2:17 PM: Faint odor of burning grass. I happened to be around today to notice it. I smelled it as I was at the computer looking up phone numbers for my campaign to pressure the city council to do the right thing and end this horrible wood smoke pollution problem. I've been running behind schedule. I wanted to get started first thing this week. No hurry. The wood smoke will be around. It has been for years and will be for years to come unless something is done about it.
4:37 PM: Pouring rain. Hopefully, everything will be too wet to burn allowing us a rare evening without wood smoke.
5:00 PM: The rain has stopped and the sun is shining again. It looks like our hopes for a smoke-free evening have been dashed. We will see. I bet that wet wood will be extra smoky.
6:00 PM: No wood smoke.
8:00 PM: No wood smoke yet. Only wonderful fresh air. It's a beautiful, cool summer evening. 68 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.
9:00 PM: No wood smoke.
10:00 PM: No wood smoke.
11:00 PM: No wood smoke. Last check of the evening.
We got lucky today. This was the first day without wood smoke in the past seven days. We got six days of smoky air and one day of fresh air in the past week. This is how we live in North St. Paul, MN.