Rain man cometh

Finally, we've had some rain in my neighborhood! The last rain we saw was on September 1 when Hurricane Gustav passed by. Since I took this photo yesterday afternoon, we've had another quarter inch, bringing us up to 3.5"! My plants are very happy.

Lucky for me, our rainy weather coincided with a bad case of conjunctivitis, probably brought about from standing outside several hours on Sunday, exposed to gusty north winds which brought lots of pine pollen across from Gulf Breeze. My right eye was a nice shade of summer sunset red by Monday evening, my left one a lighter tutu pink.

Anyone who's had conjunctivitis knows how sensitive it makes you to light. That can be a problem for any photographer, but especially one who lives on an island with dazzling, sugar-white sand. So, as I said, I was lucky the problem coincided with a couple of heavily overcast days.

Wouldn't you know, my eye doctor was off Tuesday morning, in Pace the next day, but available for an appointment tomorrow. Resourceful woman that I am, I rummaged around and finally found a tube of eye ointment from last year -- it was, however, for my dog. I figured since he is only 10 -12 pounds, it wouldn't hurt me. After all, it wasn't like I was experimenting with horse meds. If it's good enough for my dog, it's good enough for me.

My poor husband was appalled when he found out what I'd done, but I told him not to worry unless I started barking. Thankfully it appears to be working. Much of the pain is gone and my eyes are looking less ghoulish. Perhaps by tomorrow I can even wear my contacts again and get back to the beach.

[Disclaimer: Kids, don't try this at home.]