Temperatures in the low 80s, low humidity, lots of sun. And more allergy-igniting pollen than I can remember since … well, since last spring.
When it comes to me vs. pollen, it’s no contest: Pollen wins by a knockout. And I’m not alone: an estimated 35 million people suffer from seasonal allergies. However, allergist types say there are ways that we can minimize the Green Cloud. Not laugh in its face and continue on our merry adventurous way sniffle free, mind you. But it least try and keep our heads from exploding by simply walking down the driveway to get the paper. Their suggestions:read more
In a society suffering from what Richard Louv has labeled a “nature deficit disorder,” author Roland Smith creates a dilemma. Louv’s “Last Child in the Woods” has created a movement since it came out in 2007 to get our electronically-anchored kids off the couch, out the door and into nature. Roland Smith’s adventure-based novels would do just that — if you could put them down. Smith’s novels have young explorers going on engaging adventures, be it climbing Mt. Everest (“Peak”), falling out of a jet at 18,000 feet and into the Congo (“Cryptid Hunters”) or trying to protect a parent who has become Big Foot obsessed (“Sasquatch”).read more
Weight training-related injuries up If you use free weights don’t drop them, especially on yourself. A just-released study conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital finds that injuries from weight training increased nearly 50 percent between 1990 and 2007, largely the result of males dropping weights on themselves. The study, to be published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, found that of the 970,000 weight training-related injuries recorded during that 18-year span, 82 percent were suffered by males, 47 percent by lifters age 13 to 24. Ninety percent of the injuries involved free weights, 65 percent involved the lifter dropping said free weight on their person. Read more in this Science Daily post. (Similarly, injuries from rock climbing and the use of ladders and hot tubs were also up.read more
Things I might be doing this Easter weekend if my nose wasn’t running like a Delta Tau Chi keg from spring allergies.
1. Paddle at Merchant’s Millpond
Merchant’s Millpond may be man made, but after 190 years the millpond has shed most signs of its civilized past. Today, the 760-acre millpond is much more coastal swamp than center of commerce. The pond’s dark, acidic waters meander through a forest of bald cypress and tupelo gums dripping with Spanish moss. Cooters, snapping turtles. water snakes and a host of vocal frogs add to this aquatic adventure, which is as easy as plunking down $5 for a canoe (for the first hour, $3 each additional hour). Easy paddling, no previous experience in a boat required.read more
Here’s a happy confluence: A three-day weekend (for some) and the first 80-degree weather of the year for much of North Carolina. And not just flirting-with-80 weather, for many of us it will be well into the 80s. It won’t just seem hot (compared to what we’ve experienced), it will be hot. Thus …read more