Our brave firefighters keep gaining ground on the wildfires in the area that have been burning for over five weeks, and it's looking like there's finally light at the end of the tunnel. Today the fire to the north reached 55% containment. And while the fire to the south was holding steady at 7% for weeks, today they announced that the crews there have managed to achieve 10%.

The bad news is that what kind of day I have depends entirely on how the wind blows, because the smoke is still pretty bad.

Every once in a while blue skies will arrive... for a while... which means my lungs won't feel as fuzzy, my eyes won't be burning as severely, my head will be less likely to start exploding, and I won't be coughing as much. I also won't have to take an excessive amount of allergy medication.

But it's always fleeting.

Which is to say that I still go directly to work in the mornings then go directly home afterwards. And still feel awful most days.

Thank heavens for grocery delivery! But even then, having to open the door to receive my order guarantees an instant headache until the air purifiers can get things under control again.

Can you believe that I honestly thought we'd make it through the Summer without a wildfire?