The Same River.

The ice wasn’t too horrible out here and the snow has been nice. Then again I didn’t clean off the driveway before heading off to work. Work that started at noon.

Feeling really mellow and listening to a lot of Brubeck today. It’s nice.

Last night was an interesting night on the desk. Was propositioned by some lady who looked like my mother’s peer to come to [bar's name] on Friday so that I could meet her mid-thirties-ish, single friend. All well and good—who doesn’t like to be found attractive, right? I deftly parried the request by alluding to my present girlfriend, with whom I live. Perhaps it was too deft because the request turned into some kind of hard sell. She wasn’t going to take no for an answer all the while I’m trying to help her locate some obscure article. Thank FSM the reference librarian wandered back to the desk so I could pass her off. Seriously weird moment in the life of a geekular wall flower.

Told Elz about it and she asked if she needed to mark me every morning before I head off to work. I replied that I think that could be kind of fun.

heh.

What passes for the mothership-in-law will be staying with us this evening.  Here are some ways in which this promises to not be fun:

1. She self-diagnosed her sinus infection as a mini-stroke
2. Incessant demands for all and sundry to “feel my forehead.  Isn’t it hot?”
3. Requests to “just hold my hand” made almost as frequently
4. Reportedly her attempt at a bath this afternoon lasted for approximately 120 seconds

This added to the fun of having to clean the house top to bottom, rearrange said house to accommodate a sit down meal for a baker’s dozen, and plan and shop for an elaborate meal in anticipation of hosting the first joint family holiday celebration.  Elz recently recovered from a bout with pneumonia and is now nursing someone with a raging sinus infection and getting increasingly run down from it all.  Thereby opening herself to further ailments and possible hospitalization.

I’ll save further editorializing for off-list conversations.  I will say that I’ve spent nearly an hour on the phone with Elz here at work calming her down.

Why do people insist that holidays are fun?

The ragweed / whatever-the-heck-it-is that is making me sneeze and snot on everything, both vertical and horizontal, absolutely needs to stop. Mowed the yard yesterday and got about three minutes into the second bag o’ grass (heh) before the uncontrollable sneezing set in. Thought I was going to blow a gasket. Went inside and grabbed the fake-a-dryl which got me through mowing at least. I started moving the mulch/compost pile neé Brian’s dumping ground into reasonable piles of like materials. Then Elz comes around the corner with some water and talks me into going to the dog park instead. Not a lot of talking needed to happen mind you.

So we get in the Egglet and wrangle the dogs into back seat and strike out for NW Omaha. I swear we’re about three blocks into the drive and Elz is all, “let’s just go around the block and head home.” The goal, apparently, was to keep me from swinging an ax—that which gave me a 14 day stiff neck of biblical proportions.

Instead of the dog park, then, we head off to get frozen custard for ourselves and, in a moment of weakness on my part, for the dogs too. The Toaster knows how to eat off a spoon and was able to get through his custard with nary a drip or spatter. Dr. Salt, on the other hand, was a hurricane of sloppy eating. Dribbles all over the sidewalk and his beard is entirely matted now. Looks even scruffier than usual, which is hard to do.

So then we head home, which is where this story is going ultimately. No sooner do I get in the door than the antihistamines went in to full effect. It was like I was operating under seven to ten feet of cotton balls soaked in ether. I’ve never been so hammered by those things before in my life.

Which scares me. Because I had to take one this morning just to start to feel like I could get to work. I can’t imagine how non-productive I’ll be in about two hours…