Allergies

Sometime in my 20's, I developed allergies. At first it seemed to be just to mildew after over-exposure to it in the dorm. It seems a 2-liter coke bottle wasn't quite empty and sat there for over a month (as happens often in dorm rooms), spewing mildew spores through the room.

Later it was ragweed in the fall, and for the last few years the first blooms of spring really get my sinuses going and I usually have a sore throat for a week or two while my body adjusts.

That period has arrived. So there's anti-histamines, the still regular salt-water rinses, & sore throat. The anti-histamies are to cut down on the drainage and help the sore throat, but they zone me out pretty well, even the "non-drowsy" kind. The non-drowsy ones that don't zone me out also don't work, so no point there. But I forgot about Nasalcrom. I'm trying that again. I think that helped last year without the anti-histamine fog.

The next three weekends are suddenly taken. A trip to Indiana to see Brian at the airport, another trip the next weekend to take Mother back to Fort Wayne, and then... the following weekend it's camping with the Groves at Theodosia.

When it rains....

The water heater still has a very slow leak in it. It's where the output pipe bolts on to the rest of the contraption. The plastic resin material has warped ever so slightly over the past few years. There are a couple of rubber gaskets there where the water is supposed to pass from the chambers into the output pipe, and I guess the new gaskets are either not quite clean enough, or not quite fat enough to properly seal the gap. So it's either fatter gaskets, additional thin gaskets, or screws closer to the center to try to compensate for the warp. I'll have to think about it. I doubt we're even losing 1/2 cup a day... but still. It's not good.

Got some rosemary and lavender over the weekend. I was going to buy some vegetable plants, but they didn't have them priced and the cashier at Lowes was less than helpful so I decided they could keep them.

The .22 is still at the gunsmith. They said it could be 6 weeks. Tomorrow it will be 4 and I still haven't heard from him. But -- I figure it's probably first come first serve and he just has that much of a backlog. Once he actually gets to it it shouldn't be that long.

I re-built the trelis for the wild grape vine over the weekend. It was lattice in an odd shaped frame before. The lattice was getting ripped to shreds by the weight of the vine. I had removed it from the deck rail a few years ago and mounted it about a foot away from the deck, suspended with wood blocks. Now it's suspended with metal straps, and it's three vertical posts (2x4's) with 4 horizontal slats ... deck flooring, spaced about 9" apart. Looks much better and is much stronger.

Another modest milestone in the guitar learning process... I can now play "Grapefruit, Juicy Fruit" -- something I've long wanted to do. Not trying the B-C key, but the C-D key. I guess you could say I'm playing it in "A". Still working on "Pencil-Thin Mustache". Those F#m's and Bm's are still a bit slow on the draw for me. I'm not great at that "B" either. Anyway, you might not be impressed. But I'm happy.