal is to reach as wide of an audience as possible. I am hoping to reach a national audience. I want everyone to know that I have been complaining to the city for years about the terrible wood smoke pollution problem and that the city council has sided with air polluters over the elderly, children with asthma, and all of us who hate breathing smoky, polluted air every day.

If you would like to link to my Twitter account, please do. The more traffic I can drive there and to this blog the better.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Friday 08/27/2010 Air Pollution

The wood smoke from last evening's burning continued until well after midnight. It got stronger after midnight.

12:41 AM: Faint smoldering wood smoke.

12:45 AM: Faint to light wood smoke. It is getting stronger. No chance of opening the windows for hours.

12:55 AM: Light wood smoke. The smoke is stronger still.

3:00 AM: The air is fresh! The windows can finally be opened!

6:10 PM: No smoke where we are. 86 degrees, sunny, windy, and beautiful. One frequent burner is already burning. I noticed a cloud of smoke being blown by the wind when I was coming back. I do not know what he was burning as the smoke was not coming my direction. He usually burns wood, grass, and leaves. Will this be another smoky evening? It is a little windy for bonfires.

7:00 PM: No smoke. The air is fresh. It is wonderful to breathe fresh air! Fresh air is very rare in North St. Paul.

8:00 PM: No smoke. Fresh air continues for the time being. It is not as windy as it was earlier.

8:30 PM: Faint to light wood smoke. The air is smoky again. This is the fifth consecutive evening of smoky air in this hell on earth city. Do you want to breathe smoky air every day of your life? Our windows are closed. The air conditioning is on. The current temperature is 80 degrees. In a normal city, we would open the windows before going to bed to cool the house. But the smoky air makes that impossible. The air conditioner will run all night and we will bear the expense.

We have suffered for years with smoky air because of city council members Jan Walczak, Bob Bruton, Dave Zick, and Terry Furlong. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year the air is smoky. This city is hell on earth.

9:10 PM: Faint wood smoke varying with the breeze. The burner is not near us. It is breezy at this time.

9:30 PM: Faint wood smoke varying with the breeze continues.

10:00 PM: Faint to light wood smoke. The air pollution has gotten a little stronger.

10:45 PM: No smoke. Fresh air. Could this be the end of the burning tonight?

11:30 PM: No smoke. Fresh air continues.

Midnight. No smoke. Fresh air. 73 degrees at this time.

For a Friday the wood smoke was not that bad. The air was smoky as it usually is. But it could have been a lot worse. Last Friday there was no wood smoke at all. There was no wood or grass smoke all weekend. We paid the price for three days of wonderful smoke-free air with five consecutive evenings of smoky air.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Thursday 08/26/2010 Air Pollution

Today is the first day of the state fair. Summer is ending, but our wood smoke hell is not. It is another smoky evening. This is normal in North St. Paul, MN. The air is smoky almost every evening if it is not too hot or is not raining. We have been tortured by our city council with smoky air for years. I wish they would move away and torture the residents of another city.

2:35 AM: Very faint wood smoke and smoke from whatever waste was being burned the prior evening continues. Put plainly, the air stinks! The windows must remain closed all night. It is very cool outside. The temperature at 10 PM yesterday evening was 64 degrees. It is probably down in the 50s by now. It is 75 degrees inside the house.

7:00 AM: The air is fresh.

6:00 PM: Faint to light wood smoke. It is 78 degrees, sunny, and beautiful except for the air pollution ruining an otherwise perfect evening! The recreational wood burning is starting earlier than usual. Thanks again, city council, for making us breathe smoky air. You suck. The only thing Jan Walczak, Bob Bruton, Terry Furlong, and Dave Zick are doing is taking a formerly nice city and turning it into hell on earth.

I was taking a shower and cleaning up when I opened the window to smell wood smoke. A lesson I have learned living in North St. Paul is that I must close the bathroom window when showering in the evening. Too often I have been showering and step out of the shower to find the bathroom reeking of wood smoke or smoke from burning grass or leaves. With the window open, the exhaust fan sucks in outside air and if the air is smoky, the bathroom is going to be smoky. Had I not closed the bathroom window before showering this evening, I would have stepped out into a smoky bathroom. I hate that! I also closed the bedroom window before showering, too. Had I not, that room may have been smoky, too.

This is how we live in this horrible city. We have been living like this for years. Do you want to live like this?

6:13 PM: Very faint wood smoke continues.

6:20 PM: Faint wood smoke continues. The intensity of the wood smoke is fluctuating.

6:40 PM: Very faint wood smoke. 79 degrees at this time measured at North High School.

7:00 PM: Faint wood smoke continues. The windows remain closed. Faint wood smoke is strong enough to smell and I do not want to smell it in the house. Do you want to breathe smoky air sitting in your living room?

7:45 PM: Faint wood smoke continues. The air will probably be smoky all night long.

8:15 PM: Faint smoldering wood smoke continues.

9:10 PM: Faint smoldering wood smoke continues. Still cannot open the windows. It is 71 degrees outside and 77 degrees inside and we cannot open the windows because the air reeks of wood smoke! North St. Paul sucks!

We get to look forward to smoke from burning leaves in a few weeks. Do you want to live in a city like this?

9:40 PM: The air is mostly clear. Either the wood has burned itself out or the breeze shifted directions. I am praying that this is the end of the wood smoke for tonight. I want to cool the house before bed. It is not easy to sleep when it is warm and stuffy inside the house. It is a cool, comfortable 70 degrees outside and a warm 77 degrees inside.

10:08 PM: A very faint trace of wood smoke continues varying with the breeze. I can smell a hint of wood smoke one minute and none the next.

10:15 PM: A very faint varying trace of wood smoke continues. I am opening the windows to cool the house before bed. I hope I can cool it a few degrees before the air gets smoky again.

10:35 PM: Light wood smoke. Somebody starting burning. Close the windows. We got to open the windows for all of 20 minutes this evening. NORTH SAINT PAUL SUCKS!

10:45 PM: Light to moderate wood smoke. It is getting smokier. Maybe -- just maybe -- by morning we will have fresh air again. 68 degrees outside and we are prisoners in our own home because the air in this shitty city is smoky! NORTH SAINT PAUL SUCKS!

11:30 PM: Very faint wood smoke remains in the air. The wood smoke got stronger after midnight.

When I woke at 3 AM the air was clear enough to open the windows. We can finally breathe the outside air again.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Wednesday 08/25/2010 Air Pollution

This air pollution hell known as the city of North St. Paul, MN, keeps getting worse. Tonight somebody is burning waste. Somebody was burning paper last night. Tonight I have no idea what is being burned or what is going into our lungs. This city is hell on earth! City council members Jan Walczak, Bob Bruton, Terry Furlong, and Dave Zick have been forcing us to breathe polluted, smoky air for years. All four of them have refused to do a thing about this despite our complaints.

4:45 PM: No smoke. 73 degrees, sunny, a beautiful evening.

6:00 PM: No smoke.

7:20 PM: The air is not fresh. There is a very faint trace of some type of smoke in the air.

8:40 PM: Faint to light smoke from burning waste. I do not know what is being burned other than it is not wood, grass, or paper. It does not smell good! I have no idea what the hell kind of toxic chemicals are in our air tonight.

8:50 PM: Light to moderate waste smoke in the air. It is very smoky outside with some type of smoke from burning waste.

9:15 PM: Light waste smoke.

9:35 PM: Moderate to strong wood smoke. It is extremely smoky outside! The air absolutely reeks. We had to shut up all the windows last hour and live as prisoners in our own home once again in this shitty city!

9:50 PM: Moderately strong wood and waste smoke. It is not only wood that is being burned. I have no idea what else is being burned. It is a cool 64 degrees at this time and we have all our windows sealed up tight. This is how we live in this horrible city! This is how we live normally. This is our way of life thanks to our city council.

10:00 PM: Moderate wood and waste smoke continues. Thanks for making us live this way, Jan Walczak. I hope the smoke makes it up to your house so you can enjoy the smoky air you are responsible for.

10:30 PM: Light wood and waste smoke continues. Aren't we lucky to live in a city with air so smoky?

11:30 PM: Faint wood and smoke from whatever else was being burned continues.

When I woke at 2:35 AM there was a very faint stinky wood smoke in the air. Whoever was burning was nice to leave it smoldering all night. That happens all the time in this city. No chance of opening the windows until daybreak at the earliest.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Tuesday 08/24/2010 Air Pollution

5:00 PM: No smoke. Sunny, breezy, 75 degrees.

6:15 PM: Very faint wood smoke is in the air. It lasted about a half an hour or so. It did not smell like grilling though it could be associated with it.

7:00 PM: No smoke. The air is not fresh.

7:30 PM: No smoke. The air is not fresh.

7:52 PM: Very faint to faint wood smoke is coming in the windows. If it gets any stronger the windows will need to be closed. Do you want to breathe smoky air in your living room?

8:08 PM: Faint wood smoke. The house is starting to smell of burning wood. Time to close the windows. I hate this ******* city! Another evening ruined by smoky air. You cannot even sit in your own house in this horrible city without breathing smoky air! It is a cool 71 degrees at this time. We should not have to breathe polluted air in our own living room!

8:24 PM: Light wood smoke at this time. The air pollution has gotten stronger.

8:37 PM: Light to moderate wood smoke. Stronger still. The air reeks of wood smoke. No, wood smoke does not smell good.

9:00 PM: Light to moderate wood smoke continues.

9:35 PM: The air is mostly clear. There is a very faint trace of smoke left.

9:55 PM: A very faint trace of wood smoke continues. We may be able to open the windows if the burning is done.

9:59 PM: Very faint wood smoke is in the air. It is an unseasonably cool 68 degrees outside and I would really like to enjoy the cool summer air!

10:05 PM: The air is clear enough to open the windows. There is a very faint trace of smokiness lingering.

10:33 PM: Very faint wood smoke is in the air. I can smell it coming in the windows.

10:42 PM: Burning paper! Somebody is burning refuse. This nightmare city keeps getting better, does it not?

10:50 PM: Light burning paper smoke is in the air. The air reeks of burning paper. Do you want to live in a city like this?

11:15 PM: A faint burning paper smell continues.

When I woke after 1 AM the air was clear. A few windows were opened at that time.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Monday 08/23/2010 Air Pollution

There air is smoky again. Our run of smoke-free evenings is over.

5:00 PM: No smoke.

6:30 PM: No smoke. 88 degrees in the Twin Cities.

7:00 PM: No smoke.

8:00 PM: Light wood smoke. Smoky evening air is normal for North Saint Paul, Minnesota. What is not normal is fresh, unpolluted air.

8:20 PM: Light wood smoke continues. 82 degrees measured at North High School. The relative humidity level in the Twin Cities is 65%. It is a little humid.

9:00 PM: A very faint trace of wood smoke is in the air at this time.

10:00 PM: No wood smoke.

11:00 PM: No wood smoke. Last check of the evening.

Sunday 08/22/2010 Air Pollution

It was another miracle. There was no wood smoke this evening. I cannot remember when we have had an entire weekend without wood and grass smoke without rain preventing burning. This city is a nice place to live when the air is not smoky. Life is so much better when you can breathe! It was a warm day, but not too warm to prevent evening burning. The temperature at 5:30 PM was 88 degrees. It was humid. The temperature at 9:00 PM was 82 degrees with a relative humidity level of about 70% in the Twin Cities. The air was not fresh all evening. By 10 PM or about there was a very faint trace of something in the air which continued after midnight. I do not know what it was other than it did not smell like smoke. It was a nice smoke-free weekend.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Saturday 08/21/2010 Air Pollution

We experienced a miracle! There was no wood smoke this evening where we live. A Saturday night with no rain and no wood smoke is something we do not see normally. It was not too warm for a bonfire this evening, but the humidity was as high as it could get. KARE 11 Weather (channel 11.2) reported a humidity level of 100% in Lakeville. It was muggy in the Minneapolis - St. Paul area. The temperature at 5:15 PM was 84 degrees. It was a very nice evening with the temperature dropping into the low 70s by 11 PM. The air was not fresh all evening, but no wood smoke could be detected. By 8:30 PM there was a very faint unpleasant odor of something undetermined in the air which continued until the last air quality check at midnight. Periodic checks of the air during the day did not find any smoke from burning grass in the air. We sat outside for more than an hour this evening until the mosquitoes forced us inside. Mosquitoes are a nuisance, but it is better to be forced inside the house by those natural pests than by unnatural smoky air. Every day should be free of wood smoke as this one was. Smoke-free was the way the air in North St. Paul, MN, used to be a decade ago.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Friday 08/20/2010 Air Pollution

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

6:00 PM: No smoke. 86 degrees.

7:04 PM: Very faint wood smoke was in the air for about a minute. This will not count as wood smoke because there was so little of it and it was so short in duration. We would not have noticed this in the house if the windows were open.

8:00 PM: No smoke.

9:25 PM: No smoke.

10:30 PM: No smoke. There air is not fresh. There is a very faint trace of something in it. I cannot say what it is.

11:30 PM: No smoke. The air is not fresh.

There was no wood smoke this evening worth mentioning so this counts as an evening with no smoke. No grass smoke either. The air after 10 PM was not fresh but we could tolerate it if the windows were open. The air quality was good for a Friday night. That is not to say that people were not burning wood elsewhere in the city. Whenever I go looking for smoky air I never have trouble finding it. There was no smoke where we live and that is what this blog is mainly intended to document.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Thursday 08/19/2010 Air Pollution

There was no trace of wood or grass smoke this evening. It was a good -- and rare -- evening for most of us who do not like breathing smoky air every day. The temperature at 4:30 PM was 78 degrees with 89% relative humidity. It was not warm but it was muggy. It was cloudy this evening. It looked like rain clouds were moving in by 7 PM but it did not rain. We took advantage of the fresh air and spent some time outside. We have to savor the little fresh evening air we get in this city. You will not understand the horror of breathing smoky air every day until you have experienced life in North St. Paul, MN. Smoky air day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. If you do not love the smell of burning wood, grass, leaves, and paper, you are not going to be happy in this town. You are going to smell it nearly every day.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Wednesday 08/18/2010 Air Pollution

Wood smoke is in the air again. I hate this city. I wish I didn't. North St. Paul used to be a really nice place to live before the daily wood smoke pollution took hold. It does not take more than a few years of daily smoky air before you begin to hate your town. Do you want to breathe smoky air almost every day of your life? Do you want to live like a piece of meat in a smokehouse? We have endured many hundreds of smoky evenings over the past several years and I can tell you I am really sick of it and this damn city!

5:00 PM: No smoke.

6:00 PM: No smoke. 77 degrees.

7:40 PM: No smoke.

8:30 PM: No smoke.

9:05 PM: Faint wood smoke in the air. I could smell it coming in the window. Close the windows! The one near certainty in this nightmare city is smoky air at night. The breeze seems to be blowing to the west this evening. I am tempted to go look for it.

9:15 PM: Faint wood smoke continues. How smoky will it get tonight? How many hours will it last? Will we be able to open the windows after midnight or will we be prisoners in our own home all night long? Do you want to breathe smoky air in bed?

9:25 PM: Faint wood smoke continues.

10:15 PM: No smoke.

10:25 PM: Faint wood smoke.

10:29 PM: No smoke. I went to bed at this time.

Midnight: No smoke.

The wood smoke presented a minor nuisance tonight. It was not bad but is still much more than we should tolerate in today's society. Faint wood smoke is strong enough that you will smell it in your home if your windows are open. You will smell it in your living room, you will smell it in your bedroom. You have no choice if you live in this nightmare city. You can breathe smoky air in your home or you can leave your windows closed all the time and live like a prisoner in your own home.

Tuesday 08/17/2010 Air Pollution

There was more wood and grass smoke in the air this evening. This was less than normal for North St. Paul, MN. It was not that bad. Just a little wood and grass smoke is about as good as it gets in this town. Don't you want your bedroom to smell like burning grass?

5:15 PM: No smoke of any kind. 78 degrees, sunny, a beautiful day.

6:30 PM: No smoke.

6:50 PM: Faint wood smoke. There is wood smoke in the air once again. I could smell it coming in the windows. It did not last long. The burning was very short in duration, possibly to dispose of something, or the breeze shifted direction and no longer brought the air pollution into our home.

7:00 PM: No wood smoke. The wood smoke from earlier is gone.

7:50 PM: No smoke.

8:15 PM: Faint grass smoke. Somebody is burning yard waste. I was lying in bed listening to music when I smelled grass smoke coming in the bedroom window. Close the windows! When I was done closing windows around the house the bedroom smelled of burning grass. Now I get to listen to music with the aroma of burning grass. Grass smoke in your bedroom is one of the joys of living in North St. Paul. Do you want to live in a city like this?

8:35 PM: A very faint trace of something is in the air. It is not strong enough to determine what it is. I can no longer smell grass smoke. There is no mistaking that there is some type of smoke pollution in the air.

9:00 PM: A very faint trace of some type of smoke continues. This would not be enough to close the windows. But it is a little unpleasant.

9:30 PM: A very faint trace of something continues.

11:10 PM: A very faint trace of some type of smoke and a trace of a sulfur smell is in the air. Last check of the evening.

When I woke at 1:30 AM the air was fresh and clear. Confident there would be no more burning tonight, I opened the windows to let mother nature cool the house.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Monday 08/16/2010 Air Pollution

4:20 PM: No smoke. Fresh air. How long will it last? 76 degrees measured at North High School. It is a beautiful summer day with a good breeze. It will be a nice evening to sit outside or sit inside and let the breeze flow through the house. Until the wood smoke starts.

6:00 PM: No smoke.

7:00 PM: No wood smoke. Very faint grill smoke from a distant griller at this time. There is no wood in it. I do not complain about grill smoke because it does not happen every day, is not a nuisance like wood smoke, and does not last as long as wood smoke. The air has never been filled with heavy grill smoke for 10 continuous hours like it often is with wood smoke.

8:00 PM: No wood smoke.

9:00 PM: No wood smoke. Not fresh air but close enough.

10:00 PM: No wood smoke. Where is it? I will set my alarm for 11:30 PM so I can check the air one last time before midnight.

11:45 PM: No wood smoke. The air is mostly clear. Last check of the evening. When I woke at 3 AM the air was nice and fresh. I opened a few windows at that time before going back to bed.

There was no wood smoke this evening. I am amazed there was no wood smoke pollution on such a beautiful late summer day. We witnessed a miracle. After five straight evenings with wood smoke, it was nice to have a break. Every day should be smoke-free like this one. Back in the late 1990s, it was like that. We never once had to worry about smoky air. We never once had to close the windows because of wood smoke that I can remember. We went to bed with the windows open most nights and could leave the windows open for weeks at a time. People burned grass and leaves back then, but not at the level they do now. Burning encourages more burning. That is why this city has become the smoky, polluted hell it is.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Sunday 08/15/2010 Air Pollution

12:02 PM: Light grass smoke. Somebody is burning yard waste. Close the windows! Every day somebody is burning something. If it isn't wood, it is grass, leaves or something else. It is cool and breezy at this time. The windows are open. Now it smells like burning grass inside the house. What more can you ask for in a city? 73 degrees, breezy, and gorgeous except for the grass smoke.

12:15 PM: No smoke. The grass burning is done or the wind shifted direction. I expect more burning grass before nightfall and plenty of wood smoke after that.

It was another evening with wood smoke in the air. This is the fifth evening in a row with wood smoke in the air. This is typical of North St. Paul.

4:55 PM: Light to moderate wood smoke varying with the breeze. Somebody is burning wood. The air is smoky again and likely will be for hours to come. Close the windows!

5:20 PM: Light wood smoke varying with the breeze. I think somebody may be grilling with wood as a primary fuel. 77 degrees and cloudy at this time.

6:00 PM: Light to moderate wood smoke varying with the breeze. The house would reek of wood smoke if the windows were left open. Do you want to breathe smoky air while watching TV in your living room? North St. Paul sucks! Horrible city!

6:45 PM: Faint wood smoke at this time.

7:15 PM: Faint wood smoke continues.

8:45 PM: The air is not fresh. That is easy to determine. There is some type of smokiness in the air. Probably wood smoldering from earlier burning. The air is unpleasant and I do not want that odor in the house.

10:00 PM: Air still not fresh.

11:00 PM: Air not fresh.

When I woke up around 3 AM there was a very faint unpleasant smokiness of some type in the air. I could hardly smell it but just enough to tell it was present. I don't want to breathe unpleasant air in bed so the windows will remain closed until morning.

Saturday 08/14/2010 Air Pollution

As usual, there was wood smoke in the air this evening. If you don't love smoky air, if you don't crave the smell of burning wood, grass, leaves, and paper, you will be miserable in the city of North Saint Paul, Minnesota. Smoky air is an every day condition of life in this town. This is the fourth evening in a row with wood smoke in the air.

4:30 PM: No smoke. I checked several times for burning grass today and noticed none. 84 degrees.

5:30 PM: A very faint trace of something is in the air. It is not strong enough to determine the type of smoke it is. It could be a grill, or wood, or another type of pollutant. The air is not fresh. But it isn't bad enough to close the windows if they were open. We can live with it. 84 degrees with 41% relative humidity.

6:30 PM: No smoke but the air is not fresh. It is breezy at this time. Too breezy to burn wood? Probably not.

7:00 PM: No smoke.

7:30 PM: Light wood smoke. Yes, somebody had to burn wood. There is a chance of rain in the forecast for tonight. I hope it rains. The rain will save us from the dangerous wood smoke pollution city council members Jan Walczak and Bob Bruton force us to breathe. If the windows were open they would need to be closed.

8:00 PM: Faint wood and grill smoke at this time.

9:00 PM: Light wood smoke.

9:30 PM: No smoke. It rained sometime between this time and the last check. Hopefully, that will put a damper on further wood burning for tonight.

10:00 PM: No smoke.

11:30 PM: No smoke.

When I woke up after 1 AM the air was clear. Rain was our savior tonight. It probably would have been a typical smoky hell of an evening otherwise.

When I got up Sunday morning it was 64 degrees outside. We left the windows closed and the air conditioning on all night. In this town you cannot sleep with the windows open. If you do, there is a good chance you will wake up with your house reeking of wood smoke. You never know when someone will start a bonfire at 1 AM. There has not been much of that this year. But there was a lot of it in years past. It is hard to sleep when you are breathing smoky air with every breath.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Friday 08/13/2010 Air Pollution

4:10 PM: No smoke. Rain clouds are above us. The weather forecast calls for rain and thunderstorms this evening. I am hoping for fresh air this evening delivered by the good graces of mother nature. Lord knows our city council will not give us unpolluted air. 84 degrees with dark clouds at this time.

4:17 PM: Faint wood smoke at this time. This city is unbelievable! Somebody -- and I think I know who -- had to sneak in a little burning before the rain. Rain drops are just starting to fall at this time with light rumbles of thunder. Not even seven minutes after last checking the air somebody started burning wood. I am getting ready for dinner and am not going out looking for it. This city is a smoky nightmare!

4:25 PM: No smoke. It is raining pretty good at this time. It rained for a few minutes while the sun was shining then it stopped.

5:00 PM: No smoke. Fresh air. How long will it last? As this is the city of North St. Paul, MN, probably not long.

5:45 PM: No smoke.

6:30 PM: No smoke.

7:00 PM: No smoke.

8:00 PM: No smoke.

9:00 PM: No smoke.

9:45 PM: Light wood smoke at this time. The smoke did not last long. The burning was short in duration or the breeze shifted direction.

10:00 PM: No real wood smoke. The air is not fresh. But we will gladly take it over the normal polluted air.

10:45 PM: No smoke. The air is not fresh. There is a very faint trace of something unidentifiable in it.

11:15 PM: No smoke. Last check of the evening.

When I woke up after midnight the air was clear. While we did have wood smoke tonight, as is usual in this town, it was a pretty weak night for wood smoke pollution. Fridays are usually very smoky. But one home in the area that usually had extremely smoky bonfires on Friday or Saturday nights is vacant because of foreclosure. This year has not been as smoky as last year. But it is still too smoky too often. Do you want to breathe smoky air every day? I do not think you do.

Thursday 08/12/2010 Air Pollution

It was hot today. But not hot enough to discourage someone from burning wood for a short while.

5:00 PM: No smoke. 91 degrees. Relative humidity is 54%. The air is not as heavy as it was yesterday.

6:00 PM: No smoke.

7:30 PM: Light wood smoke at this time. Somebody somewhere is burning wood. Whenever I venture out looking for wood smoke, I never have a problem finding it. Somebody is always burning wood in this smoky hell of a town. Prior to this time there was the smell of grilling in the air. The wood smoke did not last more than 15 minutes. The wood burning could be associated with the grilling. Or somebody could be burning some dead branches that were blown out of a tree. It is possible someone a quarter mile away started bonfire and the breeze brought the smoke to us for a while before changing direction. I don't care what the source of the wood smoke is. Smoky air is smoky air and we are sick of it!

8:00 PM: No smoke.

There was no wood smoke for the rest of the evening. We got off lucky tonight thanks to the heat.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Wednesday 08/11/2010 Air Pollution

Despite the heat and humidity wood smoke made a return this evening.

5:00 PM: No wood smoke. 91 degrees with 58% humidity.

7:00 PM: No smoke.

9:00 PM: Still no wood or grass smoke.

10:15 PM: No smoke.

10:45 PM: Light to moderate wood smoke. The all too familiar wood smoke pollution makes a comeback in North St. Paul, MN. It wouldn't be North St. Paul without air pollution. Wood smoke pollution is this city's trademark. The official mascot, the snowman, should be replaced with a flaming, smoky log. It would be more befitting of our community. Our air is smoky spring, summer, fall, and winter. We have snow only one season a year. We have smoky air all four seasons. Last check of the evening. When I woke around 2:45 AM the air was clear.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Tuesday 08/10/2010 Air Pollution

There was no wood or grass smoke pollution in the air this evening. It was hot, humid, and stormy. There was rain in the Twin Cities earlier in the day around 11 AM or afterward. It rained again for a minute or two around 4:30 PM, just enough to wet the driveway. The temperature at 5:30 PM was a very warm 88 degrees with high humidity. Severe storms were in the weather forecast for this evening and night. Storm clouds were already in the sky at 5:30 PM. I recall it started raining around 7 PM. By 10 PM, there was loud thunder and it was raining good.

A bad evening for bonfires means a good evening for all the rest of us who need to breathe the air.

Monday 08/09/2010 Air Pollution

There was no wood or grass smoke this evening. It was another hot and humid summer day. The official high temperature for the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area reached 95 degrees. Not many people have recreational bonfires when it gets this hot. It may have been hot and sticky, but at least we enjoyed some fresh air.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Sunday 08/08/2010 Air Pollution

There was no wood smoke this evening due to a thunderstorm and high temperatures. The official high temperature for the Minneapolis - St. Paul area reached 95 degrees. By 6:45 PM, loud thunder could be heard and rain followed.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Saturday 08/07/2010 Air Pollution

1:15 AM: A faint smoldering wood smoke is in the air.

4:00 AM: A very faint trace of smoldering wood smoke remains in the air.

6:00 AM: A very faint trace of smoldering wood smoke continues.

8:00 AM: A very faint trace of smoldering wood smoke continues. That makes almost 12 hours of wood smoke in the air.

5:00 PM: No wood smoke. 88 degrees and muggy. I do not know if there will be wood burning tonight with the temperature as high as it is.

8:40 PM: Light to moderate grass smoke. Somebody is burning grass clippings. 84 degrees.

8:50 PM: Yard waste smoke from earlier is gone. It did not last long from when it was first noticed.

9:25 PM: No smoke. The air is not fresh but I cannot smell any smoke in it. Windy at this time.

10:00 PM: No smoke, air not fresh.

10:50 PM: No smoke, air not fresh. Lightning in the clouds around this time.

11:30 PM: No smoke.

Midnight: No smoke.

The warmth and humidity and the storm moving in may have discouraged wood burning tonight. We got a good dose of grass smoke for a little while. So it was not a smoke-free evening. It started raining after midnight.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Friday 08/06/2010 Air Pollution

This city is a smoky hell of a nightmare once more! We made it five consecutive days without any wood smoke, a record for the city of North Saint Paul, Minnesota. High humidity and warm temperatures discouraged bonfire burning this past Monday and Tuesday. It rained heavily on Wednesday. Thursday was a miracle without wood smoke and last Sunday could count as a miracle as well. Wood smoke returns with a vengeance tonight!

6:00 PM: No wood smoke. 84 degrees. The windows are open. We are debating shutting them and turning on the air conditioning. A long stretch without wood smoke means tonight will be smoky as hell.

7:00 PM: No smoke.

8:00 PM: No smoke.

8:15 PM: Strong wood and grass smoke! It is smoky as hell outside! Close the windows and turn on the air conditioning. People are burning wood, brush, and yard waste. We are now paying the price for enjoying a stretch of fresh air! It will be smoky as hell all night long. The city of North St. Paul is hell on earth! Thanks for the polluted air Jan Walczak and Bob Bruton. You are evil for making us breathe this heavily polluted air! 79 degrees. An otherwise beautiful summer evening is ruined by smoke from the burning of wood and yard waste. As usual!

8:35 PM: Moderate wood and yard waste smoke continues.

9:15 PM: Moderate wood smoke continues. Moderately strong wood smoke in the back yard and light wood smoke in the front.

10:30 PM: Light wood smoke.

11:25 PM: Faint to light wood smoke.

The wood smoke continued well after midnight. At 8 AM the next morning a very faint trace of smoldering wood smoke could be smelled in the air.

Thursday 08/05/2010 Air Pollution

There was no wood smoke this evening. The evening air was not fresh but no wood smoke could be detected. The temperature was 80 degrees at 4:30 PM dropping to 75 degrees by 8 PM. It was a refreshing 70 degrees at 11 PM. It was a beautiful cool summer evening that was not ruined by wood smoke as most of our evenings are. Usually, if the temperature is mild enough to open the windows our air is smoky. Not tonight. I cannot explain the absence of wood smoke. I am only glad we got to enjoy the evening.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Wednesday 08/04/2010 Air Pollution

There was no wood smoke this evening. We had pouring rain just after 8:30 PM. Everything was too wet to burn.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Tuesday 08/03/2010 Air Pollution

5:00 PM: No smoke. 93 degrees, humid. I am not expecting any wood smoke tonight with the temperature as high as it is.

5:45 PM: No wood smoke. Cloudy.

6:30 PM: No wood smoke. 90 degrees.

There was no wood smoke this evening. The air was delightfully and unusually fresh. As the temperature dropped during the evening, I stepped outside for a while to enjoy the warm evening air and take several deep breaths of air. It was very nice not to smell wood smoke pollution in the air.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Monday 08/02/2010 Air Pollution

6:00 PM: No smoke. 86 degrees, partly cloudy, and very humid right now. It is like a sauna outside.

National Night Out is tomorrow, August 3rd, 2010. The event is being held at Christ Lutheran Church at 2475 17th Ave. Abutting the church driveway on 19th Ave. is a garage and behind the garage is a firepit. The guy in the wheelchair who lives there has had many smoky fires over the past few years. It would be nice if he burned some wood while the event was taking place so all the attendees could breathe smoky air like we have to breathe every day.

There was no wood smoke this evening. The air was fresh with not a trace of anything in it. It was warm and very humid. There are not many bonfires when conditions are as uncomfortable as they are today.

Sunday 08/01/2010 Air Pollution

12:45 AM: Faint wood smoke at this time. Last check of the night.

5:15 PM: No wood smoke. 86 degrees, mostly cloudy and a little muggy.

Will the air be smoky tonight? Last Sunday was smoky as hell. It was misery with very high levels of air pollution. Last Sunday was one of the worst of the summer. Sundays tend to be one of the smokier days of the week.

6:10 PM: No smoke. Completely cloudy now. It looks like it could rain at any minute, but rain is not in the forecast until after midnight and during the morning hours tomorrow.

7:30 PM: A very faint something is in the air. I cannot say it is wood smoke, so it does not count as wood smoke.

8:35 PM: The air is not fresh but I cannot smell anything in it.

9:55 PM: No wood smoke. The air is mostly fresh. We still have time for the wood smoke to reveal itself this evening. The current temperature is 81 degrees and it is humid. Our windows are not open. Even still, I hope the air remains smoke-free tonight. I just stepped outside for a breath of air. You cannot do that when the air is smoky.

11:10 PM: No smoke. A sprinkle of rain prior to this time.

There was no wood smoke this evening. Heavy wood smoke last Sunday, none this Sunday. It rained lightly for a few minutes after 11 PM and the driveway was all wet by midnight. It is possible the rain discouraged recreational bonfire burners this evening. Rain was not in the forecast until after midnight, but it looked like it could rain at any time most of the evening.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

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I want the entire world to know that our evil city council members Bob Bruton, Terry Furlong, Dave Zick, and Jan Walczak make elderly people and little babies breathe heavily polluted air.

Are you an elderly person who has a respiratory disease and find it very difficult to breathe when the air is smoky? Bob Bruton does not care. He supports recreational wood burning. He does not care how difficult it is for you to breathe. I have suffered from shortness of breath because of the heavy wood smoke in this town. If the smoke is hard on me, it will be much harder on someone twenty years my senior.

Are you concerned about your baby's developing lungs being exposed to soot, ash, tar, and cancer-causing chemicals in wood smoke? Jan Walczak does not care. She's got wood burners all around her and small children living around her, too. I would think that being a mother she would be concerned about the health and welfare of children living in the community she represents. But she does not care. Her child is grown and her mothering instinct, if she ever had one, which I doubt, no longer exists.

The only thing that is going to make these four idiot politicians do something about the terrible wood smoke pollution problem is public shame. That is why me, my family, and everyone who values clean air needs your help drawing attention to this problem.

If you had to breathe smoky air almost every day, you would be angry, too. So forgive my tone. We have suffered for years because of the terrible wood smoke pollution problem in North St. Paul, MN, and the city council has refused to do a thing.