Thursday, October 06, 2005

Oct 6 Haven't been riding as I've been sick. Monday morning I was feeling much better when I noticed that my sprinkler system valve stuck again and the front lawn had been watered for several hours. This was around 5:30 am, it was dark, and I had just gotten out of the shower. So I throw on shorts and a t-shirt (yes it was still HOT then), run barefoot outside, kneel down on the grass by the curb and turn off the main valve at the street (it was full of water, lovely thing to stick your hand into at that time of the morning). I stood up, saw my legs all dark and thought to myself "I'll have to take another shower to get all this dirt off". I took 2 steps and discovered the dirt was fire ants and they all decided to bit at once. I fled across the acorn strewn lawn (I didn't care how that felt), grabbed the water hose and hosed myself off. Then thinking I had done a good thing, I picked up the paper, calmly walked back in the house to discover I still had fire ants on me. Ran through the house to the back (and over the cats who thought I was playing with them), jumped back in the shower (but with my clothes on this time) and showered all the ants off. Discovered later that the cold water keeps the histamines from being released (and that can cause allergic reactions). I go on to work, but I had to wear a jean skirt because I have about 200 bites. Got a cortisone shot at the Dr that afternoon so the itching isn't too bad. They are really ugly looking bites now. But the major swelling is down. I have them all over but mostly around my knees and thighs. I've got to get the valve fixed now. And now it is cold here. We dropped from the mid-90's to the mid-60's brrrrr. I'm ready for summer again.

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