Allergies are fun

[charisstoma]

10.4 on a 12 scale where 12 is high incidence.
Predominant Pollen: Cedar/Juniper

I wondered why I've been hearing this faint moaning bay of a neighbor's small dog (poor puppy)and then realized it's coming from someplace in my throat or chest. I am at Def con 3.2. Have taken 1 Benadryl, 1 12hr.Mucinex, 1 Zyrtec with possibilities of bumping up my arsenal to two of the first two of those up one pill and adding Sudafed. After that I can die, I guess.

I am again taking donations this year for putting out a hit on ALL the Mountain Cedar plants in the state of Texas. They need killin'. Stupid shrubs/trees wanting to propagate.

My voice is at frog, with coughing and nose sniffling and my ears fluctuating between aching and not aching.
*sighs* Don't mind me, I'll be hunched over my keyboard over in the corner trying to compose/read/connect with the world and physically sounding pitiful.

Forecast:
Wednesday 9.6
Thursday 10.8

WHINE

Comments

[2metaldog.livejournal.com]

Oh man that sucks. The only thing I like about winter is that everything that wants to pollinate, can't. I feel for you. I'm allergic to more things than I'm not allergic to and I have asthma on top of that. Makes for a wheezingly fun time.

[charisstoma.livejournal.com]

It seems so unfair that when it's cooled off enough to go out for pleasant walks without breaking a sweat that leaves one soaked in one's own marinade and prey to biting critters, that this .. PLANT .. makes it so intolerable.

Over the counter meds do better for me controlling this and cost less too plus I can increase or decrease as needed which one up the nose shot of prescription doesn't do. My mother's genetics is to blame for this.. She lives in an area that is the Mountain Cedar capital of Texas. *pets the Mom*
*pets the you too* Allergies. Am glad that right now must be better for you. You normally get my sympathy when you are feeling bad but there's an extra amount when I get a reminder of just how much fun this is.

[clodiametelli.livejournal.com]

That sounds nasty - never heard of that kind of allergy before or pollen allergies in winter. Hope it soon passes.

[charisstoma.livejournal.com]

Texas cheats. We go up and down on the temperature. It's December so cool/cold days to cold around freezing at night is reasonable. The 80 degree F weather today.. not so much.

I love sleeping late during vacation and having access to lj all day but being in the center of a large building at work sequestered away from outside air.. I'm missing it now.

Had to come to Texas to fully appreciate the joy of Mountain Cedar season. *grins* YOu should visit.

[theotherdibbler.livejournal.com]

Poor dear. *hugs*


(Although as a professional conservationist I cannot condone any move to eradicate a local native tree species, but you don't want that lecture I'm sure)


And in my search to check if it was actually native to Texas I found:
People Against Cedars - I expect you will be right at home there. :P

[charisstoma.livejournal.com]

AH HA! They aren't native to Texas per the site you provided. They are an infestation. To para-quote the Daleks, "E-rad-i-cate. E-RAD-E-KATE. E-RAD-E-KATE

*sniffle* *cough* *croak*

[theotherdibbler.livejournal.com]

I didn't read that site, Wikipedia reckons they're native to 'central Texas' but are considered a weed because everyone always calls plants they don't like weeds.

I quote:

'native to northeastern Mexico and the south-central United States north to southern Missouri; the largest areas are in central Texas, where extensive stands occur.'

'Although Ashe juniper is native to central Texas, it is considered a weed by many landowners and developers in that area,'


From the PAC site: '"Replace a Cedar" day would be a day where central Texans are encouraged to replace one or more Cedar trees with another tree as long as it is native to this region. Every cedar that is cut down must be replaced by at least one tree.”'
I think I'm going to cry. Yes, yes replacing a tree with another local native tree is a damn sight better than not replacing it at all, but it's not as simple as that! Saplings take a very long time to fulfill even half the functions a fully mature tree provides! You can't just cut down a big old tree and plant a new baby one and call it good!


Although if it does have all of the generally environmentally detrimental effects the website claims, and is spreading due to overclearing of the landscape and removal of other natural factors, then I could get behind a management regime. Management not eradication. Like Cootamundra wattle and mistletoe. And kangaroos. Perfectly fine where they belong and are kept under control by a system in balance, not so great elsewhere, and encouraged to proliferate to plague proportions by human-induced landscape change. Natural landscapes and balanced self-sustaining systems, that's what we want. :)

And I do still have sympathy for you for your terrible allergies.

[charisstoma.livejournal.com]

*Hisses* It is a Texas native, up to 30', shrub-tree. Birds eat it's berries. It has fragrant wood. I hate that it's useful. Damn it. It hates me.

When I first moved here there was a little volunteer plant growing next to the back door against the house. Not a good place to have a small tree. Had to remove it and it had little pointy parts in its foliage which not wearing gloves made me aware of. .. hmm maybe that's why it hates me. I offended against the great cedar god.