Bakersmelled

Bakersfield stunk even more than usual last night, causing several hundred people to dial 911. At first operators were all, ‘Yeah, so the air stinks…what’s new?’ but then they figured out there was a strong odor of natural gas hovering over the city and sounded the alarm. Local news reporters told everyone to stay indoors lest they should explode on impact with the air outside. Or something like that, I wasn’t really paying attention. Paul and I immediately ran outside and began to make jokes about gas and farting. If there had actually been a danger we probably would’ve been the first to go.

Turns out a couple of dudes were cleaning out some old tanks that contained the chemical odor added to natural gas. A little bit of the chemical was left in the tanks and that, coupled with the windy weather we had yesterday, translated into one smelly evening.

Hopefully today’s rain will wash the smell out of the air and we can go back to our normal smelly air.