been thinking a lot about anticipatory grief lately. i love you so much that i know losing you will devastate me. i haven’t lost you yet but i already miss you. we still have time, but it won’t be enough. i think about what i would say at your funeral, and say some of it to you now cause i need you to know how loved you are before you go. you will go where i cannot follow, but you will never really leave me. it won’t make it hurt less but it is a part of healing somehow.
Practical tip for those dealing with wildfire smoke now: you can make a very effective air filter for a reasonable amount of money using a box fan & one of those filters meant for your furnace.
Also, I’ve managed to pick up 2 of the box fans for very cheap/free from yard sales. Make sure you get a filter rated for wildfire smoke, I think this one cost about $20.
These make a huge difference in the indoor air quality.
Posting again because of the fire situation up in Canada and resulting smoke. If you’re dealing with wildfire smoke, these are surprisingly effective and relatively cheap.
Just tape the filter to the fan, making sure the air can’t sneak around the edges. I used painter’s tape, but I’m sure duct tape or similar would work just as well.
If you were/are not active on COVID prevention social media, you may not have seen the better version of the box fan filter: the Corsi-Rosenthal Box (named after the environmental engineer and the filter manufacturer who worked together to improve on the concept). I started with the above kind of filter with the “box fan filter bands” to attach it for wildfire smoke, but then I upgraded during the pandemic as more and more people started testing and using CR boxes and I recommend it!
A HEPA air purifier can easily cost USD $100-500 and even cheaper ones can be $$$ to replace the filters, which you’re supposed to do every 2-3 months. A Corsi-Rosenthal Box can last for months or even a year depending on use, takes about 15 minutes to assemble, and costs between USD $50-150 for materials. If you can tape up a package, you can make a CR Box – the hardest part is cutting the circle in the cardboard shroud.
👉 Do not put it against a wall - it needs to be as close to the middle of the room as you can get it, but at least with space for airflow around it.
👉 You can design it with the fan on the top or on a side.
👉 Even if you already have a box fan, if it’s cheap to buy a new one, it will be cleaner and also comes in the cardboard box which is already the right size to make the base and shroud needed.
👉 Make sure the filter arrows are all pointing to the inside of the box! (It’s a big pain to remove the duct tape if you did it wrong.)
👉 The “Filterbuy” brand “MERV-13” filters that are everywhere on Amazon are not the best ones to buy, they don’t perform that well in tests compared to other brands of MERV-13 filters. Still: better than nothing if that is your only option!
They take up about a 22" cube of space. They are lightweight to carry and pretty sturdy. They are also good at preventing airborne diseases if you are using the MERV-13 level filters (lower grade filters are not recommended because they can’t catch the fine particles). I run mine during pollen season and at indoor gatherings, too, and they are great for classrooms. Good luck! 🍀
