Flash forward to this past Saturday.  11.5 miles into my 12 mile run I notice a rash on my thigh..I didn’t think much of it, and related it to all the sweating I’d been doing over the past 3 hours.  Made it back to the truck, and thats when I noticed it.  Now its on my other leg, and it’s looking really familiar.  JB’s driving, so we head home, I take the advise of my allergy doc from last summer, and take a double dose of Benadryl.  Shower, then within an hour we’re at the ER.  Well they saw me last time and know that this stuff doesn’t play nicely.  Doc gives me two shots, two scripts and we’re heading home within an hour.  By this time the Benadryl is kicking in and I can hardly stay awake!  Note: ER doc said if it’s not better within two days or gets worse..come back and I’ll be admitted.

Fast forward to today…everything seems to be going good.  Rash is down and almost gone even though its still itchy.  Add to that I ran three miles yesterday and it didn’t seem to aggravate the reaction.  Yeah.. now I think we know what the problem is…heat combined with the antibotics my dermatologist put me on..almost same combination from last year.  Go figure!

Ingredients

5 cups quick-cook oatmeal
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1 cup wheat germ or cracked wheat
1 cup raisins
1 cup coconut
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons. vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

Place all dry ingredients together in a bowl and mix well. Sprinkle vanilla and corn syrup over mixture. Mix well. Pour into shallow pans.

Toast at 200 degrees F. for 20 to 30 minutes or until it starts to turn brown. Cool and store in a tight container. Serve with milk.

—

After I buy the ingredients that I need I’ll let you know what the cost is and the amount that I end up making. Surely it will be cheaper than $5 for 3 cups!
I even have vanilla that I brought back from Costa Rica to use too! Hmmm.. maybe I should have brought back more!

——Update:  Total cost to make 10 cups of granola cereal = $4.35

75 Gallon Rain Barrel

New addition to the back porch.  Ordered this nice 75 gallon rain barrel so that I wouldn’t be running out to one of my other three to get water for my orchids.  Since it’s not connected in line with the others, I just run a hose from one outside and fill it with the little pump that I’ve submerged into the outdoor barrel.

It works great and I like the brass spigot that came with it.  With the screen on top I can set one of my larger plants on it, and not worry about the overflow if I over water it.  The excess water will run back into the barrel.  The screen is nice too, since I won’t have to worry about the cat falling in and getting stuck.

I also started another project today.  For my orchids I wanted to be able to water them automatically and have the excess water flow back down into the reservoir.  Well I picked up a pump at Harbor Freight, but the small drip line hose is just too small.  So next time out I’ll pick up some larger tubing, and then try to figure out what to do at the ends.

Ok.. off to see what other green ideas I can come up with or I might just hang my hammock out between the trees and rock for awhile.

Today we went for a run around 7am. The temps were already topping 80 by then, but nothing like the temps now at 5pm. Our little thermometer in the shade says 102F! I was able to get in five miles before it was just too hot to think about running unless I wanted to end up in the hospital. It’s hard to believe that this time last year I was able to run about 16 miles…so hopefully by next month I’ll be there. Considering the marathon is at the end of October, I better bump up my workouts.

Ok..time to cut into that tomato and see if it’s still edible. Later!

Bromo Seltzer
Emerson
Drug Co
Baltimore

Circa 1889-1907

Robison’s Drug Store
PHONE 30
Wetumpka, Ala

Circa 1905-1911

In other news…all the carpet has been removed from our den, living room, second bedroom, hall way, and dining room. Talk about nasty! Its weird how all that dust and dirt can get under the padding! Either that or they laid the carpets down on dirty floors. We’ve got our estimate on getting the wood floors put in, as well as remodeling our bathroom and redoing the garage. Construction should begin in about a week now. Plenty of before and after pictures will be taken…and as for those black bathroom fixtures…1980 had called and they want them returned. Bye bye black tub that shows soap after every shower…hello large walk in shower with a bench!

Since 1998 this post will be entry number 1380.  Thats a lot to think about much less what the heck did I post?  Several years ago I would post daily, more on some days but usually once a day.  Things have changed and for the past year I have practically stopped posting at all.  Why?  Maybe it’s because no one reads what I post, or maybe I feel like I sit in front of a computer all day and want to get away from it when I’m home.  Any way.. things are about to change and I’m sure I’ll have plent to post about in the coming weeks.

#1 .. this is the last week for me with my current employer.  Almost four years… time to move on.

#2..new job starts in seven days.. scary, but I’m excited.

#3..Costa Rica Mission trip in July!

Stay tuned!

1.What Rolling Stones song best summarizes the week you just had?
 I’m Free – The Rolling Stones (Vinyl) 45 RPM http://youtu.be/r4uHojnRfsY
2.What movie reminds you most of your childhood?
Pretty in Pink
3.What part of the newspaper do you never (or almost never) read?
Classifieds
4.What television show is a lot better than you thought it would be?
Glee
5.What station is the radio nearest you set on at this moment?
Lithium – XM

Mmmmm Happy Easter with Chocolate Covered HUGGGE Strawberries!

Strawberry allergy? I’ll take that chance on these!