Even though I am philosophically opposed to allergies, I have been suffering terribly from them for about a month now, particularly the past week.

My doctor kept prescribing things that have pseudoephedrine in them, and it wasn’t until yesterday, when I had been awake for about 48 hours straight (THAT will give you the crazies!) that I realized the one common element shared by all these allergy medicines.

I’ll be asking for a little note to be put in my file. No more of that stuff!

On Tuesday night (Wednesday morning?), hopped up on a thrilling mixture of pseudoephedrine and Ambien, I thought to myself,

“Of course Jinx Kittyman’s middle name is Tiberius, so he has the same initials as Captain Kirk.”

Aw MAN! I don’t even like Star Trek that much!

But of course it has stuck.

This is what my master bathroom currently looks like:

This is actually a big improvement. At first there was a mixture of ragged drywall and soaking wet insulation (i.e., smelly). Before we put the tub in, many many critters found their way in. Jinx was very excited about having thrilling toys. I didn’t know he had had a tiny frog until I found him patting at it sadly because he had played with it to death.

It’ll be nice to have a non-shabby tub. This one is narrower but much deeper than the old one. I look forward to soaking like a mermaid in plenty of salt water.

Until then, poor Dingo is up to his eyeballs in complicated plumbing, none of which was installed normally. Like our flooring project, this is all happening at the end of his school semester too. No pressure!

I had part one of a Giant Freelance Job last weekend and through the week. Part Two arrives early this week. By Friday, I had gotten to the point that I simply could not read another word. I could barely knit. Really all I could do was lie down and listen to very soft music.

Thankfully, yesterday was one of those endless weekend days, in which I got all of my chores done and still felt as if I’d lazed about. There may be actual synaptic activity in my head again.

Dingo took the enormous box for the tub, cut a hole in the side, and made a fort for Jinx. Sadly, he was not nearly as interested in a giant box fort as one would expect. I know one of the best playtimes of my childhood was when Mimi bought a new refrigerator for Innisfree and we got to play with the box.

Or was it Grandmom? I dunno. I just remember the giant box fort.

This is why I donate to Pine Ridge:

Aaron Huey TED

When I went to Pine Ridge at 16, I was one of those “kids on a church trip” that he mentions. The folks at Red Shirt worked hard to protect us from ugliness. They were so kind to us, so generous with what little they had.

If you’re interested donating too, Friends of Pine Ridge is a good place to start.

If you’d like to make an easy contribution, Sustainable Homestead Designs is in a contest hosted by Dreyer’s in which they would win money and resources to start an organic orchard on Pine Ridge. Voting requires registration but is free.

I have pretty hippie ideas about food production anyhow, but it seems to me that food self-sufficiency on Native lands would go a long way toward raising standards of living.