Desert Blues

It's weird.

When I was younger, I would always hear about people with respiratory issues who moved to the desert to get relief. The cold, wet, New England climate wreaked havoc on their lungs, so they'd move to Arizona and breathe easier for the rest of their days.

For me, that's not working.

I didn't move to Arizona for respiratory relief. I moved here for adventure. Which I have gotten in spades. However, for the last several weeks, I have been sniffling and snorting, coughing and sneezing and - quite frankly limiting the adventure side of my life because breathing has become such an issue.

It started around the last week of September, when the weather changed from highs of 110 or so to highs of 99. At first the air was much more pleasant and being outside much more comfortable. (The adventures could start when the sun came up and could continue past 10 am!) But shortly thereafter, the sneezing began. Some plant, it appears, started releasing pollen when the temperature dropped. Some plant that I had not grown up with and was not used to.

The local folks told me that both sagebrush and juniper pollen was high right now. Makes sense. Years ago, when backpacking in Utah, I discovered that I was sensitive to sagebrush. (People were simply calling it "sage", though. And I was so sensitive to it, that I became concerned that maybe I should not eat food with sage in it, for fear of going into anaphylactic shock. No worries, though. Sagebrush and the spice sage are completely different) The desert plant, though, that kicks my butt.

The pollen isn't the worst of it, though. It's also the time of year for controlled burns. In the mountainous areas surrounding me, there have been a series of controlled burns over the past few weeks (as well as a handful of unexpected fires). Smoke has been in the air. And all the symptoms that go with breathing in smoke have plagued me, as well- dry throat, dry eyes, itchy nose and ears, sore throat, dry cough. I've been a mess!

Then it occurred to me that maybe it's not the pollen or the fires, but the convergence of the two- maybe I've been breathing in the smoke from burning sagebrush. That can't be good. ( I knew somebody who once accidentally made a campfire from poison oak. It was bad. He was way worse than I am now.) But still.

The best laid plans of mice and men sometimes are toppled by pollen and smoke! I'll keep pushing through the best I can.

I just keep pondering the irony of the idea that the desert is the best place for people with respiratory issues and my current state.

Oh wait! Maybe it was people with arthritis who moved to the desert!