Apocalyptic Aftermath

Remember how my clinic on Sunday was canceled due to a completely random lightning storm overnight? Well, this story is similar.

Once again, I woke up yesterday morning at 5am ready to ride my horse. I've been getting up early all week to ride before I start teaching/working so that I could avoid the heat. I sleepily put in my contacts, started getting dressed, then thought to look at the air quality app I downloaded the night before. I then put my pjs back on and went back to bed.

We are surrounded here in the bay

So, the lightning over Saturday night struck mostly out in the Pacific, but apparently about 10,000 lightning strikes struck ground. Some of those started fires. There are now 364 fires burning in California, most from lightning strikes. By Tuesday night, the fires in the bay area were growing rapidly and we started seeing the effects in the areas that were not directly burning: smoke.

On Tuesday evening, the poor SO (who had moved here when there was no global pandemic and when the state wasn't on fire) got to experience smoke for the first time. He walked outside and told me that our neighbors must be barbecuing. I said no, that's the smoke. The air quality index was already in the mid 100s where we lived, but I looked where TC was and it was still around 60. That's okay to ride in, we stop riding and exercising over 100.

I hoped for good winds, realizing that my barn was legit surrounded by fires so there was no place that wind could blow to keep the smoke away.

Not sure if you can tell because he's gray, but
TC was covered in ash on Wednesday

Wednesday morning at 5am, the AQI was 160 where we live and 195 where TC was. Which is why I went back to bed. I chatted with my client I teach in the mornings and her lesson was obviously cancelled. I did go down and take TC out, gave him his ulcerguard, and gave him a bath. As I drove home, I got an email from the show this weekend saying that it was cancelled. I also chatted with my clients and we basically decided to cancel my clinic this weekend (second one in a row).

So now we wait for the fires to get under control, the smoke to clear, life to go back to normal. And by normal I mean pandemic normal. I mean, can I just go outside and not get covered in ash and smell like a campfire.

AQI in the south bay looking terrible
on Wednesday

We are very lucky to not be directly effected by the fires though and for that I'm grateful. It makes complaints about ash, smoke, and having to take time off of riding seem so trivial. Having to evacuate in general is no fun, but for this fire season, we're in a global pandemic too, meaning that the number of places to evacuate to is limited.

2020 has been an absolutely horrendous year, even just with the pandemic. But add into that the heat waves, the lightning, the fires, the smoke... it's just a bit too much at this point.