Steamy

Supposedly the unseasonable heat will break tonight and we'll see a 10℃ drop down to our ordinary sweltering July temperatures. With the notably exception of Independence Day, I've been shuttling between air-conditioned office and air-conditioned home so I haven't suffered much. A couple times when the humidity was low it was even pleasant out. Yesterday, for instance, was fine until the thunderstorms blew in (missing campus completely and only dowsing the homestead for ten minutes or so) and drove the mugginess up to Missourian levels.

We've lost the begonias, but everything else has been holding up--even the "cool-weather" geranium. (In fact, it's looking better than our ordinary geranium.) The mache doesn't seem happy, but it's getting by. To my great surprise, I haven't yet caught the clematis looking wilty even when I've gone days without watering it. If anything, it's more monstrous than ever; it's reached the garage wall on one end and the smoketree on the other.

The fennel is also thriving, to the point where monshu thinks it's time to dig it up. Ultimately, it was a poor choice: a light-and-space hog which can't be harvested continually like the other herbs. It would've been better to have come to this decision before it started flowering, but hopefully once it's gone the chives and particularly our poor stunted verbena will begin flourishing again.

Another thing which will have to be reined in is the sweet woodruff, which is spreading even better in the back of the plot than I could've hoped. Maybe I should transfer some to the front lawn? To my great surprise, we came across patches of it outside the Greenleaf Arts Center. Now I'm curious to find out whether it's strictly ornamental or if anyone there ever makes use of it.

Burning inside

monshu had plans to stop by yet another downtown art fair after work, so he told me he was cutting me loose for dinner. The beastly weather dampened my interest in straying far, so I got off the shuttle at Loyola as per usual and returned to SP Kebab on Sheridan. I had a little trouble communicating with the guy up front, but I was very pleased with the wrap I got--nicely charred pork with enough vegetables to make me feel good about my choice. I was impressed enough with the bread to ask him where he got it from and learned that they bake right there in the shop.

It's right next to Pillars, which the Old Man and I haven't gotten around to checking out yet. I was lured in by their prominently-advertised smoothie; by the time I learned that the fruit in it was mostly purée from a box, it was too late. The only thing that went in fresh was a very ripe banana, which dominated; it turned into a banana smoothie with a hint of berry (the peach was completely lost), and that wasn't what I was interested in.

At the time, I knew this was all a little reckless given that I've suddenly decided to try weaning myself off omeprazole. I've long suspected taking daily doses wasn't good for me even though I couldn't find much online which said so. Well, know we've finally got some data in from long-term users and it confirms those suspicions. (Incidentally, I have some choice words for the physician quoted at the end as saying, "If we took 100 people with reflux and got them to rigidly follow the lifestyle recommendations, 90 wouldn’t need any medication. But good luck getting them to do that": fuck you. Yeah, if I never drank alcohol, orange juice, coffee, or black tea again OR ate anything sweeter than a granola bar OR anything more spicy than a pot pie OR anything more greasy than a piece of buttered toast AND always waited at least four hours after dinner before lying down, I wouldn't need any medication. You try that diet, doc, and tell me how long you last--keeping in mind, of course, that it also has to be low sodium AND low cholesterol AND low fat on account of your family history of hypertension and heart disease.)

So I'm going to try doing without my afternoon dose. Honestly, I think it's been good for me in some ways because it really put the kibosh on pre-dinner snacking. But messing up your body's ability to absorb nutrients and medications is no joke; I'd rather run the risk of the occasional ulcer, since those will heal up. Of course, less omeprazole means more TUMS, and I've just learned that too much calcium carbonate can lead to heart irregularities. So many evils, so difficult to sort out the least among them...