Northern California friend says air quality is poor in the Bay Area

[librarycard]

due to fires in Oregon and Big Sur area. What is any DUer in this region experiencing?

[Demobrat]

1. Beautiful sunsets the last few days

because of all the smoke in the air.

[EFerrari]

4. The moon has been orange.

:scared:

[Demobrat]

38. The sun too.

Especially at the end of the day.

[Gormy Cuss]

39. Yep. That's how I knew the smoke level increased again.

The sunsets have been gorgeous. Today it's hazy in the inner East Bay but it doesn't smell smoky.

[NuttyFluffers]

41. yes, beautiful sunsets. better than usual, and they are usually stunning.

and since i usually spend my time indoors or on BART or in a car it doesn't really bother me much. still feel bad, Big Sur was gorgeous. had a nasty head cold rapidly developing into ear infection for both ears two weeks ago. and noticed a lot of people getting chest colds. but all this is just likely from the weakened immune system trying to filter out the excess smoke. yet a little Zicam and silver and away my sickness ended in less than a week (normally i suffer far longer. i was starting to lose balance on the second day and looked like i needed a medical visit). so other than that, it's all good here. if we're lucky a nice fluke shower could come and help out everyone.

[Muttocracy]

2. NWS has air quality alert over a lot of Calif.

http://nws.noaa.gov/

[jgraz]

3. It's been bad around Berkeley.

I'm having a lot more allergy symptoms, but the worst effect seems to be on the poor birds. I'm fostering four parrots right now, and they're all sneezing despite having an air purifier.

Of course, most birds aren't lucky enough to be kept inside with an air filter. We almost lost 500 conures at three breeder sites in the Sierras.

[librarycard]

5. cherry-headed conures?

are being bred in the Sierras?

I hope your foster parrots make it through this bad spell.

[jgraz]

9. It's unclear what the breeds are

There are several large breeding operations (i.e. "parrot mills") in eastern Cali. If they follow the pattern of most bird breeders, they'll be mostly Green Cheeks and other small conures, since that's what they can offload on pet stores. They'll probably have a few Suns, Cherry Heads and Blue Crowns as well, since they are popular.

We're trying to work right now to bring cruelty charges against one of the breeders. She refused to evacuate her birds, even though they were becoming ill from the smoke. We don't know how many she lost, but all of her birds certainly suffered needlessly. If we can get enough documentation, we may be able to shut her down. :grr:

This is the kind of thing that should be outlawed but sadly, most people focus on dogs and cats and ignore these poor birds.

[librarycard]

12. Did you see "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill"?

I had the impression that those wild parrots had been brought in from other countries. Now they're being bred in CA?

I can't believe there isn't a law in the U.S. to protect these captive birds. She sounds like the aviary version of Michael Vick....just out for the buck.

[EFerrari]

16. There are wild flocks now -- in San Francisco and in Berkeley.

One used to hang out in front of my Berkeley home at the corner of Berkeley Way and Acton back in the late 80s. Beautiful, beautiful birds. :)

[jgraz]

19. Yes. That's one of the feral flocks we work with.

We take in injured and sick birds from the SF flock, get them healthy and adopt them out to trained caregivers (we're not allowed to release them back to the wild since they're non-native).

It's illegal to import wild-caught birds to the US (and most other countries), so all young parrots come from breeders. Even though these birds are at the intelligence and emotional level of a three or four year old child, there are virtually no regulations on who can be a parrot breeder. I could start a breeding operation in my basement today if I wanted to. :(


EDIT: Link to our site: http://www.mickaboo.org

[EFerrari]

21. Do you trap them? Wow.

I could foster in a pinch. My mom and I helped shut down the guy who was selling them at the Monterey flea market in San Jose. It was an accident that we did but at least the birds weren't kept under the sun in those little cages all weekend. :grr:

[jgraz]

26. No, we just take the ones who are too injured/sick to fly.

They go to the vet, get patched up and go into a foster facility. If you're interested in fostering, definitely let me know. We have a HUGE need for foster homes -- the fires have really overtaxed us.

If you did decide to foster, you would probably get a pair of budgies or lovebirds, unless you had special experience with a particular species. You'd also have to take our orientation class and get a home inspection to avoid any dangers (mostly we look for hazards like toxins and non-stick pans).

PM me if you're interested. :)

[EFerrari]

27. Then I'm probably not a good candidate because I could only have

caged guys who need to be contained and watched. Cats.

I had two lovebirds that I rescued from the Monterey Road jerk, loose and chomping on my books -- and on everything else, lol, for some years until I found a family that had a bigger place with no cats. This is George riding my good dog like a surfboard. When he lived with us, George OWNED the place. :)



I'm good at giving meds and stuff and I've never lost a camper. But, I couldn't have them loose in this current situation. It wouldn't be safe.

[EFerrari]

31. George and Gracie, paper shredders. Gracie had two clutches

while she lived with me. She shredded my coupon drawer and made her nest there. lol

[jgraz]

33. VERY CUTE birdies!! Here's some more info for you:

Our biggest need is housing for budgies. They're tiny and can stay caged for the most part. If you sign up to foster, we provide a cage and cover all vet bills. It's only if you adopt one that you are responsible for all expenses.

No pressure: I just want you to have the info. DON'T decide to do this unless you're really ready. Even little budgies take a commitment -- though, admittedly, they're orders of magnitude easier than our larger birds.

They are damn cute, though. :D

[EFerrari]

35. I will think on it. Giving up George and Gracie was hard

even if I knew they were going to a really great home. But, I am used to the fostering drill, paying good attention and then, wishing the guys well.

Mom kept budgies. Her favorite used to answer the phone with her, supervise our cooking and learned to cuss out my brother -- "Stop it, Gene, dammit!" -- you haven't lived until your budgies dive bombed a formal luncheon for your local Real Estate Board.

lol

They're charming. Thanks for your work, jgraz.

[librarycard]

44. Is feather plucking a nervous habit? Is it a habit for life?

The site says the organization can't take more birds due to funding.

I'll send a few bucks your way to help w/what you have. Are you getting any grants from Bay Area foundations, as museums like the Exploratorium are so reliant on?

[jgraz]

46. No, feather plucking does not have to be lifelong, but the effects can be.

It's definitely a neurotic stress reaction (called "displacement behavior"), much like us biting our nails. A bird who's plucked for years might have damaged follicles that have stopped producing new feathers. However, we're starting to understand the causes of feather damage and beginning to make progress helping birds who do it.

I can give you TONS of information on how to do that, but if you're really interested you can start by looking up 'captive bird foraging'. Let me know if you want more and I'll be happy to bury you with info. ;)

As far as donations: THANK YOU! As you can imagine, our vet bills are staggering. Avian vets can cost up to 5x what a mammal vet does. I'd be happy to help you find a way to donate. One thing that we do is to become "Angels" for certain birds, committing to cover their vet bills. These are treated as non-profit donations (for taxes), and can make the difference on whether we can take in a bird.

Check out the website -- http://www.mickaboo.org/howtohelp.html -- and see if there's anything there that interests you (sorry about the embedded frames, we're workin on it). PM me and I'll speak with my girlfriend who's much more involved with the fundraising end of things (I mostly do tech).

And thanks again for your kind offer. This has been a tough few months with foreclosures and the CA fires. The birdies are really having a tough time of it.

[WillyT]

6. Oh... It's Way Worse Than You Think...

Link (.pdf file): http://www.fire.ca.gov/downloads/incidents/StatewideFireMap_071208_am.pdf

And it was worse than that a week ago.

:shrug:

[librarycard]

7. My friend is in Solano Co, so Big Sur had little to do with it

Thanks for the map. The major fires are all north of her.

[WillyT]

11. I'm In Sacramento, And The Entire Valley Is Filled With Smoke !!!

On Wednesday and Thursday at around 2 in the afternoon, it was down to the ground.

The sun was completely red in the morning (you could look straight at it), and in the later part of the day you could barely see it, and it was casting no shadow.

I'm experiencing an allergic reaction to me entire state, LOL!!!

Ah well... my country has been making me sick for 7 1/2 years now, so...

:evilgrin:

:hi:

[librarycard]

14. I hear it's very hot out there as well

the heat coupled with smoke has got to be tough to cope with if you're asthmatic.

[shanti]

25. hmmm

it seems a lot better to me today than it HAS been...:shrug:

[ColbertWatcher]

8. Pic showing fog and smoke from fires (LA Times)...

[The Straight Story]

10. It's worse than smoke in bars

:)

[librarycard]

13. You can smoke in bars in CA?

[The Straight Story]

15. no, if you want second hand smoke/pollution you have to go outside

and just breathe :)

[EFerrari]

17. There was a little hole in the wall on my way home from work

in North Beach were the bar tender would give us ashtrays and tell us we were on our own if the police came. Only us bad @sses hung out there -- no healthy people were injured in the making of that cancer. lol :)

[The Straight Story]

18. We have a bar here in bakersfield with a smoking room

How they managed that I have no idea - but some do gooder will come along and save people from themselves eventually and make sure it is banned.

Can't have people having choices (and you have to leave the room to get your beer, no workers were harmed in the delivery of alcohol).

choice used to be a mantra of the left, then they saw the money angle on health insurance and a chance to make people behave like them and they suddenly made a right turn.

Thank god for the 'underground', main stream lefties aren't left anymore :)

[EFerrari]

20. I haven't been inside a bar in years now but there's a place up the street

that looks like they bend the rules with the best of them. There are also cigar "clubs" around here somewhere but I only like cigars out in the open air where everyone around me can share the joy.



What did we all do before we minded everyone else's business? No wonder this economy is tanking. It feels like earthquake weather around here today, but that may just be fog masking the smoke.

[The Straight Story]

22. The funny thing is

After the ban went into effect here I went to a bar and people were smoking. Just no ashtrays. Same in Ohio when I lived there (at least in Columbus) when the ban went into effect people just generally ignored it. Even the one guy checking ID's at the bar was smoking, and when the cops came in after someone was robbed people didn't put them out and they didn't do anything about it.

Sure, smoking bans 'work' - because many places just blow em off :)

[CreekDog]

37. it's not to protect smokers silly, it's to protect employees of these establishments

and other customers.

if you want to disagree with the laws, that's fine with me, but don't be dense about the motivation.

[WillyT]

40. LOL !!! - I Just LOVE That Argument !!!

Ya see... the "funny" thing is, that most of the employees not only knew when they were hired that it was a smoking establishment, they also... smoked!

So when the ban came into effect, and the clientel slowly withdrew, they were laid-off because there weren't that many customers to service anymore... they ended up going from a fairly good paying job to collecting unemployment.

:shrug:

[CreekDog]

42. yes, they deserve protection too

sorry to break that to you.

[The Straight Story]

43. Who is protecting them on the way to work?

Through all the pollution and such we have here in CA?

Also, it has been pretty well known for a real long time that people smoked in bars, bowling alleys, etc - and people had a choice (a word I thought we on the left liked) to work there.

Freedom means being able to make choices in life, I am not one who likes taking away choices from people.

[CreekDog]

45. The Clean Air Act

yes, there's a law for that too.

and, no, none of these things are perfect, but that's a lame excuse to allow you to smoke at a bar.

[NV Whino]

23. It hasn't been too bad yesterday or today

We've had a breeze that blows the smoke out of the valley. (Napa Valley) And the temps are down! From 101 it went to 53 yesterday morning. Today is hovering in the high 70s with a breeze.

Last week I could barely see to the end of the property much less across the valley. I can see a hazy mountain across the valley today.

[shanti]

24. i'm in nor cal

sacramento, to be exact. it's much better today than it's been for the last 10 days, i can say that!

[asdjrocky]

28. I'm about an hour and a half out of the City,

down here in the valley it's been real bad. You see the sun behind a haze of smoke.

[Starry Messenger]

29. It's really hazy and stinky here in Oakland.

Gross day. We are skulking indoors.

MPK

[kestrel91316]

30. The air is even dirtier than usual in Los Angeles and today is the first day in over a week

haven't been coughing and coughing.

[EFerrari]

32. My cats have runny eyes and it's from the air.

Ack.

I have a filter but it doesn't seem to be doing much.

Is this the worst fire year in a long time or what?

[kestrel91316]

34. I have some former clients up in Anderson, near Redding.

She emailed me and they feel safe for now, and have a highly defensible property (he was a Lockheed engineer) so they are probably not at risk. She has LOTS of cats and dogs so evacuating would be a mess....

[EFerrari]

36. I had a whole drill down before my divorce and had to retool it

so one person could cage everyone and split.

Of all the things that pissed me off about my recent divorce, THAT of all things made me the maddest. Not the affront to my ego, not the change in my finances, not the social stuff but evacuating the cats. We are in a tsunami zone and in earthquake country. Do not mess with the cats. I had two, we picked up four ugly/behavioral ones that would have been put down. They're fine and I fully intend for them to stay fine. I should outlive them in the normal course of things and the only glitch right now is the whole evacuation thing.

I can pack them caged into my car or put them on a dolly with bungee cords if a car is not a good idea and we need to go on foot. It's not exactly as if I can drill this, though. :crazy:

I did manage to pack three days of supplies into a backpack for everyone if we really do have to evacuate but still, it is harder to do things with two hands and not four.

If we have to shelter in place, we're good. The last tsunami warning around here really woke me up and I put in all the stuff we'd need one way or the other for two months. I even bought a surgical took kit although what the hell I or anyone would do with that, I dunno.