The Creek Spews Forth

When my sinuses start to swell like all the pressure in the world exists behind my eyes and cheeks, I know it is going to rain. I envision drilling little holes in my face to release all that pain. My teeth actually hurt when this happens. The past few weeks have not been kind to me and my sinuses. Hell, the year hasn't been kind. I'm allergic to dust, mold, and almost all trees. This means I get no relief. "Seasonal allergies" is a fucking misnomer in my world. This year the drought was so bad, there was actually something out there called "dry mold." So just when I thought I wouldn't be suffering from the trees throwing their sexy bits all in the air, I start dying from this mold. Then the rains come with their evil barometric drop and the normal everyday kind of molds. It just makes me want to sleep on our great new mattress The Boy bought for us. It is ever so hard to get out of bed, and even worse when I was awake most of the night listening to rain slashing against the window and the wind whipping around the corners of our butt-ugly ranch house. I get up at approximately 5:45am, when everything is still, dark, fuzzy. It was still pouring, and I will drive in the dark and I will drive in the rain, but I will not drive in the dark while it is pouring. If I didn't end up killing myself, I would definitely kill someone else out there. Being night blind is already like looking through raindrops; so, driving in the rain is almost impossible. Texted my boss and said I'd be 20-30 mins late, just needed enough light in the sky to make it in--got to work and I was still the first one there. Damn I'm a sucker.

These past 3 weeks have been especially bad with the rain and threat of rain. My nose is rebelling. The inside of full of crusty scabs. It hurts each time I twitch my nose, which I guess is a lot, since it always hurts. And of course I can't stop picking my nose. I got some awesome boogers just velcroed to those scabs, and I feel a compulsion that is like an addiction to dig those damn things out, which of course only pulls on the scabs. So they are going to take a long while to heal. Don't try to tell me that you don't pick your nose, and ewwwwww, how gross that I do, because everyone does it. It's like saying you don't look at your shit before you flush. Please. Stopped being fascinated and repulsed by your body at the same time; that's just pathetic.

At work I have this little half-wall in front of my desk, which serves two major functions: 1) it hides my laptop perfectly, so no one can tell when I am using it, and 2) I am able to hunch down and pick my nose undetected (though I suspect there may be cameras around. I would like to pick my nose flagrantly with total disregard to who is around, but I fear that won't get me a raise.

My dear friend Wikus is also a staunch advocate of nose picking. He boasts about his nose-picking misdeeds and swears he doesn't care one bit who is around to see his gnarled finger poking around in his head. I am a little envious of how brave he is, and damn, what a coward I am, but I should point out he does not have a girlfriend. Which is absolutely stupid since he is wicked good-looking and is probably the smartest person I know. However, I feel that he is also the dumbest if he is picking his nose in front of the ladies. I have cautioned Wikus that this is not a wise plan, and that maybe he should cease picking his nose at work, since we all know that the easiest way to meet some one is through the job. Or at least it is a start--there's always the friends of the coworker (all of whom he should not pick his nose in front of as well). We all want Wikus to be happy, so please encourage him to pick his nose in the bathroom or while riding his bike or in front of the computer like I am doing right now (and I just caught The Boy doing out of the corner of my eye). Picking your nose is terrificate if you know when and where to do it. I like to think of all those traffic cameras out there that have caught me at it. Fuck you, traffic cameras!

I visited my creek today (yes, it is MY creek), which is usually a dry bed of limestone with just a few puddles to keep the grackles happily busy. I usually can walk around on it and take pictures of the grackles and herons that visit it, but not today. Autumn gave that creek a lot of water to feed upon, and it was crashing and thundering over the limestone rocks, bubbling in frenetic pools as it hit wider areas. I love my creek in its dry and wet states. It is so exciting out there. Enjoy the video--turn up your volume and listen to what a flooding creek sounds like during a drought.