Happy Spring & Yellow Stuff

Last week, the darling twins informed me during one of our amusing Skype video chat sessions that they do not watch Dancing With The Stars and would like me to blog about something else.

As if they have some control over blog content?

Hardly.

But in their honor and in their absence, I thought I would share a little bit about what they are missing here in the lovely metropolitan Atlanta area.

Yellow Stuff

The pollen count in Atlanta is off the charts ridiculous. While we embrace the gorgeous spring time weather, we mostly enjoy it closed up in our house for at least this first month. Because we can’t breathe. And everything is covered in pollen.

No one believes us until they actually visit during pollen season. PhilBillPaul’s mom used to think she had plenty of pollen and dust to contend with in Texas. Until she stayed here one pollen season with our darling children and took them to the park. You know how sometimes you forget where you park and it takes you a moment to find your car?

Granny lost our van…because it was maroon when she drove to the park and had turned yellow while she was at the park.

Here’s Roger Leroy’s car that sits in the driveway while she’s in Arizona.

It used to be bright blue.

I hear a neighbor has photographed it for some contest about the most pollen-covered car.

This is a picture of The Pollen River after a rainy day during Scary Baby’s spring break.

This stuff makes us all sick and cranky. Add in a migraine or two and we are delightful to be around.

This was the headline from an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on April 6th:

Tuesday’s pollen count nearly doubles to 2,967

In case you didn’t know and this is taken directly from the article…
“Anything over 120 is considered extremely high.”

More fun details from the article:

George Gottlieb, an allergist at DeKalb Medical Center said metro Atlanta allergy sufferers have a long season in front of them. He said the pine pollen season should end by mid-May but will be followed by hickory and pecan tree and grass pollen seasons through June.

Gottlieb offered several tips to help allergy sufferers through the pollen season:

• Keep windows closed in your home and car.
• Use the “recirculate” setting on your car air conditioning.
• Do not use an attic fan for ventilation.
• Schedule outdoor activities carefully; pollen counts are highest early in the morning.
• Outdoor exercise in the evening is best.
• Avoid going outdoors on windy days.
• Avoid mowing lawns or blowing leaves.
• Wash your clothes and your hair after being out in the pollen.
• Wash your pet after being out in the pollen.

Hey – darling twins, did you read all that? I can’t mow the yard. I can’t exercise. I can’t walk the dogs. I can’t go out when it’s windy. I can’t schedule any early morning outside activities because that’s when the pollen count is highest…

Geez, it’s almost like I have to hibernate like a bear during pollen season. 😉

Oh wait, maybe nothing has really changed since you left.

So what’s your pollen count? I’m looking to relocate…

P.S. We do miss you darling twins and I’m still going to write about DWTS.