Lo-grade cold

......Not the full-blown “man-cold” that completely debilitated various of the Delawareans to their leather-ensconced LL Bean sofas.
Just more a nuisance than anything, although it has put a damper on physical activity somewhat, e.g. the YMCA and walking our crazy dog.
I skipped the YMCA yesterday (Wednesday, February 18, 2009), and skipped taking the dog to Baker Park this morning.
I also canceled a Hairman appointment this afternoon, because he’s going to Belgium and I don’t want him getting this cold.
Although I still have been able to take the dog to the park other days, although a bad-weather day last week may have precipitated this cold. It was raining and blowing.
And it hasn’t alterated my appetite any.
I still eat pretty much what I ate before, although it isn’t the Pig-Out diet recommended by various of my siblings.
I have had to switch to Jell-O for dessert.
An apple (Mac, not PC) or a grapefruit are a bit much.
Although I have been able to eat oranges.
No Mountain-Dew® or Cheetos though.
Didn’t like either even before the cold.
The national TV news has been reporting the epidemic of rotting teeth in Appalachia among small children.
....That hardly any adults have any teeth.
Nine-times-outta-ten the culprit is Mountain-Dew; that parents are even putting it in sippy-cups for tiny babies.
Some time ago I mentioned to my Physical-Therapist I had a brother addicted to Mountain-Dew.
“UGH!” she said. “That is the worst stuff in the world. All acid and caffeine and sugar. They gotta ship that stuff as toxic material.”
A small Appalachian boy is seated in a dental-exam chair.
He opens his mouth, and blackened, rotting teeth are revealed.
This one has to be pulled, and that one, and almost all the others.
Ten years old, and false teeth.
“I bet you been drinkin’ Mountain-Dew,” the Dentist says.
“Yessir,” the little boy sheepishly admits.
“The Dentist is probably gonna tell you Mountain-Dew is not your friend,” the tech says.

RE: “Not the full-blown ‘man-cold’ that completely debilitated various of the Delawareans to their leather-ensconced LL Bean sofas......” —The Delawareans are all those that live in northern Delaware, namely my younger brother Bill, his wife Sue, and their son Tom. (They all live together.) About two months ago Bill and Tom got colds — referred to as “man-colds” — that completely debilitated them, reducing them to quivering shells on their recreation-room sofas. Their sofas are from LL Bean, and are leather-wrapped.

I work out at the Canandaigua YMCA; Baker Park is also in Canandaigua, and we can let our dog run loose in there, since it’s fenced.

Our current “crazy dog” is “Scarlett;” a rescue Irish-Setter. She’s three-plus, and is our sixth Irish-Setter.

“Hairman” is my hair-dresser. I’ve gone to him at least 16-17 years. (My macho, loudmouthed brother-from-Boston, who noisily badmouths everything I do or say, excoriates my hair. I shouldn’t be patronizing Hairman; like my brother I should be having my hair trimmed by HairCrafters at $5 a pop, or use my John Deere riding-mower.) —He’s expatriot Belgian.

RE: “Pig-Out diet.....” —My loudmouthed brother-from-Boston, the macho ad-hominem king, who noisily badmouths everything I do or say, eats a menu of salt and fat I call the “Pig-Out” diet. He noisily insists I should eat the same. (A “Pig-Out” diet would consider Mountain-Dew and Cheetos to be staples.)

RE: “Mac, not PC.....” —All my siblings use Windows PCs, but I use an Apple MacIntosh, so am therefore reprehensible and stupid.

RE: “My Physical-Therapist....” —A few years ago I was prescribed a Physical-Therapist, mainly to get back in shape.

“Brother addicted to Mountain-Dew” is my brother-in-Boston.