♪♫ All my meds are packed, I'm ready to go... ♪♫

With apologies to John Denver, Peter Paul and Mary, et al. And I'm not all that ready to go, but I'm closer than I was this morning. The meds and vitamins are packed, along with OTC stuff for the nonsense that's going on in my right sinuses, throat, and ear. I did go to the after hours clinic to make sure that I wasn't coming down with an ear infection or strep throat. When I woke up this morning, I had a bit of congestion and that horrible metallic taste in the back of my mouth and an ear that was slightly tender. I downed a bottle of orange juice once I got to work, and it burned the right side of my throat, which can be a sign of strep. It was worth it to me to drop $30 for a co-payment and have my head properly examined. Ears are clear, and negative for strep.

There's your straight line. Tomorrow I will do as I did this afternoon, alternate very strongly minted gum with Ricola and send down decongestant as needed. Bradford pears are some of the loveliest trees in creation, and they hate me.

Work went well. We were handed a past-due answer, and we got 'er done. I remembered to set up my out of office message for email, and I set myself a reminder to change my voicemail message before leaving tomorrow. I've picked up Fourthborn, and two more cases of water, and some cottage cheese. I'm hoping that when I go to bed in half an hour or so, I can fall asleep quickly and stay asleep until the alarm goes off.

We're planning to make Little Rock before crashing stopping tomorrow night. We might be chasing a snowstorm. There might be two to six inches on the mountain where C lives when we get there on Sunday. We might have to park at the bunkhouse and hoof it up to the house. As I'm fond of saying, I'll burn that bridge when I come to it.

Having just tried to drown myself while washing down my evening meds, I am going to soothe my throat with a little ice cream and call it a night.