BENTONVILLE — The weather is beautiful, so why am I suffering miserable allergies, or a cold, or whatever in the heck has my sinus passages plugged as tight as a corked wine bottle?
Prescription medication has failed to provide relief.
My eyes itch.
Large doses of over-the-counter pills don't help.
My nose just started running a marathon.
Large doses of from-behind-thecounter, show-me-your-driver'slicense pills help some.
Please excuse me for that sneeze. My eyes itch worse.
The nighttime liquids seem to be the only way I get decent sleep.
Does it look like my face is swelling like a balloon? It sure feels like it is.
I rarely squeal like a pig, so it's probably not swine flu. When I try to breathe through my nose, it sort of sounds like a pig, but I don't think that is an indicator of that type of flu.
The most frustrating part is that the sinus blockage comes and goes; I'm sure that when I go to the doctor, I'll be breathing like there's nothing wrong.
The doctor will probably say it's all in my head, and I'll agree.
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With lows in the high 40s forecast for early next week, we'll get a taste of what's to come. Saturday during baseball sign-ups, one mom noted that the weather is like Seattle but without the rain. I agreed when she said she would love it if the weather stayed like itwas Saturday. I agreed.
Don't get used to the cool days and cooler nights. Summer's not over and won't be for a while. It is going to get hot again.
Yet, have you noticed it's starting to get dark earlier each evening, and the sun is coming up later each morning? Those are certain signs that summer is winding down.
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If you haven't been by to see the Bentonville City Hall's new front entrance, take a trip downtown.
The city's done a great job of enhancing what was a plain brick front. Visitors often mistook the courtroom - with its large marble pillars and porch - as City Hall.
Now, with the addition of a new facade, pillars and a canopy/porch, visitors are much more likely to spot the facility.
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Update on bullfrogs: Only one person wrote to report hearing a bullfrog's deep croak. It's coming from a small, above-ground swimming pool in the backyard that's turned into a green pool.
A couple of evening surveys in the past week turned up not a single booming croak in the night.
Outdoor writer Buddy Gough suggested that great blue herons are to blame. The protected birdsare proliferating; meaning, there are more hungry long-legged, long-billed frog eaters looking for a meal. Could be, he's right. Or, maybe something else is at play; what, however, I do not know.
The absence of the bullfrog's call has little impact on any of us.
After all, few people gig anymore, frog legs aren't a top-of-the-menu item anywhere around here; the silence might allow some people to sleep better; and nobody I've ever known goes on a frog-watching expedition. A frog-gigging expedition, maybe, but not to watch.
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ISS alert: Starting Saturday, the International Space Station will be making a series of morning passes over North America. The Space Station will be accompanied by the space shuttle Discovery, which - by the time you read this - might be off the launch pad and in space.
It was going to launch Tuesday morning, but thunderstorms delayed it.
I would love to see a shuttle launch, but time is relatively short.
The last mission for the shuttle fleet is set for Sept. 16, 2010. That launch is labeled Mission SST 134.
The mission that's set to launch is SST 128. That means that six chances remain to see a space shuttle ferry humans into orbit.
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Kent Marts is editor/general manager of The Benton County Daily Record. His column appears on Wednesdays. He can be reached at kentm@nwanews.com.
Opinion, Pages 6 on 08/26/2009
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