Me and Ole Bubba like to get away to the mountains every now and then.  We were out in the Ozarks recently sitting on a mountain top looking out over the whole damn earth.  I commented that you could see forever and a block.  Ole Bubba said, “I dunno.  I’m from Texas.  I don’t trust air that you can’t see.”

Which appears to be the way it’s gonna stay in Texas.

Let me start by showing you a smog map of Houston from yesterday afternoon.  Green is good.  Orange is bad.  Click the little one to get the big one.

I live in Richmond, which is on the lower left hand edge.

And here’s the week’s air forecast.  Same deal – green is good, orange is bad.

Okay, so here’s where the story gets crazy.

The state agency responsible for protecting Texans against harmful chemicals said on Tuesday that it opposed federal efforts to lower smog levels because most people had air conditioners and spent “90 percent of their time indoors.”

We’re like moles here in Texas.  You know, living in post-apocalypse world where you can’t go outdoors because the damn air will kill you.  But the boys over at Slick Clyde’s Coal Burning Solar Panel Disposal are making a tanker load of money so what’s a few more hours indoors for your kids?

Now let me see if I have this straight.  The problem is emissions.  The State of Texas wants me to stay inside and run an air conditioner full blast to clean the air that got dirty because people ran their air conditioners full blast in the first place.

Honeycutt wrote, adding that people who were “near death” and more susceptible to ozone spent even more time indoors.

Who told you that crap?  When my times comes I’m spending it on the banks of the Brazos River that has carried the tears and joys of Texans out to sea since the beginning of time.  Oh hell, maybe not because Slick Clyde has polluted the damn river, too.

It is 69 degrees and sunny this fine morning and I am sitting outside on the deck with my laptop just finishing my second cup of coffee.  I have to go indoors now because I’m starting to see the air.

Thanks to Deb for the heads up.