NC Welcome Wagon ...

Well, we are in the midst of our first spring in North Carolina and it seems the Welcome Wagon (what the locals call it) is here.  We are experiencing our first blanketing of pine pollen.  Some of my golf buddies and I briefly experienced this a few years back on one of our "Man Trips."  There were literally"clouds" of green and yellow pollen floating across the fairways as we played.  Looked like swarms of bugs or birds.  Couldn't get out of them and didn't want to stop playing so we just adapted.  I think I remember some of us playing with "Freeto-bandito" scarves over our nose and mouth.  It was hilarious until we got home and pretty much everyone had upper respiratory infections for about a week or two. Cars were that ugly yellow all the way back home. 

I have had a runny nose, itchy eyes and a cough for about a week. Sinus. Pretty much gone now, but people looked at me like I had the plague.  A sign of the times I guess.

But this is a lot different.  We now live here and there's no going back to Ohio to get out of it.  So just in case you have never seen anything like this, check these out:

The top one is our table on the screened-in back purch.  You can see the "stuff" on the glass part.  In a way, it's funny because every time you sit down on a chair back there you have a yellow butt where you sat in the pollen.  I take a dust rag and wipe off the rocking chair back there, turn around to sit down and it is already starting to get covered again.  And the locals say this isn't even the worst part of it yet.  A neighbor just drove by the front of the house in his black Honda.  It had been sitting in the driveway of his house this morning.  Now it is almost all yellow!

This one is the front door entry.  Notice the pollen piled up on the door sill.

And another thing we've run into, along with the rest of the country, is the corona virus. In this sub-division all of our mail is delivered to a central mail drop (no individual mail boxes in front of the houses any more).  There's a little parking area there so you can drive down to get your mail when it's raining.  Most people just walk to it.  But it's strange to see a bunch of people all standing 6 feet apart, spread all over the little lot, talking to each other.  A Navy friend of mine, Keith, sent me this "Social Distancing Card."  Actually it is a "Range Card" from the military and seeing it really brought back a bunch of memories.  All but some of the headshed types will recognize it and remember filling it out for the Squad Leader or Platoon Sergeant to check.  This new version is supposed to let you know how close to or far away from people you can be.

Adapt and Overcome, right??!!

Oh well, at least I can still go to the golf course and play or to the driving range (which is where I really need to go), just so I don't hit yellow golf balls.

There must be a lot of people who have a seat on the same boat I'm in, 'cause there sure are lots and lots of funny quotes about this topic. I can relate to both of these.

Spring: When you have to endure four months of people asking you, "Why are you crying?" (Unknown)

 

Spring: When your nose does more running than you do. (Unknown)

 Hooah