Weeds

I may have gotten overly enthusiastic in my bid to eradicate weeds this week. First I went out into a patch of thistles that had laughed in the face of Round-Up.  A week after spraying they had droopy heads but hadn't died. So like some demented golfer struck in the ruff, I hacked my way up across the hill. Unfortunately the thistles were hiding a tree stump. That stump grabbed the whacker out of my hand, bent the shaft, and knocked me down the hill. I rolled a few times and landed ungracefully in a clump of Snowberry bushes.  Deciding to retire from battle for the day I picked the leaves out of my hair and limped back to the house.

The next day I hopped on the riding mower, figuring flat ground would be safer. While mowing the center of my driveway, I veered off to get a swath of goat weed that was thriving on the edge of the hay field. Despite a few gopher holes, the mower and I returned without incident.(Unlike the week before when a blade fell off for no apparent reason.)  It wasn't until I got back to the house that I saw my eyes were red and irritated. This should have been my first clue.

The next day I woke with a runny nose and watery eyes. By the time I sneezed my way to the bathroom one eye had swollen shut. The weeds were taking their revenge.  For the next few days I looked like a survivor from Burning Man. Blood shot eyes, breathing heavily and covered in scratches and strange bruises. A few days in an antihistamine haze later and I'm mostly functional again.

Post chemo I've had problems with allergies like I never did before but this was especially nasty. Also I can't keep my eyes open and sneeze at the same time. Weird.