Coneheads in Mudville: Let's Hope Not

The autumn colors are subdued this year.  The reds are dull.  The yellows are yellowish-green and yellowish-brown.  And more browns and dull greens and bare limbs than colorful leaves.  None of the trees so golden they appear to sparkle.  None of the orange-gold and flame-red.   

And subdued is a good description of my mood now too.  Sure the Cardinals are now in the World Series and they are going back to St. Louis for the final part of the Series.  But they are down, two games to three.  The threat of the Series being suddenly over hangs over the remaining game(s).

My thirteen year old dog is bumping around the house with a cone over his head.  He had what looked like a “hot spot” on his leg when we left him at the kennel to go to a couple of the championship series games.  When we picked him up he had a nasty-looking wound we knew required a trip to the vet.  The tumor/ cyst (whatever it was we do not yet know; still waiting on the biopsy). But he bumps around the house, giving us sad looks—like “How can you make me look so ridiculous?  And at my advanced age?”)  His owners are feeling a little subdued after paying for his surgery and all the tests.  Do they have a health savings account system for pets?

About the time our dog had surgery, while I was exercising at the gym, I discovered a nasty bump on my leg that hurt and was inflamed.  Looked like a spider bite to the two experts I consulted, a friend at the gym and my husband.  I applied cortisone cream.  Then the bump started bleeding and I applied an antibiotic cream.  Today I went to an actual expert, a dermatologist.  Turns out I have a staph infection: a nasty germ, typically acquired at gyms.  The doctor gave me a prescription for some high-powered antibiotic since I am allergic to the usual medication used for staph germs.  Maybe I also need to wear a cone (on my hands? or leg?) to keep from scratching the infection.

The leaves on the trees will continue to drop from the trees as we move into late fall.  No matter who wins the World Series, there was joy in seeing Albert Pujols, a phenomenal baseball player and an apparently all-around nice guy, tie Babe Ruth’s and Reggie Jackson’s records for three home runs in a World Series games. 

Soon either the Cardinals’ or Texas Rangers’ fans will be celebrating their win at the final game of the World Series.  Soon our dog will get his sutures and his cone-head removed.  And soon I should be healed and able to go back to the gym for my hour of escape from any serious considerations.  But if Albert leaves the Cardinals for a better-paying ball club there will be a lot of “subdued” among Cardinal fans.