Summer cold tops previously set records
No, not the weather - I'm referring to the nasty cold bug I came down with on Friday. Unfortunately I had to work Saturday and I spent my day at the office, working the best I could with a 102 degree fever, sore throat, a nose that was both stuffed up and runny at the same time, a double earache and a cough that sent what felt like knives through my throat and chest every minute or so. Needless to say, it wasn't the best of days and anyone who gets sick after me can't say I didn't warn them to stay away because I did issue warnings - along the lines of don't get close and don't touch anything on my desk. Every sneeze and cough was covered by tissue so it's not my fault if you didn't listen and stole the contaminated pen off my desk.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to have the day off which was a good thing because there was no way I was getting out of bed, but today it was back to work again. Fortunately I was feeling a bit better, but I'd have to say this cold is the worst one I've ever had. And I blame it all on the overzealous use of disinfectants these days. What better way to breed a new group of superbugs than to constantly zap everything with disinfectant wipes and sprays? I have no scientific basis for this belief, but why should people be any different than gardens? There's plenty of proof that constant application of insecticides just kills off the good bugs and makes the bad bugs resistant.

That's not to say we don't use disinfectants here at the Depthmarker household. It's just that we use them when it makes sense - like after handling turtles that might carry salmonella or when we clean the toilet. We do NOT run around spraying everything with disinfectant spray every 5 seconds like they encourage on the TV commercials. We have both sprays and hand cleaner at work, plus disinfectant soap in the bathroom soap dispensers and judging from the copious use of all three of them I'd have to say the TV commercials are working quite well on the younger generation. I guess I can expect them to bring me more super-colds to deal with in the future. Ah well, as they say - what doesn't kill me, makes me stronger.