Grab a chair and a couple of root beers...

It's official. This... is the Worst. Summer. EVER.

Want proof??




Yeah, that's a high of 42, a low of 25 today (for those of you across the Pond) and a high of 43, with a balmy low of 25, for tomorrow.

I am NOT leaving this house!!! Well... we might go to Krause Springs tomorrow, which are freezing cold, and I plan to spend the entire time we're there in the water!!! But today, we're supposed to go to a birthday party, and... I'm going to be sitting indoors, in the air conditioning, clutching a glass of ice tea to my chest, wearing the skimpiest clothing I possess!! Because... no, I do not like being overheated, no, no, no. I don't mind getting sweaty, or a little hot, but feeling like I am boiling alive in my own juices? Not so much.

Oh, did I mention? Austin broke a weather record. See, before this week, the longest stretch of triple digit days was 69, set in 1925. We broke that this week with 71 days. So far. The way it's looking right now, we're going to be having triple digits all the way through September!!!

We got a teeny bit of a break on Thursday, because it was cloudy and then it rained, but... it was barely .01 of an inch, which was just enough to cool things down and raise the humidity. It only got up to 88 (31 C) on Thursday, and it actually got cold in the house, because the air conditioner wasn't having to work so hard!!

And the poor Impertinent Daughter! Soccer season isn't until January, but they're working on conditioning and strength training right now, and... the Athletics period at her high school is during the hottest part of the day! They have plenty of access to water, but it's hard on them to work outside in this heat. I feel really sorry for the football team, because they're out there working in full pads and helmets! By the way, they won their game last night, 34 to 9! GO LIONS!!!

*laughs*

And on the medication front, my doctor and my pharmacist are duking it out with the insurance company. *grimaces* You know, if I wasn't already convinced that my acid reflux issues were driving my asthma, I'd be convinced now. I haven't hurt like this since December, and... I thought this was all my asthma's doing. It's the damn reflux. And let me tell you something, Gaviscon doesn't even cut it!

It sucks.

All the idiots who've been protesting universal healthcare because of "Death Panels?" WE ALREADY HAVE THEM

Oh, tilia_tormentosa asked if my medicine was so very expensive. It's $5 a pill, so a thirty day supply is $150. Which is small beans compared to things like... the pain medication my father was taking for his cancer. That was a little over $26 a pill, which came out to a whopping $800 for a thirty day supply. His insurance refused to cover it, so he and my mother had to pay out of pocket for it, and that depleted their savings rapidly.

Blue Cross Blue Shield, the insurance my husband's company was using before Humana, absorbed $90 of the cost for the Dexilant I was taking, so we only had to pay $60 for it. I have a feeling that if I keep insisting (which I will) on taking the Dexilant that I will be paying the full $150 for it. Whoopee. $150 a months, so I can breathe without pain, so I can eat, so I don't keep coughing my lungs up. Yeah, it's worth it, but man, that's going to be a drain on our resources!!

Oh well, we will see what we will see!

Yeah, y'all are probably tired of hearing about this, but... this is the seven day forecast for Central Texas...




I saw a story in the news that cattle are dying from... drinking too much water. Yes, you read that right. See, a lot of stock tanks (what most folks think of as "ponds" are called "tanks" down here) have dried up, and pastures have withered, so... ranchers are moving their cattle to pastures where they can pump in a water supply. The cows, of course, are understandably thirsty, and if they drink too much too quickly, well, it's more than their bodies can handle and they die. More than 90 percent of the state is in the two highest drought categories. Where I am is in the "exceptional" category.

And because there is no moisture in the soil whatsoever, it's just... baking out there. It's like walking into an oven when you go outside, which I'll admit, I don't really like to do all that much. Because, there's only so much clothing you can remove before someone gets charged with indecency! This is the first time I've ever wished we had a pool, but at the same time, I'm glad we don't because, omg, the water bill!!

My latest writing project is going well... when the kids leave me along long enough, that is. I'm hoping to be done by tonight, so I can get it edited and ready to send off by tomorrow night. And that is all I will say about that, for now.

Now, if I can just the the Migraine of Doom to go away and leave me alone, that would be totally awesome!!

And last, but not least, I want to thank star54kar for the kiss! And eloquent_toast, madeyemax, and lusiology for the chocolate!! Because, you know, chocolate fixes EVERYTHING!!

*squooshes you all*

Okay, so... I finally got in to see the doctor today. Seems I'm not the only allergy suffering patient he has who is absolutely miserable right now. And vicki_sine, the antibiotics I was on was a 5 day Z-pack that was finished by Monday, the 15th, so that wasn't what was causing my itching. It was something I had gotten into in the backyard, methinks, because once I got a shower, it got better.

Anyhow, I went in to see the doc and... I now have a rattle in, you guessed it, the left lung. It's always that damn left lung. I'm telling you guys, if that left lung would just get with the program, I'd be fine!! But no, it keeps getting suspicious rattles, and clicks and squeaks... personally, I think a family of gerbils has taken up residence in there, but the X-rays don't bear me out, so... *shrugs*

The end result is, I have a nice little case of bronchitis going, so the doc threatened me with Levaquin, which is a big, scary antibiotic where I'm concerned because, while it tends to work and clear out my lungs, it also happens to knock me flat and make me as week as a two day old kitten. Think... Noodle Auntie. So, when I acted appropriately cowed, the doctor instead put me on another Z-pack for five days, as well as adding an extremely low dose of oral prednisone for five days (because the five day Medrol pack actually ends up making me feel worse) and putting me back on an asthma medication that I had taken back when we lived in a house full of toxic mold (though we knew it not).

And at a larger dosage.

In other words, she's throwing all the big guns at me, probably because that rattle sounds worse than she's letting on. I also had some bloodwork done, which was ... not fun. But that's another story.

However, I did get a clue as to why I'm feeling so crummy when I went in to the pharmacy to get my prescriptions filled. Mr. B, the pharmacist, said, "Well, to tell you the truth, Auntie, ever since I noticed the farmers plowing their corn under, I've been expecting you to come in for new meds. And you're not the only one."

Yeah. The local farmers are plowing under the corn and the milo, because it is just completely burned up. Most of the corn didn't even get a chance to set ears before they started burning up. It ain't nothin' but stalks. Even the cotton, which loves hot weather, is showing the effects. Normally, it doesn't bloom till it's about hip high. It's barely knee high... and it's blooming now. And not as many blooms as you'd like to see, too.

Did I mention it was 105 F here today? That's 40.5 to those of you who measure by Celsius. In other words, hotter'n a skillet in a bonfire!

So, with the plowing under, there's dust, mold, and goodness knows what else in the air. Which means one unhappy Auntie. And also an unhappy Impertinent Daughter and Impossible Son, because Auntie pretty much has to stay put, though the doctor didn't put me on bed rest this time, per se... she just said, "Get as much rest as you can," but she didn't specify WHERE.

Think I can get off on a technicality?

*flinches from the massive collective glare from her f-list*

Okay, okay, you win, you win!!

Auntie will behave!!

*sigh*

Hey, anybody watching "I Survived a Japanese Gameshow"? OMG, that show is AWESOME!!! And hilarious!! In tonight's episode, I particularly enjoyed when a female contestant, after having been soaked in lotion and oil, had to slither across the half naked bodies of several sumo wrestlers all laying on their backs in order to place a torch in a stand and put on a medal, then slither back over them and finish an obstacle course. OMG!! And when she grabbed one of the sumo wrestlers' very apparent bulge as a handle to help herself along, then realized what she had grabbed?? *dies laughing* I wonder if he's managed to get his eyes back into his head yet?

*dies laughing all over again*