The Pictures Say It All!!!

I think this may just have been the worst day of my life.  The air quality was something around zero.  You could feel the dirt going in your lungs with every breath.  This is a sandy area with lots of almond trees (meaning even more dirt) and no wind breaks.  In spite of spreading water on the big parking lot, it's just a big sand pile.

Add to that all the crushed almond shells (and accompanying shell dirt) and you have a recipe for disaster.  The 45 mph winds that came up around noon, didn't help one little bit.  I called my friends the Westerfields and told them not to bring their great grand babies to the Patch.  It was just too awful.

Weirdly enough, it was like a tornado.  The winds blew all morning, with a respite around 3:00 similar to the eye of the storm.  It turned beautiful and eerily quiet for all of about 30 minutes, then the winds came in even more fiercely.  It actually picked our shaved ice syrup tent clear up off the ground.  On top of that, as if it couldn't get any better, the wind chill factor was somewhere around 45 degrees in the Corn Maze Cafe.

You knew it would happen.  I don't think I've ever gone through an entire October without getting sick.  Exposure to 5,000 kids from school, 4,000 of whom are coughing and sneezing, makes for a bad environment.  I run every time I hear someone cough, but apparently not far enough.  

By the time I went to bed, I had the worst sore throat I've ever had in my entire life.  I gargled with everything I could get my hands on.  Sleeping was out of the question.  

Lucky for me, there are only a few schools heading to the Pumpkin Patch today.  I'll stay home and rest up.  Tuesday and Wednesday will be our last big days, so I'll have to buck up.  The good news is that the sore throat is mostly gone this morning.  YAY!!  Maybe the worst is over!!

Total miles walked so far:  213.55

Let the sneezing begin!!!  Ahhh-Choooo!