Sorry to hear that you are in that very unlucky group!

I am so sorry. I feel like Canada just cannot catch a break. Hugs.

We did get to go sailing. The AQI dropped down to 49, and the visibility increased to about a mile. Not great for boating, especially with all the speedboats. But we hugged the shoreline and stayed out of harm's way. What was so disconcerting was that about 2 miles out you could see this epic wall of smog. They the wind was blowing at the the time, it wasn't moving towards us. However, it was so gut wrenching because all of that toxic ash is just falling into the lake. The Great Lakes represent 22.5% of the entire planet's fresh water. So this is a very serious situation. I cried for a little bit. I am a bred, born, and raised Michigander, a member of a clan of people who revere these waters, and when no one agrees on any kind of politics, the ones thing that brings us all together is our gorgeous nature and these lakes, these inland seas. I know Ottakee feels that just as acutely as I do as a Lake Michigan dweller. Here is a picture of our middle son on the bow assisting with crewing the ship. You can see how grey the sky is, as if a storm is brewing up in the distance. It wasn't... All smoke. This lake is normally a gorgeous blue, almost light turquoise, with vibrant blue skies. Everything was grey. AQI at home right now is down to 44, and I can really feel the difference in my sinuses. Hoping everyone has clearer air tomorrow! Be safe. Farrar, I say drive somewhere else and breathe deep.

I am happy you are getting relief, but the west side has been so hammered, I really wish a low number for you tomorrow.

We talked with the harbormaster again this morning. Visibility is ebtter, and air quality is 51. He said if we stick within 1/4 mile to at most 1/2 mile of shore, we should be able sail safely. Any further out, and the visibility drops. So our sons are helping Mark hook up the trailer lights now. If nothing else, we are going to get out of the channel, onto the lake itself, and if we can't go very far, drop anchor and eat lunch on the boat. After that, we will put Ina Belle back in her slip, and just keep a watch on visibility and air quality for the next three days. Any time it improves enough to be safe, we will run up hoist the sails, and get whatever sailing time in that we can. The kids all have a three day weekend over Labor Day, and they have p.t.o. they can take, so they are thinking of taking Friday off as well. If they do that, they can come home Thursday night after work, and sail on Friday and Saturday, kayak on Sunday, go home Monday IF weather permits all of that. Hopefully the Canadian Wildfires are done by then. I hope that not just for us, but for our Canadian neighbors as well. I cannot imagine just how awful this must be for them! Thanks!!

Agreed. But to be honest, our government is run by corporations. We may as well change the name to, "The United Corporations of America" and at least be honest about it. The wealthy run the nation for their own ends. All the things they need they will get from us, the peasants, by force of power and without compensation or little compensation eventually. There is no motivation for the powers that be to change anything. The current failed state works epically well for their own ends. What absolutely astounds me is how much the voters constantly side with their own dollars being used to bailout our overlords while hating each other and their own kids so much, they are against even the most simple, common sense measures that could help their own children and grandchildren. It is like they enjoy being beaten down by their oppressors. The mentality is just so disturbing to me.

I.do.not.watch.the.news. Too much unnecessary drama. I read the news, WaPo, NPR, PBS, The Atlantic. I totally agree with OP.

I think that if Marjorie Taylor Greene and many other business owners got their PPP loans forgiven to the tune of 757 billion, then it is disgusting that it is somehow wrong to forgive some young folks caught up in the insanity of college tuition outpacing wages by 400%+ so that they can begin eating something besides ramen noodles, and begin participating in the economy, then our country is just nothing but a dumpster fire. Of course, that isn't the only SCOTUS move that makes me think we should have the big national fire sale and let some other countries buy the pieces parts, and see if they can do better. The entire banking industry during the Great Recession got bailed out for their own damn predatory, stupid, loan practices that they know full well was going to come back to bite them in the butt leaving the tax payers dealing with the consequences. 700 billion dollars into the direct hands of depraved economic monsters. But a young adult trying to get their head above water doesn't get jack. That is how I feel. What I want to know is once the Silent Generation and Boomers are dead, who the hell do the oligarchs plan on selling their crap to in order to keep getting rich?

Heart, I would not give up a pet rock for your ex! 😁 You are doing great. Keep your chin up!

The music teacher wins. Seriously. I know a lot of kids who entered their twenties permanently injured from playing "through the pain" to sports. The ortho walk in might be a good place to start for just a basic evaluation. But then pursue it with someone from Physicians for Musicians. It is a nationwide organization of docs who specialize in musicians issues. I think you can look up practitioners by state. My specialist retired and then passed away. I really miss him. Now I have to travel to Chicago if anything goes wrong. I am trying to get one of the docs with ortho at Beaumont/Corewell in Royal Oak to get more specialized for musicians. I know several members of the DSO who also go to Chicago for treatment, so someone in the Detroit/Ann Abortative corridor really needs to get on board. There are some sports !medicine physical therapists who do have the knowledge to work with musicians.

Depends on the harbor master. Over on Lake Michigan they had some near misses at St. Joseph's because the smog was so bad boats couldn't see each other coming from the harbor into the marina. There was a DNR request that everyone consider staying off the water. We have not had an update here on Lake Huron except that they were asking people to consider not engaging in activity that would cause more pollution and that included not driving or idling motors. Due to how tight the channel is, we have to use the gas motor just to get out of the channel. Too protected, not enough air to sail in and out. Once on open water, then we can sail. So there is that, and we have a 20 minute drive to the marina. Then there is the issue of safety. It would be easy to be rammed by a speedboat if the visibility is bad. So I doubt we can make the call until tomorrow, and of course we need to consider the weight of opinion from the harbor master who gets his information from the Coast Guard.

Back up, sigh. 151 and an extension of the warning to 12 am Sunday. I don't think we are going sailing. It is also too late to get a real fund on the boat slip. I am feeling a bit down at the moment. All of our adult kids in town foe the weekend, and if doesn't improve.a.bunch, we will be huddled up indoors.

It got down to 77 at one point last night after being 215 during the afternoon. It is 118 now. The prediction is it will get better this afternoon. I really hope so. Our adult kids are coming in from out of town, and we reserved a transient boat slip at the marina so we could take everyone sailing. No refund if we have to cancel. In the grand scheme of things, not a big deal, and yet, everyone is looking forward to it, and I had been planning a cookout at the beach afterward. I really enjoy sailing, and we have not been this season. In other news, one of the area high school football coaches held football practice outdoors in that 215 aqi, and told the parents if their kids didn't come they were "Pansy asses". The community facebook news page for the school reported it from more than one parent so I suspect the report is accurate. My thoughts were, " How narcissistic and stupid is he?" and "The liability insurance of the school must be crying in the corner." I would say from the comments that very few sent their kids. Apart from the aqi issue, why in the heck is football practice starting only two weeks after school let out? Don't these kids get even a small summer break?

It is down to 77. I tell there is a big change even though I am not outside.

That is where I am at. It is one thing to be in trades in a large construction firm with the opportunity to move into management when the rotor cuffs, knees, and back give out in the mid 40's which often happens in trades. But a very bad situation when one works for self or a small business because there isn't anyway to keep working and not continue busting up the body. I do think automotive seems to have enough lifts, hoists, speciality tools, etc. that a person's body might last a good bit longer. The other issue with self employment and small business employment tends to be health insurance and retirement accounts. Lots to consider.

This is my fear as well! He is an abuser, I am convinced. Sicko.

My niece in law has a construction management degree from Michigan State U. She works for a huge, commercial construction firm on the beast coast. The degree is designed not so much for small business contractors, but for management of huge projects, big budget projects. It is all about coordinating all of the details, the subs, the orders, the bids, etc. She spends hours on the phone doing things like telling an art museum that a certain Italian marble for their staircase is totally NOT in their budget. Some of her projects will have hundreds of workers from numerous companies. It is a tremendous amount of business management that is specific to one industry, and yet also requires a lot of construction, technical knowledge. Sometimes she gets antsy because she doesn't get to build anything. This usually causes her to start some sort of remodeling project at their house so she can be hands on. She took five years to get her degree, and got hired with a smaller firm first, but also on then east coast. She got a good salary and reasonable benefits. After about three years of experience, she was able to get in with her current company. Better salary. Better benefits. She has been promoted several times in the 18 years since graduation.

I agree. Advising at three out of four of the schools our kids attended was a joke. Our youngest went to a school that was not a flagship, smaller, more community oriented. All students were assigned an advisor in their major. Ds's was the chair of the electrical engineering department who ran a tight ship, and gave not only great advice, he also advocated heavily to help put his students forward in the industry ad well as keeping them on track to graduate in four years. We could not have been happier. Ds had a marvelous experience. Eldest ds was very good at figuring out everything all on his own, and figuring out how to get the experiences he needed to get started in his career which was goos because he didn't have an advisor with a clue until his senior year. Middle boy was assigned as series of absolutely incompetent advisors whom I truly believe received financial kickbacks for deliberately trying to prevent students from getting the necessary coursework to graduate. It was so bad that student banded together to sue the college. I had issues when I was in school though. I was assigned an advisor from the psychology department. I was a piano performance major! He knew nothing. Absolutely nothing. He tried to set up my schedule the field very first semester without theory 1 and piano lessons which meant I would automatically flunk out since so wouldn't be ready for my freshman jury, and this would not only put me back a year, I would have also lost my scholarships. I had to petition HARD to get an advisor in the music department. Thankfully, the chair of the department who was on the committee when I auditioned, went of on the dean of students and whomever else needed a chewing out for refusing to let me change advisors, signed off on a new schedule for me, and kept me as one of the students he advised. Despite being 18, and despite college administrators wanting parents to butt out, our kids need us because we can see when things are going off due to our life experience, and they may not see it for themselves or may need advice on how to advocate for themselves.

No, I know that. I know you better than that! I was just kind voicing my anxiety without thinking how it came across. I am having a hard time getting my 87 year old, fragile mother in law indoors. My issue, not yours at all. Sorry about that!

I live in an area with a lot of seniors, many having health problems so EMS is answering a lot of calls for oxygen, transporting for breathing treatments. Tons of seniors here do not have air conditioners or any kind of good filtration in these old houses so the smoke just seeps into their homes.

I cannot imagine out jogging in this! Ugh. Not good.

222 this morning. Ugh. I am getting low on n95 masks. Time to stock up.

Carol is wise. If I could unload that which I actively hate, a lot of other things would be happening around here! Mark's schedule just does not lend itself to getting off work in time to worry about cooking during the week. But he is doing more on the weekends and that is helping my mental health. If I could off load more of my mother and mother in law duties, I wouldn't resent cooking, meal planning, and grocery shopping so much.

Many areas of Michigan have been on the decline for a long time.

That is the catch 22 here.