Happy spring, kinda sorta

 My pretty pink azalea, in full bloom on this first day of spring!

Something else that's in full bloom is the pollen!  It's hit me hard all of a sudden and I've been saying for a week that it feels thicker this year and seemed worse than it's been since I started having allergy problems 10 years ago.  

I read today that it IS worse!  There are 9,369 pollen particles per cubic meter of air.  That's 1,200 particles more than last year's high.  Now I've had a little bit of physics and I did a little figuring and I came up with this.  

My smallest bathroom is 7x5x8.  If you divide that bathroom into eight cubes and pretend that one of those eight cubes is nothing but pollen, and has NO AIR in it at all, then drop that cube on the floor and slam the door and just stand there and breathe, that's what it's like outside, per cubic meter.  

No wonder we're all dying!  That's a LOT of pollen in that little bitty bathroom.

I finished up orientation and new employee training today on the first day of spring.  We'll start on flightline training in the morning and we'll do that through next week.  I got my base ID (CAC card) yesterday and was pretty happy with the way it turned out, even though I walked to the building and it was 85 degrees in the shade and my hair kinda went pancake on me.  I was smiling and my eyes were open (Ami!), so I was happy.  My boots are just about broken in, too.  They still pinch my bad little right pinky toe but I've made an appointment with a foot doctor to get that checked out.  I think there might be a bone spur in there.  I had to wait until I got that good Blue Cross Federal insurance and I got that today.  :)

So here's hoping for a short pollen season, lots of spring showers and less sensitive little pinky toes!