My neighbor's backyard fire pit taught me a hard lesson about wind direction

Last Saturday night I had 10 people over for a cookout. Grill was going. Music playing. Good vibe. Then the wind shifted and smoke rolled right into my open kitchen window. Ruined the whole indoor setup. Food got cold while I was trying to air the place out. Next day I grabbed a cheap wind sock from the hardware store. $8. Now I check the wind before I even light the charcoal. Has anyone else had a cookout or campfire get wrecked by a sudden change in the breeze?

2 comments

2 Comments

hayden_butler2720d ago

That line about the wind shifting and smoke rolling into the kitchen hit close to home. I had the same exact thing happen a couple summers back, except it was my whole patio furniture that got covered in ash and smelled like a campfire for a week. The wind sock idea is smart, I went with one of those little weather stations that shows wind speed and direction, but it was way more than $8. Nothing kills a good grill session faster than having to scramble around trying to save the indoor food and clean up smoke damage at the same time.

milaprice20d ago

The funny thing is how we all fall into this trap of overcomplicating simple problems. You bought a whole weather station because that's what we're told is the "right" tool, but an $8 windsock would have done the same job. It makes me wonder how many other areas of life we do this in. We buy expensive gadgets and systems when a cheap, simple fix would work just as well. Like people spending hundreds on fancy grill thermometers when a $5 instant read does the trick. Sometimes the old school solutions are the best, you know?