I hate Fall

...and Spring for that matter. Is hate strong enough of a word? Loath. Despise.
I guess if you multiply all of them together you come close. Though I will say that Spring is a bit higher on my seasonal hit list than Fall. At least in Fall you get the NFL.

I know this comes as a shock to many people. I see it on their faces whenever I say it -- including my wife's. Other people see Fall as the glorious end to Summer. The colors of the leaves, the cooler days, and occasional rain (it really doesn't rain at all during Summer here in southern Idaho). And Spring is the great season of renewal and freshness. New leaves, the first flowers, spring showers, and warmer days….

I see two unfortunate similarities between the two seasonal changes that have, and will continue, to make my life very unpleasant. Which means, both seasons are bearable, but I have the general attitude of a starved bear in the meantime.

First is rain. More importantly, what the rain brings with it: barometer changes. Even here in the relatively placid weather of Boise, come Spring and Fall the barometer start to jump faster a 6 year old on trampoline. Some friends of mine have one of those old fashioned barometers that is a glass jar with a spout. You measure the barometer changes by watching the water go up and down the spout. The darn thing about explodes, turning into a spigot, this time of year.

So does my right knee. Do to an over-zealous youth of work, sports, a genetic defect, and an ugly surgery, walking this time of year can be really painful. Heck, sitting and laying in bed is uncomfortable. Every time the barometric pressure starts moving I start popping enough ibuprofen to make a horse dizzy. Realistically, when I start getting a lot of nose bleeds, I know it is time to cut back.

So now I'm scouting out elevators and trying to avoid well meaning gockers -- e.g. "Oh, your limping, did you hurt yourself?". Me: "Ya, about 11 years ago, but you should see the other guy!"

Truth: the other guy is fine, it happened in a high school wrestling tournament my senior year, the other guy nearly ripped my knee out of its socket (everything was legal). That wasn't the only thing that happened to that knee, but that was the biggest. I don't really mind the concern I get from people I pass by, I just hate being made a spectacle and having to explain my history to people I don’t know very well.

Second is temperature change. This one does not affect me like it used too, but the psychological remnants are still there. I used to work on a dairy, for 15 years, feeding the newborns. I fed every heifer produced on that dairy until it was about 3 months old. I got pretty good at it too, during Summer and Winter. But every Spring and Fall there was one thing that always happened: they got sick. Sometimes all of them at once. Colds, flue, diarrhea, you name it. Did you know diarrhea kills? Not real pleasant either. The temperature fluctuation is what usually set it off. Cows are just fine in stable temperatures, but when it is 80 degrees and sunny one day and 50 and windy the next...bad things happen.

Luckily, I don't work on a dairy anymore, but I am forced to visit (it is a family thing). And because of the first point, I'm very glad I don't work on a diary anymore, I don't think I could physically take it anymore. Diary life doesn't have a lot of real physical labor anymore, large tractors and trucks have taken care of that. But there is enough to close that occupation out for me.

That’s all right. I didn't like cows anyway. As for the knee: ibuprofen and beer make a nice combo.