5:00 AM: DAMMIT! Someone is burning wood! Heavy wood smoke at this time. Cracked the bathroom window to get some ventilation for bathing and was greeted by the putrid stench of burning wood!
I do not know how long the air has been smoky this morning. It could be hours by now. To give you an idea of how strong the wood smoke is, I could taste it when I stuck my head out the back door. I do not know if it is from a recreational fire or a fireplace. I assume it is a fireplace since it is 52 degrees at this hour. Or maybe someone left a bonfire smoldering all night. It does not matter. A fireplace pollutes the air just like a recreational fire does. It is now summer. Nobody needs to use a fireplace in June!
I did see a bonfire at around 5:30 AM once two or three years ago. Nothing surprises me in this town when it comes to the burning of wood.
Many people probably have their windows open. Those people are waking up to a house that reeks of burning wood. Kids getting ready for school are having to breathe smoky air. Years ago before wood burning got out of control in this city, we would have left our windows open all night, too (and would love to be able to do so again). We learned years ago that you cannot leave your windows open at night in this city because you never know when someone will be polluting the air with wood smoke. It happens far too often. Waking up to the choking stench of wood smoke in the middle of the night is not pleasant. It isn't pleasant at 5 AM, either.
6:00 AM: Strong wood smoke continues. Leaving soon. Who knows how long the wood smoke will last. Luckily, I will be someplace where there isn't any wood smoke!
The only way to escape wood smoke in North St. Paul is to leave the city.
8:00 PM: Faint wood smoke for five minutes at this time. No wood smoke before this time, and no wood smoke after.
I checked the air a couple of times after going to bed until midnight. No wood smoke.
This day had heavy wood smoke in the early morning and almost none in the evening.