I was so sleepy last night and busy on chat that I didn't note in yesterday's entry the one thing that struck me the most on the way to the Marlay House—spring has sprung. I don't get out much during the week, except when I drive to work, and then it's pitch dark. On the way home I usually have a headache from the fluorescents and I need to keep my eyes peeled to the road anyway because of the sheer idiocy of commuter traffic. I have noticed an increase in flowers, if nothing else because of sneezing and itchy eyes!

But going into DeKalb County...holy smokes, wisteria everywhere! You couldn't turn more than two corners without seeing wisteria vines spilling from the sides of overpasses, or draped over dead trees, down the sides of freeway cuts, on old fences, a wash of violet and green. And the dogwoods are out! They have a different white color from the flowering cherry trees; the cherry blossoms look a purer white, but the dogwood blossoms have this odd luminosity—during a full moon they almost glow.

Not to mention the azaleas dotted everywhere: rich magenta, carmine red, pink, white, salmon.

A funny: we hadn't been in that neighborhood in ages, so I plugged the address into my phone. It kept searching for GPS, kind of silently "popped" and suddenly I was in North Carolina, or, rather, it said I was in North Carolina. LOL. Google Maps sometimes freaks out like that. So I plugged the address into the GPS and we went on; in the meantime I rebooted the phone and then I was back in place racing down I-75 southbound. The GPS and the phone indicated two different routes; the phone wanted us to get off the freeway one exit further down (Freedom Parkway). Traffic was backing up, though, so we took the earlier exit (North Avenue), but turned left where the phone told us to (Piedmont Road) rather than turning left at Peachtree (the GPS route) which was backed up (apparently something was being held at the Fox Theatre). It was funny hearing the two navigation systems talking; the GPS pronounces things better—you should hear the Droid GPS do "Smyrna"; it comes out as "Smy-er-na"—but it pronounces Ponce de Leon as no one in Atlanta does. To everyone here it's always just "Poncey."

Labels: allergies, seasons, travel

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:08:00 AM

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I always remember Leia during pollen season at the apartment—she would get halfway up the metal stairs and half to stop and cough and take deep breaths before she could finish the rest of the climb:

Pets, Owners Challenged by Increasing Allergies

Labels: allergies, dogs, pets

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:32:00 AM

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Allergic and Wheezing, But Still Keeping Pets

This is the same thing Dr. Freedman told my mom so long ago: there is no such thing as a "hypoallergenic" pet. You are not allergic to the dog's hair; you are allergic to the dog's dander. It doesn't matter if it has curly hair or no hair or is only single-coated.

However, medications have changed. Perhaps if we'd had non-drowsy allergy medications like Claritin, I could have had a dog as a kid. But it just wasn't around then, and the stuff I did have to take knocked me flat.

There are also certain precautions you can take. Never touch your face and eyes after petting a dog or cat; always wash your hands instead. (People always looked at me funny when, even at the age of eight, I would go straight to the bathroom to wash my hands if I petted a dog or cat. It was the price I had to pay for any contact at all.) No hugging the dog or letting him lick you. If the cat (or the dog) sleeps in your lap, you have to change clothes and make sure the "pet saturated" clothing is washed before you wear it again. I can't hug James after Willow has sat with him in his chair, because he's been "dogged." :-)

Claritin (and previously Allegra and Seldane) have made things so much easier. I remember when I used to visit my best friend on Saturday nights when she was home from college on the weekend. She had a dog and two cats. I would get home, wait on the enclosed but unheated back porch (even in the dead of winter when it was in the 20s outside) and knock on the back door. Mom would bring me a change of clothes and I would change out there on the dark of the porch. The clothes would stay on the porch all night to air out then they would be washed. Once I had my clothes on I would go directly to the bathroom and wash my hands, arms, and face again, and I would take my allergy pill before bed (because if I took it then I would conk out asleep within a half hour).

Sometimes I still had an allergy attack the next day, but it was the price I paid for visiting with Mitzi, Twiggy and Zipper.

Labels: allergies, pets

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 12:15:00 PM

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