Spring is here, blast it.

[victorthecook]

So spring has hit the Boston area. So we're both tired and rather miserable. So we won't have a lot of spare energy until about Flag Day, when the spring pollens ease off.

Flag Day is in mid-June.


For those helpful souls who ask every year, with genuine concern: yes, we take medicines for it. Almost all of them. We follow research to see what else might help. We run HEPA filters. We actively track down good allergists and new therapeutic possibilities. And we avoid going outside as much as we can.

And the antihistamines do help, kind of like aspirin helps when you have a cold. You feel better after you take it. However, you still have a cold, and you're still not... well. Thus with allergies -- except that allergies also activate our asthma, which keeps us from sleeping well, too. And this cold will last until June or so -- another 12 weeks, getting worse until sometime in May, depending on the weather.

So we'll be a bit short of temper and energy for the next while. Please bear with us.

Comments

[greatblueheron.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry the onslaught has begun so soon. Same story down here; even the ticks are already awake and alert. Bless their hideous, blood-sucking little hearts.

Guh.

[victorthecook.livejournal.com]

Ah, ticks. The walking lentils of doom. They're not much of a problem here, but it's an urban area. I'm hoping they got mostly frozen out by the 70F weather that was followed by over a week near zero.

[persis.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was blasted yesterday, working in the greenhouse at the farm, with dizziness, exhaustion, and a clogged nose... it only occured to me today driving to lunch that it was allergies, and not a cold or sinus issue... my condolences and hugs, and perhaps we should plan some sort of dinner together after mid-June.

[anisosynchronic.livejournal.com]

Far too close to their home,
Near the observat'ry
Stands an ash tree that flowers too free,
And their friends are aware,
By the way Lara swears,
Its effects on are unhealthy.

For the pollen it spews out is toxic
She can't breathe when it's in the air,
And for months of the year
It will bloom and it's where
It affects here wherever she goes--

You horrid ash tree,
Why must you there be?


Did you know when you grew
From a seed down into
The cityscape growing more dense,
That someday you would be
A large blooming tree
And on the wrong side of the fence,
For the city of Cambridge gained people,
And the once-open space disappeared,
But why had it to be
You grew into a tree,
That Victor and Lara have feared!

You horrid ash tree,
Why must you there be?

There are things one can't see,
They include allergy
To the pollen your plentifully loose,
Why couldn't you sprout
Somewhere far far far out,
Or gotten consumed by a goose.
And as far as things in your branches,
Gray squirrels are not all our friends,
And the Cambridgeside rats
That can scare off the cats,
And as for opposums forfends!

You horrid ash tree,
Why must you there be?

And I thought as I mused as some more verse refused,
That it might be a kindness to stop here,
A chainsaw apply and then as the chips fly,
That will end the production of pollen,
But the Cambridge police there are rumors,
They're armed and they impose their rules,
And to chop the ash tree one a fool just might be,
And the Cambridge jail's no place to see!

You horrid ash tree,
Why must you there be?