It’s that time of year. Spring arrives at 6:02AM CDT this morning. You can have watch it come at Archæoastronomy.
The air is already filled with pollen and the live oaks are dropping last year’s leaves. The azaleas are fading as the camellias have already done, but the Easter cactus is budding. This is occurring earlier every year.
I would note that locally we have had 12 hours or more of daylight since St. Patrick’s Day, and usually do.
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6 comments
ahhhh…. CHOO!
Roger that! The pollen has been unbelievable for the past year, and it is ramping up again with the yellow dust on everything.
And not just in your neck of the, er, woods… I have at least one sneezing fit a morning right here in Houston, inside the Loop, as the combination of pollen and pollution gives me fits. Here’s some doggerel from 1998 on the subject. (Yeah, I know; I don’t write new stuff much anymore, but some of the old stuff isn’t too bad.)
I grew up down here without so much as a sniffle, but people have been importing plants and irrigating to keep them alive since I left. We used to have pines, live oaks, and magnolias. Now they are being force out with ornamental fruit trees, sugerberries, camphor trees, tallow/popcorn trees, ad nasal congestion.
It is almost as if people are looking for something that will make everyone miserable. It’s probably a plot by allergists.
i love the longer-and-getting-even-longer daylight, i love the new, earlier daylight savings time, i love the weather [even given the threat of severe storms] and temperatures this time of year.
the pollen, though… argh. even the cats are sneezing.
i’m originally from the land of mesquite trees and prickly pears and darned little else. i did eventually get over that slightly-claustrophic feeling that came from leaving the wide open spaces and moving deep into the piney woods, but i’ve never adjusted to the pollen.
Yep, my cats are sneezing along with me. Excise is really affected.
I take the meds because this is the best time to work outside and get things done before the heat arrives. If people would leave me alone, I do everything on the laptop in a lawn chair, but that encourages people to come by and talk.