For weeks we’ve had a coating of potent green pollen covering everything outside. Everyone’s car looks green, and there’s really no point in washing them at this point since a brand new coating of pollen will be covering them again within another day or so. Porch furniture is green, parking lots too. Even the grass in the yard has a powdery green coating layered on top. Of course that means we’re all inhaling this lovely pollen too. Our local news recently quoted that it’s the worst pollen count on record. It’s no wonder that allergies are off the charts too.
The tricky part with allergies is finding a medicine that works without making you feel miserable in a different way. Some of the non-drowsy medications don’t seem to always work as well, but if you take the other allergy pills you end up feeling a bit off-kilter. So then it’s the question, do I deal with the ridiculous sneezing or do I take medicine that make me function at half power. It’s crazy!
Okay, I feel like I’ve become obsessed by weather lately. I think the colder, grayer, and drearier the weather becomes the more it distracts me. It could be because the gloomier it gets the more I start wondering when we’ll have a nice sunny day to enjoy. I miss being about to go outside without having to bundle up in a warm coat or hiding under a hood or hat to keep the rain and sleet off of my head. And we live in the South, where the winters are supposed to be milder. Well, not this year it seems.
So I realize my obsession is not so much the current weather as to when will the weather turn nice again! We recently had a beautiful day only to slip right back to the winter weather the very next day. On a positive note the kids love being out of school and getting to play in the snow and build a snowman. So I guess not everyone is feeling gloomy about the forecast. Meanwhile, I’ll just keep longing for springtime!
The weather has been so cold I don’t think I’ve stepped out in to my backyard in weeks. And when it’s not cold, it’s raining, so the ground is saturated. When I look out the back windows, everything looks so gray and bare compared to lush colors of the spring and summer. I see that the squirrels have knocked over the bird bath again in their attempt to jump up to the bird feeder. As a matter of fact I’m overdue to refill the feeder, so I guess I’ll have to get myself into the backyard soon to take care of it and have a good look at the rest of the yard while I’m at it.
When I look at the winter yard, it makes me miss spending warm evenings on the back porch, though it doesn’t make me miss the mosquitos which come uninvited every year. We’ll need to spruce up some plants this spring, and trim back a few overgrown bushes. Our vegetable patch was pretty sad last year, so we’re going to have the soil tested this year before we do any planting. Yes, I’m looking forward to a beautiful warm spring.
Okay, I’m kidding, mostly. I don’t want to rush time and it is only January 6th, but I am already a bit tired of this cold weather. And we still have some of the coldest months to get through yet! I don’t know if you saw this news earlier today, but there is a town in upstate New York that has had snow on and off for the last nine days with a total accumulation of over four feet and still counting. Some snow can be a lot of fun for most of us, but I think most would also agree that 50+ inches of snow is too much. Imagine all of the shoveling. And trying to warm up your car, cleaning your windshield every morning before work. It makes me crave a tropical island.
There is a pretty cold snap across the US right now, and looks like they are having crop concerns as far south as Florida. It’s tough times when that happens. Part of the reason many people move down South is to escape the brutal winters of the North. But right now there’s not many places untouched by this frigid weather. So I guess I can’t help but think about spring!
It happens to me every year as summer starts wind down. As the second month of summer starts to near its end I find I have had just about enough of the heat. That’s probably true for a lot of people, though maybe not those fortunate enough to live near the beach. There you can escape the hot sun with a jump in the cool waves and rest on the sand with a ocean breeze to keep you cool. I actually used to be fifteen minutes from the ocean and while I miss it most of the year, I especially miss it during the hot summer months.
Now I am more than ready for crisp fall weather, for the chance to wear a light jacket or sweater and a pair of comfortable jeans. Right now, where I live, you can’t even take a walk in the morning without breaking a sweat from the humidity. Ah, but in the autumn months it’s the perfect time for long hikes in a park or just in the neighborhood. You can comfortably enjoy outdoor fairs and flea markets and spend many enjoyable hours with your family outside in the fresh air.
For awhile, during the spring, it seemed like it would never stop raining in the where we live. It had gotten to the point where we craved seeing the sun for just a day to break up the gloomy gray skies we were seeing day after day. The good news is that it finally brought us out of the drought that we had been living with for a couple of years. So as the spring turned into summer everything was lush and green and water was plentiful. And then just like that nature seemed to turn off the water spigot in our area. By mid June we were looking for a break from the relentless sunshine and doing our own silly versions of rain dances to get the clouds to come visit and bring us some much needed rain. Though looking at the map on weather.com makes me grateful I’m not in living in Texas right now.
Of course, while we’re in the midst of mid 90’s and anxious for something to water our crispy yards, we have family in Northern New York that have had non-stop rain for days and days with cool weather reaching only the mid 70’s, which is quite low for mid July, even for that area. I guess that’s just the weather for you, another thing we can’t control. Our local news says there’s rain in the forecast this week, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
