Walking Backwards

For those who don't know, I have horrible, debilitating asthma. I've had it since I was born and have come to accept it and deal with it in my own way. There are times, though, that make it harder to deal with than normal. Cedar season is one of those times. If you don't live in central Texas you may not know what I am referring to when I say 'cedar fever' (and you should consider yourselves lucky), but right now all of Austin is in the throes of it. The cedar pollen now covers the trees and is so thick it changes their coloring. You wake up in the morning and it has coated your car in a thin yellow dusting. You can see it in the air at dusk. Really, it's unbelievable. Allergies to cedar usually result in the condition of 'cedar fever' which doesn't feel like an allergic reaction at all. As the name implies, it is often accompanied by fever (mine has gone up to 102 degrees at times), but you also get body aches, racking coughs, and all of the other joys that accompany typical hayfever. You can imagine how this is making my asthma. I now take shots of Robitussin every four hours just to breathe. My breathing treatments are so frequent that I have stopped unplugging and putting away my nebulizer. I feel like an old emphysema patient. I really don't like going outside and it is getting hard to chase after my super active three year-old. Man it sucks. I often have to ask why people live here when the environment in Austin does this to people. Really, what the hell? What did I do to piss it off so much?

In other news, we had a really busy day today doing nothing. Joe, Nico, and I headed down to the farmers market this morning to buy goodies like field greens, nine grain bread, and fresh eggs. One of Joe's co-workers was there selling eggs and lamb and we were much surprised to discover that he runs a hundred acre farm in addition to the desk job he has at my husband's office. I always knew I should be asking Joe to do more around here. Also, my dad visited and brought me a Meyer lemon for the backyard. We were also supposed to go get an oak tree for the backyard, but the nurseries are still a little sparse for the winter season, so no luck finding one. It was a good day. Not too exciting, but who needs excitement when you can rant about the allergies from hell ;)?