Journal of a Sabbatical

July 29, 2000

humid day with dead crow

Today's Reading: Lhasa and its Mysteries by L. Austine Waddell

Today's Starting Pitcher: Jeff Fassero

Simply getting out of bed works up a sweat this morning. My ears and sinuses feel stuffed with cotton. The prospect of actually boiling water to make coffee frightens me. As I have to get cat food and litter for the demented orange roommate, I decide to go out for a bagel and coffee at Perfecto's and then on to the giant strip mall that Rt. 114 has become. They're gonna run out of space to add more strip malls real soon. They're already having to shrink them down...

The North Andover Perfecto's does not have the surreal TV like the Andover one has (there are two Perfecto's Caffes run by the same family - not exactly a chain). And the dark roast of the day is espresso royale - basically an Italian roast only more so. I can live with that. Somehow drinking hot coffee there doesn't seem as inappropriate as at home. That could be because their air conditioning works. Or something.

Met up with Joan-east and Priscilla at the North Andover Library instead of Priscilla's house for a change. Personally I think it's too hot and humid to go for a walk in the middle of the day, but they're game for it so I go along. It could be that I'm running a fever in addition to it being really humid out. I feel like a limp dish rag. Is this a symptom of West Nile virus?

Along the road as we walk we pass a dead crow in the gutter. Should I call the West Nile patrol? I vaguely remember that the Audubon society of Rhode Island handed out brochures on reporting dead crows at the conference this past winter. This dead crow is not in good shape. I don't know how much of the crow you need to test for West Nile, but this one was missing its head and a huge chunk of torso. Also, there were a couple of dead crow hatchlings on the ground next to it, which kind of made me think a predator got into a nest rather than a mosquito attack. I know that syntax is awkward, but I'm too tired ad lazy to rewrite it. Anyway, there seems no point in reporting the dead crow to the dead crow authorities.

A half hour walk exhausts me. I head home for a shower and a change of clothes. Soon, despite the humidity insided and outside my head, I will drive down to Nancy's for a movie (But I'm a Cheerleader) and dinner (maybe wide rice noodles or the ever popular crispy yellow noodles.) Red Sox have a 9:00 PM EDT start tonight, so we can watch the game on TV after the movie (we go to early show).