9:00 PM: It drizzled earlier, there is a little drizzle here and there, and would you believe that it is smoky outside? What is wrong with the people in this city? I felt quite certain there would be no burning tonight given how damp everything is. The air is moderately smoky at this time. Wood smoke is all you can smell outside. It is 52 degrees. Would someone have a fireplace going in May? I would love to leave the window open a crack for some fresh air, but I can't because it is so damn smoky!
I am beginning to hate this city. If anyone out there reading this is considering moving to North St. Paul, DON'T! You will regret it. If the powers that be ever get around to eliminating all the wood burning, then I would recommend moving here. It is an otherwise great town. But if you want to live in North St. Paul, you've got to love the smell of burning wood. Because you are going to smell it every day with very few exceptions.
11:00 PM: No more wood smoke. I know what a grill smells like, and the smoke from earlier was not grill smoke. It was wood. I did smell grill smoke twice earlier, but I don't mind it.
I don't object to grill smoke because the duration of grilling is not that long. I have never experienced smoky air from grilling for periods of six hours or longer the way I have with wood smoke. I do not know anyone who grills every day, either. Grill smoke isn't as much of a nuisance. It doesn't burn my sinuses, make me nauseous, nor does it smoke up an entire neighborhood the way recreational or fireplace burning does. I have a neighbor who likes to grill every weekend. All I have to do is close the windows for 30 minutes or so until he is done.
I don't object to cigarette smoke, either. There is a neighbor down the street who smokes. In the mornings I can sometimes smell the smoke from the cigarette wafting down along the row of houses. The duration is short, only three to five minutes, so it isn't much to complain about. The combustible mass of a cigarette is nothing compared to that of a log. Burning wood creates much more smoke than a tiny little cigarette.
It perplexes me that cigarette smoking is banned indoors in the entire state but the recreational burning of wood is not. I would rather not be inundated with cigarette smoke. If I had a visitor who lit up a cigarette inside the house, he would promptly be ejected. You can avoid cigarette smoke by not going to places where there is smoking. But you cannot avoid wood smoke in this town. It blankets your entire neighborhood. You can't even avoid it in your own home unless you seal up everything air tight.
Something has to be done about the frequent burning of wood. If not during the winter, then certainly from April through October when windows can be opened.