It was a dreary, rainy day. It is also a little smoky this evening.
5:10 PM: No wood smoke. 61 degrees, cloudy. We had some drizzling rain earlier today.
9:15 PM: No wood smoke yet. Will we get lucky and have fresh air all evening? Everything is wet. It looks like it recently rained a little more. 62 degrees.
9:50 PM: Still no wood smoke.
10:55 PM: Faint to light wood smoke. Wouldn't you know, the air is smoky. I thought we could make it through the night without any wood smoke with the rain and uncooperative weather. No such luck in North St. Paul. If the air isn't smoky, it's a miracle. Tonight's wood smoke could be a bonfire or a fireplace. A fireplace in June? Somebody is always burning something in this town. If they aren't burning it outside, you will often find them burning inside.
11:55 PM: Light wood smoke. 62 degrees. With the temperature like this, we would in a normal city leave the windows open a little all night. Not around here. You never know how strong the wood smoke is going to get. Waking up in the middle of the night to a house that reeks of wood smoke is no fun. But if you want to live in North St. Paul and want to leave your windows open, you better get used to it.