Shellfish!

I went and had allergy tests done today. I wanted to know for sure what I'm allergic to or not. And it turns out I'm NOT allergic to shellfish!!!! :) I'm soooooo happy! I have absolutely no idea why I'e reacted to shellfish in the past, but it's a negative. I'm also not allergic to juniper, or if I am it's really mild.

What I AM allergic to is dust mites, which is very common...and DOGS! No fraking way! I've had dogs all my life, except for the past couple years. But even since I've moved here I've been around dogs a lot, spent a lot of time sleeping in beds that dogs have been in...and I've never noticed any problems. I think they must have made a mistake and put something else on my skin! :)

Well, doesn't matter, I'm not going to avoid dogs. I've never noticed a reaction, so that's jut too bad. So, I have to take this nasal spray twice a day for two weeks, then a different kind once a day for two weeks then it's back to the doc to see what he says. He thinks my asthma is also related to all this.

So...good news about the shellfish. I'm gorging myself on shrimp and crab for the next six months!

First real mountain bike ride of the season

This Saturday I went for my first real mountain bike ride of the season. It did pretty good for having been "off" for about 6 months or more. the previous weekend the Bella ride went out to the Maston trails, which are on Cline Butte Hwy between Tumalo and Redmond. I had to work, so I couldn't go. Instead we went this last Saturday. All in all we had a group of seven ladies: myself and Barrie, Ana, Julie, Lisa, Tracy and "lipstick" Laura.

It's a great first ride of the season. It's already super dry and dusty...I can't even imagine how it is in July or August! I think I'd only ride it in the winter or early spring. Anyway, it was fun. pretty much flat with some rolling hills, but not much. Very little technical, and what is there is easy to ride around instead of through or over.

My big problem...other than being SOOOOO out of shape was the juniper. As I've said, I'm developing a juniper allergy (I think). It made breathing difficult. Or, even more difficult I should say. But I had a great time. It was lovely sunshine, hot and a great group. I didn't get any pictures of the ride, only two from getting ready. I need to learn how to take pictures, or remember to take pictures ON the ride! :)
Sunday was just gorgeous too. It wasn't just warm, it was HOT. Went for a cruiser ride, swung by McKay park where we saw that Alder Creek was having canoe and kayak demos. So Barrie and I took out two different canoes to "test-drive" them. Yea...going straight was very difficult for us! :) And then I had to head to work in Sunriver. So that was the weekend....

Loki's getting a swelled head

Finally, one of my cats made it on to stuffonmycat.com! :) Loki's feeling pretty proud of herself.

http://www.stuffonmycat.com/index.php?itemid=8967

Allergies

It looks like I might be finally developing an allergy to Juniper, like a lot of other people. I've been here just over 7 years and this is the first time...I think. First time I've really noticed and thought maybe that's what they are. So I'm going to go see an allergist/immunologist to get tested. Not only for that, but I developed a shell-fish allergy about 6 years ago. It'd be nice to know for SURE what I'm allergic to and what I'm no longer sensitive to.

In the mean time, over-the-counter stuff is helping. Man, allergies really wipe you out though!!!

The rest of PLA and Minneapolis

Do you know who that is? Between Sheila and I? If you guessed Mary Richards from the Mary Tyler Moore Show, you're right! :) The show was set in Minneapolis, and there is a statue of her just blocks from our hotel. We HAD to get our picture taken with her. Sheila's covering it, but she's wearing super kicky boots! So one morning we took a walk, saw the above statue, visited the Minneapolis Public Library (which is SOOOO cool!) and walked down to the river. I have LOTS of pictures of that morning, and only a couple here. So if you want to see more check out my PLA gallery.

The outside of the library has a pattern painted onto all the windows. You can see them from the outside, but from the inside it doesn't impair your view. Each side is different. The below side is Birch trees (can you see them?),one side is water (for the river), one is grain and grasses and the last is snow. It's very cool.
Overall I was very impressed with the library. It had a lot of really great stuff. One thing I particularly loved were there "compact stacks". They're on rails and they sit close together. When you want to get a book within that aisle, you push that button you can see on the side, and they slide apart. There is, of course, a safety mechanism that senses if anything passes between the stacks (like an arm, leg or whatever), and it immediately stops. This is a great way to shelve more books when you don't have much space. It' s so cool!
The kids area was really great, with fabulous colors and all sorts of great things for them to play with and on. The teen area was amazing! One of my favourite things was this one room. The walls were painted with this silver white-board material and the kids could write anyting they wanted on it...as long as they stayed within the guidelines (like no profanity etc).

Then Saturday we were off to the Mall of America. My favourite thing was the aquarium. It was quite cool, and I'm really glad we went. There was this one giant turtle that weighed about 600 lbs and took five men to move him onto the scale. The best past was the tunnel. The tunnel went through all the pools, sharks, Amazon, shallow water reefs etc. Very cool. On my Flickr site are a couple pictures from there.

Ok, so last year Jesse, the largest shark at the aquarium, decided to try and eat one of the other sharks. She grabbed this little reef shark and swam around with it in her mouth! Luckily, the little shark was not hurt. In 2003 Jesse did eat another shark. They named the little shark Fish Stick, and she's back in the tank, fully recovered.