Fill a Scratchy Throat with Peanut Butter, burn the jar.

My throat is scratchy today! The weather has been changing, much cooler air, which is fabulous, but my allergies instantly started responding, when I haven't had problems all year. I took my claritin, and my nose stopped being stuffy, instead it's just constantly draining down the back of my throat. Yum. SO this morning I thought maybe some peanut butter on a whole wheat english muffin would help. In my mind, I visualized that the peanut butter would just stick there and fill in the scratches, making a smooth and soothed throat. Didn't work. Oh well, it sounded good in theory.

Last night I was just able to be home, which was so nice. Especially after running all weekend, and then again on Monday and Tuesday. I cleaned in the kitchen, and took down the curtains because I plan on washing them again.

Someone was burning some seriously offensive garbage (not the carboard and paper we are allowed to burn) and it must have smoldered all night, because from 10pm until this morning when I left it smelled like something icky burning, and we had the windows open. Evan said it was giving him a headache, I think it probably contributed to my sore throat, like I slept with a cigarette hanging out of my mouth. Think like Marge's sisters on The Simpsons. Patty and Selma. Although Patty is the lesbian (even though there was that tango with Principal Skinner.) I guess I never really thought about it, but the woman who does Marge's voice also does the voices of both sisters. She is good- eh?

Did you know there is a site called www.burnbarrel.org? Interesting. Dioxin, Clean Burns, etc. Who would have known. There is a site for everything. Bless the person who woke up and said "Today, I will build a website about burn barrels!" Something for thought "Open burning of household waste in barrels is potentially one of the largest sources of airborne dioxin and furan emissions in the United States"-US EPA Hmm. Well I know that we are only supposed to burn things like cardboard, wood, and paper. Not plastic and other household waste. Which we do, but not all our neighbors do apparently. Although one time a while back, I decided to burn an old dog bed, not realizing how toxic is was (inside) until I got it burning and all this black smoke came choking out of the barrell and I was like NO! @$&*($( But it was too late. So I learned my lesson. Maybe that person last night learned their lesson. Or maybe not because all the chemicals blew straight into my lungs and they didn't even smell it. "When plastic refuse or paper is burned in burn barrels, dioxin, a toxic by-product, is released into the air. Burn barrels often emit acid vapors, carcinogenic tars and "heavy metals" such as lead, cadmium and chromium, as well as unhealthy levels of carbon monoxide." So basically burning could be cauising cancer. I was born on a farm, we burned everything we could. Or we used to. But I can see how it isn't good. I will remember this next time I am choking down cancer causing agents whilst burning cardboard in my burn barrel.