Farmer H has the crud. He says he doesn't. I asked him a couple times on Wednesday, but he was adamant that it was my imagination. Sure. I know his annoying habits. He sneezes 10 or 12 times when he's done eating. Whether it be a meal or snack. Within a couple minutes of finishing, he sneezes. But on Wednesday, he did not. Until about 30 minutes later. And it was fewer sneezes.
Overnight, I heard a couple of coughs. Deep coughs. Not the nasal drip lisinopril cough. So when Farmer H dancing-beared his way across the front of the short couch Thursday morning, narrowly missing my feet, I asked him again.
"Are you sick?"
"No. I don't think so."
"I heard you coughing."
"I DO have a little bit of a sore throat..."
AHA! Caught in the act of denial! Farmer H went to work on Pony House for a couple hours. Ate ham and beans at the Senior Center for lunch. Then came home to while away some hours until an MRI of his back at an imaging center. I caught him covered up with the orange/yellow/brown afghan made by an old family friend in Alaska.
Farmer H does not seem to feel bad. From the sickness, nor the denial. He was planning to go to his SUS2 (Storage Unit Store 2) on Friday morning as usual. Even though temps are in the 20s, rising into the upper 30s.
"I have a heater," he says.
Still, I made a special trip to get lemons to make him a hot toddy for after supper Thursday, plus some cough drops. Put him back on our vitamin regimen for the winter. Took him his own box of Puffs With Lotion to the recliner, and a bag for trash. I am fairly confident he will be over this in 7 to 10 days. It has to be something he caught on Monday. Not sure where he was. It isn't The Pony's crud, because he hasn't seen The Pony since last Friday, and the symptoms are different.
Farmer H DID agree that if business is slow, he will close up the SUS2 and go to lunch at 11:00 at the Senior Center. Then come home and loll around, perhaps in bed, and drink water to keep his mucus moving. There's another hot toddy in his future.
Now all I have to do is avoid it. My hands and face shall be strangers for a week. I have some GermX on the table where the Farmer-H-infected remote control lives. I shall shun the spray of Farmer H's breather, and do my sleeping once it is off.
2 comments:
Why is this called The Crud? That's a perfectly horrible word which actually makes me cringe. Why not just call it a cold? A head cold or a chest cold, or bronchitis maybe, with lots of heavy coughing.
Anyway, I hope you don't catch it and I hope The Pony and Farmer H are well again very soon.
River,
That's the word that came to mind when I thought of Farmer H's symptoms. It's not a bad word here. I had no idea you were so sensitive, like one of The Pony's people! I will have Farmer H build you a crying closet (when he recovers) and ship it to you to ease your angst. Thank the Gummi Mary you're not particular about pronouns, or I might have offended you near to death by now!
The Pony has been over his sickness since four days after he caught it. His seemed to be gastrointestinal, with a side order of headache and tremors. Farmer H's is a typical head cold so far. Minimal coughing at this time, but still a cough. It usually progresses to the chest with him, so we'll try to keep him hydrated and Mucinexed.
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