PERHAPS THIS SHOULD BE CALLED
WHINING SATURDAY POST

What could possibly lead to this bout of whining on a perfectly good day off? Settle back and I will tell you.

Let's start with the sore throat. On Tuesday morning I went to the dentist at 7:30 in the morning. He was a new dentist and I chose him because he was more Conveniently located to my drive to and from work. He had just built a new office building and when I walked in I went into one of those "new carpet" asthma attacks. Not a bad one, but enough to cough and pull out the inhaler to get the breathing under control. He didn't hurt and I got two fillings and all seemed well with the world. This leads up to Thursday when my throat started feeling "funny." With me being the "doctor" that I am, I immediately diagnosed the cause as being the coughing fit on Tuesday. Wrong. I woke up Friday with the feeling that I had swallowed tacks. Okay, that's one reason to whine.

Reason number two has to do with living in The great north woods. I am sure that every state has their stories about their mosquito population. I don't want to get into a pissing contest over which state has the worst and biggest mosquitoes, but I'm sure Minnesota would be right up there in the top three. It has been a wet and cold spring for us. (Yeah, some of you are already in summer, it won't be here for another six weeks.) Yet, we have had one or two hot days. Hot enough to cause the mosquitoes to become quite active. Apparently last night a bomber unit of them were in my room and diving for dollars. I awoke with about ten bites, the most annoying one, right on my right eyelid. Imagine how attractive that is, as I peer out between the slit available because the
upper lid is swollen the size of an apricot and has turned the color of a grape. I am so lucky.

Now, the thing that really gets to me...remember the census of 2000. Of course you do, unless your brain is as pickled as mine has been in previous decades. It was pretty simple, fill in the info, mail it off, wait ten years...yada yada yada...The amazing thing for me was that this was the first time I had lived in the same place for two consecutive countings of heads. Quite a transient, I have been. As Yoda would say. Imagine my surprise when a couple of months ago I get a big envelope from the census bureau wanting more information. It was quite intimidating and asking bunches of questions about income, bedrooms, relationships...The anarchy strikes. I throw it away. A month later another one comes. Okay, they mean business, I'll fill this one out when I get around to it. (I never get around to it.) So, I come home Thursday night with a business card stuck in the door telling me an agent of the government (ok, a census taker) would be dropping around sometime this morning. It is 10:18 AM. I am intimidated enough to be here, take my lecture and answer the damn questions. If he gets here by noon, that is...Otherwise, while I will be in the car, heading to town for more throat Lozenges and some mosquito repellent. Do you think they'll let me blog from prison?

(Immediately after posting this at 10:20, "Franklin" showed up and now the gov't knows more than it needs to know. So, what do they do with this secondary information. I am a part of the conspiracy generation, you know.)