Smoke Filled Skies

For the past couple of weeks, it has been very rainy and very humid.  On the occasional day of some partial sun, the sun has been mostly obscured by California wildfire smoke.  When I awoke this morning at 6am, I looked out the window to see this...  

The sun was barely illuminating our neighborhood through an eerie yellowish, hazy smoke.  More often than not, we are shrouded in dense fog in the mornings but the fog on any other normal day is a neutral gray color.  We now have an eerie yellowish haze almost constantly this summer.  It is mostly noticeable in the early mornings and early evenings when the sun is low but the haze is also quite visible on the rare midday sunny day because it noticeably cuts down on visibility.  I can't put my finger on it but this smoke just appears different than typical haze.  

The moon was shrouded in this yellowish, hazy smoke last night too.  I didn't get a photo of it though.  I was feeling rather lousy last night so I had no desire to grab a camera and head outside.  Instead, I got up and headed to bed. 

Astronomy has been impossible this summer due to the wildfire smoke.  I haven't even been able to see any details on the surface of our sun on the few occasions I attempted to view the sun when it appears to be clear.  I take a telescope outside and then I am back inside within minutes because there is nothing to see.  

My health has been rather lousy for the past few weeks, I assume, due to the excessive heat and especially the excessive humidity.  This combination always makes breathing difficult and the past few weeks have been no exception.  My O2 levels have been in the upper 80s to low 90s, which is pretty lousy.  When you can't breath well, you have zero energy.  Your muscles simply aren't getting enough oxygen.  Of course, I'm not sleeping well either because I've also had excruciating bone and joint pain.  The pain and breathing difficulties have been keeping me up at night so I'm constantly exhausted.  Since I'm so sleep deprived, I can't get a thing accomplished during the days even when I do find a short burst of energy.  I just bounce from one thing to another within minutes.  I can't seem to focus and my brain is in a bit of a fog.  Haha...  maybe it's California smoky fog!  

When the climate is consistently in the 80s and above, I also have difficulty with nausea.  This nausea comes in combination with gastrointestinal issues.  Combine that with breathing problems and excruciating pain and you have some really fun times.  This, for the most part, has been my summer this year.

Anyway, while we are waiting for this heatwave to break so my health problems can mellow out and I can begin to recover, here is a quick photo of our smoky morning.