Well, that was a week and a half

My 2023 has not started out well.

On Jan. 2, I came down with a migraine.  That lasted for about 48 hours and was accompanied by fevers and chills and a general sense of malaise/fatigue.

On Wednesday the 4th, the headache subsided, but I also woke up that day with a sore throat.  I feared there was more fun and adventure awaiting in the days ahead, and I was right.  I came down with a sinus infection.

By the weekend, I had done so much nose-blowing that the rims of my nostrils were chapped.

I've been trying to drink at least one bottle of Gatorade each day in order to stay hydrated and help flush that stuff out.  I've been sucking down cough drops like they're candy.  I haven't done a pushup in at least a week.

So that's where I'm at right now.  I'm still sick, but not as bad as I was a few days ago.  I'm hoping this stuff clears up soon.

Also--and this just developed within the last day--I've got some pain in my toe in the same place where I had my abscess.  I figure there are two possibilities: either the toe was squeezed in a shoe too much and hurts simply because it was cramped, which I consider unlikely, or else there's a piece of scab trying to work its way to the surface from somewhere deep inside my flesh.

That's my 2023 so far.

Happy New Year to me, I guess.  :(

Here comes the arctic blast

It just finished raining here, but the wind is still gusting.  I can hear it beating against the house.

Now the really cold air is going to move in.  The forecast says it'll get down to eleven degrees today, and the temps won't get above freezing again until Sunday.  Christmas Eve day will be frozen solid the whole day.

It usually doesn't get this cold around here until January or February, if at all.  This is pretty chilly for December.

The good news is that a good hard freeze should kill some of the dormant bug eggs, thus giving us a summer with fewer bugs.  Fingers crossed.

The other good news is that I'm done with all Christmas preparations.  I need to clean the bathroom and do a few other thing, but that's it.

Keep warm, folks.

Update

Okay, it's been a while since my last blog post, and I apologize for that.  The holiday season is upon us, and there are things to do, places to go, etc.  I've made a few forum posts in the interim, but it's a lot easier to respond to a forum post than it is to initiate a blog post.  My brain simply isn't in the right mode most of the time.  But as the holiday season winds down, that should change.

The good news is that my Christmas shopping is done and everything is wrapped.  Also good news is that I haven't had a migraine in at least a couple of weeks.

On the downside, we lost Coach Mike Leach recently, and that sucks.  The crazy pirate was always a hoot in press conferences, and he brought his eccentric genius to the football field and gave us some memorable offenses.  R.I.P., Coach.

My books are now live on Smashwords!  The Draft2Digital acquisition of Smashwords seems to be complete now, or at least complete enough, because my books went live on that retailer a few days ago.  Welcome, Smashwords shoppers, and I hope you like my stuff.

I guess that's all for now.  If you're traveling for Christmas or New Year's, then I hope you get there and back safely.

Until next time...

It's raining acorns

It's been a long time since I've seen this many acorns.  Or heard, rather, not seen, because it's the racket that I'm noticing.  Just a constant refrain of rustles and bangs and thunks.

Does this mean we're in for a colder-than-normal winter?  That's the conventional wisdom, right?  I honestly don't know.  I'm not a farmer, nor do I subscribe to the Farmer's Almanac.

Right now, it's unseasonably warm.  It's 78 degrees at the moment.  It should be fifteen or twenty degrees colder.

So I don't know anything about any of this.  :/

All I know is that there are lots of leaves on the ground, and those leaves won't mow and bag themselves.  *sigh*

R.I.P., Killer

Jerry Lee Lewis has passed away at the age of 87.

Nicknamed "the killer," he was one of the trailblazers of rock and roll back in the 1950s.  His life and career were turbulent, and I won't rehash the drama here.  Instead, let's remember the talent and the music and celebrate the man's contributions to culture.  He was a legend, and he'll be sorely missed.

R.I.P., Jerry Lee.

Rough week

It started Sunday night...

I was doing some handyman stuff, and I dropped a screw behind my workbench.  I got down on my hands and knees to look for it.  While down there, I managed to jab myself in the eye with the handle of my bench vise.  My contact lens popped out, and my eye hurt for several minutes afterward.  I don't think the contact was damaged.  My eye didn't look injured when I examined it in the mirror, so I figured I'd simply wait and see rather than go to a doctor.  I've only worn my glasses this week to give the eyeball a chance to heal.  There was a slight bit of stinging on Monday, but it wasn't bad.  I think it's going to be fine, and I'm going to try wearing my contacts tomorrow.

On Tuesday night, I had a migraine headache.  All night.  Well into Wednesday, too.  My headache mostly subsided later on Wednesday, but I still felt tired and weak and a little queasy.

I'd like to feel normal on Thursday.  And wear my contacts, too, so I can actually see things.  I've got a social engagement this weekend, and I'd like to be... well... sociable rather than zombie-like.

On the plus side, there's lots of fall color here at the moment.  The sourwood tree is particularly striking, full of bright-red leaves.  It's actually been a pretty nice fall so far.

Tentative measures

I knocked down three Joro webs and killed two spiders.  They were in my way, so they simply had to go.

The silk is very strong, stronger than I anticipated.  Instead of just waving a broom at the web and easily sweeping it away, I had to sort of hack at it.

I might have gone on to take down a few more webs, but I got the willies something fierce, so I had to stop.  You can't fight the willies, man.

I watched a male Joro groom his female mate.  Or that's what it looked like, anyway.  Fascinating stuff.

I'll get around to knocking down more webs eventually.  I can't have trick-or-treaters running into them, after all.  For the time being, though, I'm content with the tentative measures I've taken.