Posted by NJDiva on 9/28/11 10:03am
Msg #399049

I often wonder what people with allergies do...

when going into bo's homes that have potential allergens?

I'm fortunate and do not suffer from any, but Buddy made me think of this because he mentioned he's quitting smoking.

I had quit smoking, started back after six years, then quit again two years ago. During that six years of not smoking I was the WORST reformed smoker you'd ever meet, and that is NO exaggeration! i.e., they would say "Smoking or non smoking section?" My response was "That's like having a non peeing section in the pool. There's no such thing." OR *cough cough* *waving hands* "You can go outside to SMOKE, I can't go outside to BREATHE."

The first time I had a really hard time quitting. I think I brainwashed myself into thinking I had an allergy. If I was subjected to it, I felt like I couldn't breathe, my eyes, throat and lungs would burn, ugh. I had no tolerance.

So naturally when I started back, my friends were like, "Good, that's what you get Cheryl." And they were ABSOLUTELY right (don't mean to be religious here, but I'm a firm believer-"judge not, for how you judge, you will be judged.").

THIS time, however, I have not, by the grace of G*d, felt like that at all. It doesn't affect me (that I'm aware of..tee hee). I even kinda like the smell (a little, sometimes). Well, I don't like leaving STINKING like a nasty old second hander, but it doesn't affect me like it used to.

So I don't have any problems at least when it comes to allergens. My main issue is bad SMELLS. I've mentioned before that how I handle that is by carrying a small bottle of lavender oil. If it's too repulsive, I will take pat some right under my nose. It's very helpful, for sure.

Reply by Pam/TN on 9/28/11 11:39am
Msg #399058

It's not the smoke for me, it's the dogs and cats. When I walk into a home that has a dog/dogs, I instantly know. It aggrevates me when they don't put their animals up and the dog/dogs come jump on me, lick me or wants to sit in my lap. I politely always tell them that I am allergic, some will then put them up, some won't but they all look at me like I've grown 2 heads when I won't pet/talk to and fawn over their babies.

I had a signing back in the summer, as I went in I was almost knocked over by the "kitty box" smell, but what was worse was when I went in to sit down EVERYTHING was covered in a thick layer of cat hair. By the time I was done my eyes were almost swollen shut, i couldn't breathe and had to go straight to dr as soon as I got back.

I am not a an animal hater at all, I just can't be around them indoors.

Reply by sueharke on 9/30/11 12:05am
Msg #399247

I am allergic to selected fragrances. When I get around too much of a fragrance, I get migrane headaches. I carry surgical masks with me and explain the issue and ask if they have a problem with my wearing one during the signing. I also do income tax returns and use the same approach.

I believe a signer has the right to get another notary if meeting me half way is not acceptable (that goes for income tax returns). I don't need to be home for 3 days in a dark room, under heavy medication for the money I get from a signing or income tax return.

Reply by Les_CO on 9/28/11 11:43am
Msg #399060

Here in the Rockies, we don’t have much of a smells problem, now in Secaucus…… Or did you mean inside?

Reply by NJDiva on 9/28/11 12:06pm
Msg #399066

LMAO...too funny Les! Yes, NJ is known as the...

"stinky state" because of all the manufacturing/industrial areas. I think the smell is the worst on the Turnpike, right?

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 9/28/11 12:29pm
Msg #399073

If you think NJ stinks, don't drive through GA!!

The sulphur fields are enough to knock you out!!...

Reply by Les_CO on 9/28/11 12:40pm
Msg #399075

Re: LMAO...too funny Les! Yes, NJ is known as the...

Yup, just past the oil refineries, and Quaker soap. It may have changed now, it’s been years since I’ve been there.

Reply by NJDiva on 9/28/11 1:00pm
Msg #399082

Nope, Les, you got it!!! n/m

Reply by bagger on 9/28/11 1:06pm
Msg #399083

OK, so this thread has migrated a bit, but.......

Lost my sense of smell some time ago, and I have been in 46 of the lower 48.
And, my vote for the UGLIEST land is the Texas Panhandle.
My wife and I drove thru there, and decided that this is where God's landscape budget ran out!
UGLY!!!

Reply by HisHughness on 9/28/11 1:33pm
Msg #399084

Re: OK, so this thread has migrated a bit, but.......

Just got a note from a friend of mine who is involved in a campaign to build a companion fence along the northern border of Texas like is found on the southern border. They're hoping to keep out as many Yankees as possible. There was some talk about building a similar fence on the western Texas border, since every Californian without a job seems to be moving our way. However, that talk died down when it was pointed out that Texans now have a market for the celery and beet tops and other useless green stuff that used to clutter up our landfills.

No equivalent redeeming virture can be found for letting Yankees in, however, and that is especially true of those from Illannoys. (for those who don't know, everything north of Oklahoma, and that includes Kansas, is Yankeeland to a Texan). As my friend put it, "They come down here with their bad attitudes and worse haircuts, and they go back with their bad mouths for Texas."

For a while, there was a move afoot to let some of them stay, to clean out our garbage trucks. That approach faltered with the guys on the trucks complained that the vehicles smelled worse after the immigrants from Illannoys were inside. I personally think that's a bit of an exaggeration. I've been around a few folks from Illannoys, and I don't think they smell worse than a garbage truck at all. It's more like a dried-up cow pattie that's been curing in the warm, nurturing Panhandle sun for a couple of days.

Anyway, now we're building a fence. Funding is short, however, so we can't afford the gates. Looks like we'll just have to do without them for a few years. Not a big problem, though; the fence should still be effective. We are, after all, talking about Yankees from Illannoys.

Reply by Bob_Chicago on 9/28/11 2:28pm
Msg #399091

Just to check directions, so that I can visit your

allegedly beautiful state prior to it being walled off: I understand the correct way to find Texas when traveling from our nation's heartland, is to travel West until you smell bullpoop, and then turn South until you are knee deep in it. You will then have arrived in the Lone Star state.
BTW, to my mind , the beer bearing that name , tastes like it was brewed through one of those bulls.

Reply by Les_CO on 9/28/11 3:04pm
Msg #399094

Re: Just to check directions, so that I can visit your

You should try a Bintang (beer). I hear it’s our esteemed leader’s favorite. And you must be very careful when travelling by scent, especially the fragrant aroma of BS. If you aren’t extremely watchful you will end up in Washington DC (Duh Capital) every time!

Reply by Les_CO on 9/28/11 2:05pm
Msg #399088

Re: OK, so this thread has migrated a bit, but.......

If you’ve ever driven through the Rita Blanca National Grasslands in a non-drought late spring you may change your mind. Chest high beautiful emerald green grass as far as you can see. It shows you what the cattlemen saw when they first came to that part of country, and why there were at one time millions of Buffalo.

Reply by Les_CO on 9/28/11 2:27pm
Msg #399090

Re: OK, so this thread has migrated a bit, but./PS bagger

PS: I’m not trying to agree with HISHUGHNESS, but Texas is a big place and has very diverse geography. Encompassing some really very nice and friendly people and some very pretty country, (and some really good barbeque). However along with that come some not so nice places with plastic plants and refineries and urban blight of the worse kind, and also some hostile inhospitable crusty residents that still think Texas is a Republic

Reply by SueW/Tn on 9/28/11 3:54pm
Msg #399100

Re: OK, so this thread has migrated a bit, but./PS bagger

I couldn't agree more Les, years ago when I was on the road I used to have to take the "detour" around San Antonio (I think the city was New Bruffels..sounds like) and that is some of the most beautiful country in the U.S. Believe it or not with over 2 million miles over the road experience that was the first AND only place where I saw an elk. I'll never forget that, very magestic and grand. I finally got stopped (on a two lane road no less) and walked back up to where I saw this animal and here came a real live cowboy on horseback with his rifle. He told me that once there was a huge herd of elk in the canyon but the numbers had dwindled down. I'm thinking they probably had one less member of the herd once he finished his "ride". With few exceptions the folks there go out of their way to make you feel at home, their coast line is beautiful and the only thing they can keep is their humidity!

Reply by Les_CO on 9/28/11 4:37pm
Msg #399105

Re: OK, so this thread has migrated a bit, but./PS bagger

I have elk and deer in my back yard in winter; they ‘help’ me keep my shrubs trimmed ! I’ve spent a lot of time in the west (born in CO) but in my lifetime I guess I’ve always seen the prairie/fields/grasslands next to the highways that have been grazed upon by cattle, livestock, or whatever. When you see what those miles (seas) of unglazed grass are like in their natural state… it’s amazing, and beautiful.

Reply by HisHughness on 9/28/11 4:57pm
Msg #399109

Sue, if you saw elk in TX, especially around San Antonio...

...they were imported as exotics, probably from Colorado.

We don't epecially like to have them brought in. Don't have anythng against elk, understand; in fact, it's just the opposite. We don't like to see them embarrassd when people start comparing their antler spreads without our native whitetail deer. Plays hell with the poor elks' self-esteem.

There are no moose at all in Texas. When they see a Texas plate on truck, they just refuse to cooperate. The last attempt to import moose was in the '50s. When the poor creature finally got back to Minnesota, he had to be corralled for a year with a herd of Muntjac miniature deer before he finally got his MoJo back. There was a movie made of it, starring Gene Hackman and Ray Romano that you may remember. It was called "Mooserapport."

Reply by Les_CO on 9/28/11 5:21pm
Msg #399113

Re: Sue, if you saw elk in TX, especially around San Antonio...

Not to dispute Hugh’s godlike word, but I think I did see some Moose in Texas? Even in Austin, somewhere around 2103 E. M. Franklin Ave. ???

Reply by HisHughness on 9/28/11 6:58pm
Msg #399118

Were the meese you saw sober?

Were they wearing strange little hats?

Speaking of meese: They can and do, I understand, dive up to 30 feet deep to munch on the freshwater salad found on the bottoms of Minnesota lakes.

Admittedly, Texas whitetails have not mastered that talent; it hasn't been necessary. They get all the nutrition they need chewing out the backsides of the polyester shorts worn by Coloradans scurrying in retreat.

Reply by Les_CO on 9/28/11 7:17pm
Msg #399119

Re: Were the meese you saw sober?

Ahhhh …so you’ve seen them too? I’m perplexed by your earlier comment? And although I am a Certified Diver (want to see my ‘C’ card?) I try and stay away from Texas lakes; they have a habit of rapidly turning into mud. And just for your information I don’t wear polyester of any kind. Or shorts, or…… Well lets just say I have my (silk) shirts made in Singapore, if you want a referral I’ll send it.
I do apologize to Cheryl for hijacking her post; I was just trying to be funny about NJ. One thing I can swear to (now I sound like Hugh) is there is nothing on the planet like a “Jersey Girl”!

Reply by Les_CO on 9/28/11 5:49pm
Msg #399114

Muntjac?

The only one I heard about running after small deer and sheep if he could catch them was “barking” Al Franklin. Although he’d probably consider a Muntjach, suitable for conquest? Talk about a joke on the people on Minnesota…but this comment probably belongs elsewhere.

Reply by Les_CO on 9/28/11 7:47pm
Msg #399120

Re: Muntjac?/ Frankin

Sorry about that typo its “Al Frankin” no relation to Franklin or Benjamin.

I was going to preface his name by “the honorable” or something to denote not the person, but the office, but I just can’t! This buffoon is the funniest now that he’s ever been in his dismal career, not as a comic but as a public servant.. His material sucks, his delivery is atrocious…but he DOES take direction well!
HA! HA! Minnesota…the jokes on you!
JMO!

Reply by HisHughness on 9/28/11 8:30pm
Msg #399124

You're way off base, Les.

This belongs in JPol, as you are quite aware.

But, once again, you guys just don't believe you have to abide by the rules as long as you're slamming a progressive or advocating a rightwing agenda.

Reply by Les_CO on 9/28/11 10:11pm
Msg #399130

Re: You're way off base, Les.

Yup. Sometimes trying to answer your posts that are almost always somehow political is difficult to do in an unlike manner. I will try to do better in the future. I started talking about odors in NJ, and grass in Texas, and ended up commenting about deer nonexistent in Minnesota? Sometimes it’s tough to keep up with your thought processes. I acquiesce again to being unable to totally comprehend, follow and comment on your posts with complete understanding.

Reply by HisHughness on 9/28/11 11:20pm
Msg #399134

Re: You're way off base, Les.

Yeah, I can relate to that, Les, both your inability to comprehend my posts and the pressure you felt to convert posts about elk, moose and deer into political commentary.

Those with superior IQs such as you often find it difficult to relate to those of lesser capabilities such as I. And moose, elk and deer all have antlers, which are measured by the number of points they have, and talking points are what substitutes for substantive discussion from Republicans.

So please overlook it if I thought you were just following the usual conservative practice of ignoring the posting rules to distribute your conservative crap wherever you felt like it. Obviously, you were compelled to follow my lead.

Reply by Les_CO on 9/28/11 5:11pm
Msg #399110

Re: OK, so this thread has migrated a bit, but./Sue

Another PS: bagger spoke about the Texas panhandle, I’ve been there, done that, so gave him an example of a Texas panhandle spot that’s a ‘different’ place to see next time.

I love San Antonio! The best fajitas and best commercial factory semi-hand made boots (Lucchese) on the planet! JMO

Reply by mtnotary on 9/28/11 12:07pm
Msg #399068

I am extremely allergic to cats. If I am indoors and there are cats around in about 30 minutes I look like a smog monster with swelled eyes. So usually if there is a cat I inform the people that I am allergic to their cat and they are usually kind enough to put the cat in another room and then I just do a speed signing. I have even had borrowers offer to open up the window so that there is a little fresh breeze coming in.

Reply by Liz/OR on 9/28/11 11:56pm
Msg #399138

I was extremely allergic to cats up until a couple years ago when I took dairy out of my diet. It actually did wonders for me (removing dairy), I don't have troubles anymore at all - well, unless someone is just plain nasty and never cleans or vacuums...the immune system has to kick in at some point ;-)