From my other journal, dated August 23, 2002

I doubt anyone but me remembers the brilliant Nickelodeon show Rocko's Modern Life, but if they do, they'll most likely recall one of Rocko's greatest quotes;

"Laundry day is a very dangerous day."

Indeed.

Wednesday was laundry day.

It was also the day I took John to see the doctor, my husband just barely missed being in a terrible car accident and I came home to find a dead bird lying on my doormat.

First off, as I suspected, John's acne was way too advanced to treat with a topical application alone. He was given an antibiotic that specifically treats acne in addition to a gel application to use directly on his face. It takes awhile to work, though, so we have to wait at least two months to see any affect from the antibiotic but the topical should provide some relief much sooner. It may cause some peeling and redness though.

Beats the hell out of itchy, burny, infected patches of discomfort.

My, that's vivid.

I'll move on.

We were in the doctor's office and had been told that our doctor was running about 20-30 minutes behind due an overload of patients. This did not make me happy. Both babies were in the double stroller and after about 15 minutes were already getting squirmy and were starting to fuss a bit. I wanted to let Larry know we were going to be getting home late so he wouldn't worry if he didn't hear from me, so I called him on my cell phone. He told me he'd just witnessed an unbelievable car accident. And not a few lengths away, either. Right in front of him.

A van bumped the rear of a truck and sent it into the median, where both vehicles went airborne and flipped over several times, ejecting one man from the front of the van. Larry pulled over and so did several other people, one of whom was a RN and one was a paramedic. Within four or five minutes the police, the fire department, and ambulances showed up. You'd have to see how busy this road going into Baltimore is to appreciate how amazing that arrival time is. Anyway, no one was severely injured, no one died and it's probably due to the fact that about seven strangers stopped, most of whom had their cell phones with them. My man is Clint Eastwood with a cell phone. No one draws or dials one faster.

:o)

After we left the doctor's office we went to have the prescriptions filled (which Fuck Face picked up later), and went to do some grocery shopping. That went well, except that now I'm hopelessly hooked on Pizza Blasted Goldfish. Those little SOBs are mighty tasty. I think there's also some mystery ingredient added that makes them more appealing because I've been wanting more of them since yesterday, when Trent took my carton of Goldfish and sat in the floor with it. He plopped right down indian-style and held on to it until it was empty.

Even my baby is addicted. They must be loaded with heroin or some non-smokable form of genetically enhanced crack substitute.

So we brought our crackers and goodies home. The babies had fallen asleep and I didn't want to wake them because they get so grouchy when they haven't slept, so I grabbed Trent and with some difficulty managed to get him into his playpen undisturbed. I then brought Zoe in and got her into the crib without waking her up and John and I started bringing the groceries in. With the babies in my arms I wasn't able to see the ground directly in front of me so I was really shocked when John said, "There's a dead bird, mom."

"What?"

I was coming back out of the house for another load of groceries and nearly stepped on it. The first thing that went through my mind was west nile virus. I called the health dept., who told me how to handle it. I wrapped it in four plastic bags, put a flowerpot upside down over it and weighted it down with a heavy plate we used to use under the flowerpot and left it on my patio. It had to be protected from the sun because they tend to decompose rather quickly and enough damage is done in just a few hours to make testing for the virus impossible.

They called me the next morning to tell me no one would be coming to pick up the bird. It was a female cardinal and right now they're only collecting blue jays, crows (and I think blackbirds), from Frederick County. John and I felt that it should be disposed of in as kind a way as possible, so he volunteered to bury it in the back yard. I let him. It was a very nice thing for him to do.

I'm really starting to get anxious about this water situation. Anxious as in panicky. The rains are few and far between and the crops are disappointing. People are trying to get Governor Glendening declare most of the state of Maryland a disaster area so that the farmers can qualify for federal aid. All this means is that they are able to apply for loans at like 3% interest. Low interest loans are good but they're going to need more help than that. It was a good year for our vineyards because the grapes love this kind of weather but everything else has really suffered. There are water restrictions here, which means we aren't allowed to water our yards or wash our cars and it's about to be bumped up to include restrictions on the way businesses use water.

We have a well. I don't even want to think about being without water. We don't drink the well water because it's rusty ans doesn't taste good but I have this nutty thing I like to do called showering regularly. Clean dishes rock my socks too. In order to make up for the amount of water we lost this summer, which has dropped our reserves down to about 35-40%, we will need several good heavy snows and lots of storming during autumn. It usually rains a lot here in the fall. We didn't get much snow last year. Maybe that was some kind of omen.

I didn't plant the butterfly garden I was planning because we knew early on that the conditions were bad for planting this year. I didn't want to cultivate plants I might not be able to water later. That would be torture for both me and the plants. That turned out to be a good call.

It looks like autumn is coming early. The leaves haven't started to change color yet but are falling all over the place and the grass is all brown and crunchy. I look out the window and it seems like mid November already until I go out and am hit by wave after wave of miserable heat. To walk outside is like being slapped in the face with a wet towel. Funny that it hardly ever rains yet we get so much haze. The air is so thick it hurts to breathe. Then it burns off and it's just another painfully hot day. So far 20 people have died in this state from the heat.

I loathe hot weather and I hate the humidity and the allergens so summer is usually pretty miserable for me, but this is the worst one I've seen in ages. This year I will rejoice even more than I usually do when the first frost of autumn comes. I look forward to waking up and seeing those wonderful little crystals all over my car and lawn.

An end to the heat and allergens simultaneously.

I'm praying for snow this winter. Lots of it. Blizzards like the ones we had a few years ago that kept the students home from school for almost a solid month. As soon as it began to melt we got more and there was some flooding in Brunswick. No one could go to the canal, boat on the river or ride the MARC train for awhile because the tracks were flooded.

I'm almost afraid to check the Witch's Almanac or the Farmer's Almanac because if things don't change next summer's going to be much, much worse.

I have to get up early tomorrow and go shopping. I'm really looking forward to it because this time Larry and the babies are going to. We're looking for a headboard and nightstands for our room. I had to take my nightstand out because it had glass panels in it and I couldn't keep Tornado Trent from standing on the darn thing.

We're also going to We "B" Toys and I always enjoy that. My inner child is really wired and ready to play. Also, Spongebob is going to be at FSK tomorrow with a tent set up that looks like his undersea home so people can take pictures with him. I'm going to see if Larry wouldn't mind stopping at FSK on our way home...

:o)

G'night.