My dogs woke me at 2am, barking in the backyard. I got out my flashlight and the smoke was so thick that the light could only penetrate about 10 feet.
I'm in southern Oregon and we had a lightning storm that set off hundreds of wildfires nearby. The smoke wasn't bad when I went to bed, so I was really scared to see it so thick. I already had the windows closed, but I had the house fan running. I had to turn the fan off because the filter wasn't catching the smoke and the house is reeking.
I called our local hotline and they said no fire danger, so, whew. Our air quality is currently Unhealthy, inching towards Very Unhealthy. Because there are so many different fires, it's hard to know where the smoke is coming from or how long it will last.
Although we are not in imminent danger, I do have a Go Bag ready by the front door (food, dog food, journal, tablet, chargers, essential papers) and my car is stocked with water.
I tried, but was unable to fall back asleep. Usually there are mountain views from our windows; today it's just gray. I get very antsy not being able to walk or bike or swim. My plan was to take the dogs and drive to the coast but my hip is hurting - no way I can drive the 3 hours, and there is no closer place to get out of this smoke. DH is gigging out of state, so I'm on my own.
I need to get a better furnace filter, and I'll go to the gym to work off some of my jitters. I'll probably spend some time at the library, just to get out of the house. The dogs get crazy too; I'll have to strap on the smoke mask and walk them at some point.
We had over a month of this last summer, and I'm feeling anxiety that I'll be trapped like that again.
Thank you for listening. I think lack of sleep is making me feel particularly frantic and helpless in this situation.