allergies and sleep and a pleasant breeze

Perhaps it is too early to be certain, but the butterbur capsules I've been taking for the last 2 weeks truly seem to be helping against my allergies. The "thick throat" feeling only happened the first day, and I haven't noticed any other side effects since then. I've been taking 2 a day (50 mg each, certified free of pyrrolizidine alkaloids), one in the morning and one in the evening. I still get a slightly runny nose occasionally, but since the first 2 days of taking the capsules, I haven't had what I call an "allergy attack". Even raking the yard only made my nose run a little bit.

I've been on vacation this last week. In these last few days, I've managed to sleep 8 or more hours per night, even after going to bed at 3am. So I am still capable of getting that much sleep, when given the right opportunity.

It's been so nice outside these last few days and nights that I feel I should be spending time outside enjoying it. If I were at the beach and the weather was nice like this, I'd be sitting outside on the balcony (or on the beach) just enjoying the breeze and sunshine.

But there's stuff indoors that I want to do, and I can't imagine just standing or sitting around outside doing nothing for more than a few minutes. This evening at least, I went outside to mow the grass.

I think I should get some kind of nice outdoor chair in which I could relax. Or maybe a nice swing-bench or swinging chair. Ah, a swinging chair sounds nice. But then it would get rained on. And not sure where I'd put it. If it had wheels, I could wheel it into the garage when I wasn't using it. Hmmm. How often will there be such good weather in conjunction with time off to enjoy it, to make having such a chair worth while? I suppose that after a few minutes of sitting in a comfortable chair outside, I'd still get antsy doing nothing.

family history

After my aunt died, my mom kept some of her documents. I've been going through them, looking for details to help in filling out my family tree. Among the papers are letters that my mom wrote to my aunt in the years before and after I was born. Reading them is like being able to go back in time.

A few items of general interest:

1970 - a description of what paper plates were; they must not have been widely available yet in Germany.

A surprising statement - "im Alabama gibt es keinen Alkohol" (in Alabama there is no alcohol).
Looking this up, I found that even nowadays there is still one county in Alabama where all alcohol sales are illegal.

Feb 1974 - It cost $9 to make a 3-minute phone call from the U.S. to Germany, and $3 per minute after that. $9 was the minimum charge (that's equivalent to $42.70 in 2013 dollars).
Feb 1972 - It cost $3 per minute plus 10% tax for phone call from Vietnam to the U.S.

Items of personal interest:

I had chickenpox before my 2nd birthday! (I was always under the impression that I'd never had chickenpox, and that I therefore might still be able to catch it. But this means that I could instead get shingles.)

If I had been born a boy, my name would have been "Bryan Patrick".

My dad was stationed in Vietnam for one year, and was over there when I was born. He oversaw helicopter repairs or something like that, and wasn't in an actual war zone or involved in combat.

Apparently I wasn't a well behaved little toddler.

When I was 1 and a half years old (translated from German):
She climbs around energetically - most preferably onto the table - up and down; no dishes, no letter being written, nothing is safe from her.

In the garden she digs holes with D*** (the dog) and heaps sand on him; in the house - oh God - she falls down stairs, bangs herself badly on everything and therefore constantly has swollen bruises on her head, legs and even her butt. She clears out all the cabinets; scatters sugar, cookies, cocoa, anything she can reach; every day she tears the backing of the carpet a little more. She feeds D*** the expensive dog food all at once (normally we only give him one piece of it a day and the cheaper food otherwise). Besides feeding her own mouth, she also feeds D*** bananas and cookies, and the bad thing is - spanking does not help with her, and my mouth is worn out from saying "No, no".

When I was 2 years old:
She eats like a little pig and gets herself so dirty that onlookers are amused - clothing, hands, arms and hair - usually all full of food. She starts to eat very pretty and neat, but as soon as you look away for one moment, she starts to play with the food, even when she's still hungry. D*** always has to be on the leash now or outside, as otherwise she throws him a lot of good pieces high in the air, and shrieks with joy when he catches them.