glad your better we’ve been sharing a cold around and around for almost 2 months

How about babyHulk? Or doesn’t he have a righteous temper?

“Slugger” when Dad is fixated on the net Babe Ruth. “CMIOS” or “iPad” for a techno wannabe. “Dallas”, “Phoenix”, and “Sheboygan” for folks that travel a bit, and have a “special” night they want to remember. Gack.

Me? My first horse was a Belgian Draft Horse filly — that grew into an 18.2 hand (6’2″ at the shoulder) horse. I remember both times she stepped on my foot. New, my Hackney Pony answers to “Little One”. My roosters each answer, sort of, to “Er-Err!”. *cough*.

When I help feed the neighbor’s cows, each is “precious”, :”beautiful”, “dear”. Or, “Hey, guy,” for the not-a-cows.

Perhaps, “Ace”, as WWII pilots learned to cherish the title. Or Bulls-eye, for a target emphasis. Bulls-eye Kid (keeping the BK thing going)? Boy Kevin, ala Bloom County and Culture Club? Or, just do what Kentucky Fried Chicken, er, KFC, and Future Farmers of America, er, FFA, did, and use the BK letters without attaching them to words. Even if it might get confusing at Burgher King..

If Mom eats an extra yogurt, does that help with the diaper blowout? Just curious.

First, I was told to mix 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1/8 tsp baking soda in 1 c. warm water to use, using *non-iodized* salt. Mix well, no clumps or crystals, please.

Second, it takes four pourings. Tilt head to left, angled down slightly, pour into right nostril to drain out left nostril. Next, angle head up a bit, so pour into right nostril drains down back of throat and out (parted) lips. Breathe. Now, tilt to right and repeat for nostril and throat cleansings.

Today I mostly use the saline nasal mist. Twice in each side, once an hour, and blow. I take a really big inhale/sniff with the opposite nostril closed when inhaling. Like any up-the-nose application, it has to get up there a ways to do much good. I find that much of the benefit — clumps of guck breaking lookse — happens 10, 20,45 minutes after using. Getting that salt up their does good things. It surprised me how well this stuff works even during a nosebleed, or with the airways closed with congestion. A bottle lasts quite a while, but you cannot trade bottles between people. It is that old “you can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can’t” thing.

I also keep AlkaSelzer Plus Cold effervescent tablets on hand. I compare this to Nyquil as being “non-recreational”. I don’t really feel it does much, until I notice I am less congested.

Chicken soup works because the chicken fat irritates the sinuses, causing them to flush, removing the illness germs to stop the re-infestations. This is what the neti pot does, mostly mechanically, unless you are including the salt with soda to buffer the works. I had a friend in Minneapolis that claimed the Mongol and Szechuan regions of China were high desert, and they cook their food spicy to make the sinuses flush, to avoid sinus infections. So that might be something else of interest, unless, like me, “spicy food” is when I put brown sugar on my oatmeal. (I avoid spicy foods.)

Lastly, fiber. Fiber is how your body normally handles excess mucous. Oatmeal is good, apples — the skins — are very good. Metamucil, or just the part that isn’t sugar, the psyllium husk, is very good. And lots and lots of water, avoiding caffeine. Warm water, hot water, hot herbal or decaf tea. Lots.

Blessed be.