Smell That Smell

For an hour or so it smelled as though someone was burning trash in their fireplace or wood stove. The suburbs of Los Angeles used to smell like that when I was a kid, before they banned back yard incinerators. Smelling something so similar tonight, I got a bit nostalgic for the pollution of my youth. They just don't make it like they used to. Or as smelly.

As the air cleared, I heard a flock of swans flying north. The other morning I heard geese heading that way. Are the birds being fooled by the warm days and the prematurely drying wetlands of the valley? Or do they know something we don't about what lies ahead? Or perhaps they're just horny, and eager to get to their northern breeding grounds? Whatever their motivation, I hope they don't get caught in a sudden freeze if the weather returns to its seasonal norm.

On the other hand, if there isn't any return to the seasonal norm, there won't be a living plant south of Oregon by midsummer (I exaggerate but slightly.) A few frozen avians would be a small price to pay for a deeper snow pack. And if the forest dries out, way more birds will get done in by wildfires than would be wiped out by cold. Plus, burning forests smell way worse than burning trash.

Speaking of burning... ( Sunday Verse )