Agent Orange
One of the lame things about living near a cotton field is that around this time of year they spray a defoliant on it so that all the leaves drop off and the harvester gets cleaner cotton when it rips all the stuff up. I realize it’s a cost effective measure and helps the farmer not go out of business (since farmers don’t earn money really, they just pay debt and eat), but the side effects of this stuff is very lame. Headaches, sometimes sinus or ear infections, achy stuffy head, sneezing, and slight body aches are normal. The old cliché, “Earthquake Hits Valley, Women and Children hurt most” is almost true in this case. I think that Nina and Alison are having the roughest time. But that may be because they are home more than I am.

That stuff has to be bad for you. I mean, besides the obvious temporary side effects.


Scare the Kid to Death
About a month ago, Nina got scared to death by my Thai Demon mask that used to hang over the entrance to our master bedroom. Now that mask is stored in the closet. But it’s understandable that the tusks, fangs, bulging eyes, horns, and golden flames coming off the top of the face could upset a one year old.

Yesterday, when I was checking to see if the problem with the clothes dryer was the duct leading outside being clogged or the heating element, Nina got scared to the point of shaking again. I had pulled the dryer out and hooked a piece of panty hose to the flexible conduit thingy so that the air didn’t have to go through the tubing in the walls. Then we dried a load of clothes. The clothes dried faster then they had in months, so it’s clogged stuff in the walls.

At one point, when I was checking halfway through the drying cycle on the temperature of the air, it was really hot, so I told Alison to come feel. Alison happened to be carrying Nina at the time and when Alison got partially behind the dryer which was running and bent over, it scared Nina bigtime.

With the sick feeling from the defoliant, and then getting horrified, Nina had a tough time falling asleep. She went down fine enough, but woke up 40 minutes later and I held her and she fell asleep on me. The same happened shortly later, and I held her and then she wanted Alison to hold her. Alison and Nina both fell asleep on our king sized bed. I woke Alison and put the sleeping Nina into her crib.


Too Much Family, Not Enough TV
Alison and I managed to watch Big Brother, but weren’t able to watch The Amazing Race finale. In my opinion, dumb ol’ Cowboy would have won BB5 if he just could realize what his strategy was. He said it was “being himself”, which may be true, but saying “I served everyone. I gathered information and reported back. And mostly I aligned myself to the Head of Household at all times. I played the game under the radar and convinced everyone that I wasn’t a threat. I didn’t lie to anyone the entire time either. Personal charisma aside, I clearly outplayed Drew, just based on the honesty alone.”

But, alas, dumb ol’ Cowboy didn’t even realize that his strategy was to be an obsequious worm. To him, it was “being himself,” Chason’s dad. Or stepdad, which works better. Because that way you can’t be blamed for Chason’s tragic name. Yikes.

Google Hit
I’m the number one hit for “SARS airbag Miata.” I just wonder what the person was really looking for.

- posted by Nick Postagulous @ 9:09 AM