Here in the Deep South, you may hear us bemoaning the fact that we have no winter (as compared to those cold months our friends to the north have to endure.) Yes. We know we are lucky not to have to shovel snow, remove ice and shiver and shake all of the time but an occasional flurry of the white stuff would be a wish come true! Having to wear a coat more than the one time (two years ago) would be exciting! Feeling the cold wind blow might be...well, you get the idea. We would like a smidgen of winter now and again. Instead, we have a day or so of chilly (sweater) weather then our next season sets in. Nope. I am not speaking of spring here. Instead our season after our two day winter is called "pollen days"!
Pollen days can come at any given time. It is a time when all vehicles in the Deep South match! For a few weeks, no one drives any car, truck or van that is not yellow! In fact, it does not stop there. Houses are yellow, porch furniture is yellow, pets are yellow, people are yellow. Everything is yellow! Pollen coats everything and everyone! There is not much you can do about it either. This is also the time when a whole lot of folks are walking around bleary-eyed and sniffling. Thankfully, I have yet to be bothered by the allergies associated with the pollen days. Just to clarify things, however, it is not the pine pollen that is the culprit. The oak pollen does cause problems, though, and that is coming next!
This morning, Mark and I made a quick trip to the pier. The tide was low and since the wind was coming out of the west, the water was calm, albeit, yellow. All along the edge of the marsh was a sprinkling of pollen. This sprinkling will soon turn to a heavy layer of the yellow stuff. Once the winds shake a bit more from the pine trees and the oak trees along the edge of the marsh, everything will look mucky. Then, as quickly as this season befell us, our next will enter. Summer! Yeah. We rarely have spring. (Already, the temperatures are reaching the 80s on some days.)
A lot of folks suffer from allergies this time of year and pollen is the biggest threat to their comfort. A few weeks back, these folks were in fear of allergy attacks due to the pine pollen that covered just about everything in sight. Few reports of sniffles, itchy, watery eyes and sneezes resulted from that outburst of pollen flurries since pine pollen is not the culprit. Now, another layer of pollen. It seems that the Deep South is spared the heavy snow storms only to endure the onslaught of heavy pollen storms. Once again, everything has been coated yellow. This does, indeed, make you thankful for the spring rains that also hit the area. Today, was a nice rainy day. The latest layer of pollen has been cleansed from outdoor surfaces and people can breathe again!
This latest bout of complaints of allergies CAN be attributed to the pollen storms of this week. The oak trees are heavy laden with the pollen makers. Oak trees make both male and female "flowers" with the male being most noticeable. The male "flowers' or catkins droop down on all new branches of a mature oak and produce the pollen that causes all the problems for allergy sufferers.
This year, if all goes well, it seems as if there will be a bumper crop of acorns for the critters to munch. Every limb on the oak trees around the Bayou are literally covered with the pollen producing catkins. On sunny, dry days, that pollen floats on the breeze and pollinates the female flowers but, also, coats everything else. So....it is the oak pollen that folks should deem as the "evil one" even though without it, there would be no acorns. Things all have a way of working for the good. Folks, if need be, go take your allergy medicines as it is going to be a rough spring for you. The oak trees are blooming.
