Category: allergies

Peanuts and Allergies and Oh, For Thirty-two degree Weather!

By Larry Teren

If you mention peanuts to some people, they immediately think of the famous comic strip by Charles Schulz. Others break out in a sweat because they are allergic to the popular snack. For peanut allergy sufferers, it can be a deadly situation as the mere touching of peanut residue can cause them to swell up and choke to death. I know one teenager who carries around with him at all times a type of medical syringe pen that he or others can inject into him if he is having such a type of reaction. Continue reading “Peanuts and Allergies and Oh, For Thirty-two degree Weather!”

Under The Weather? Impossible!

Why do people say they are “under the weather” when they don’t feel well?. If I recall correctly, you need a temperature above 98.6 to have a fever. Considering that most people drop dead when their temperature goes over 103 degrees, it would have to be pretty hot aside to be under the weather.

When I was in third grade at the tender age of eight I used to come up with stomach ailments to try to avoid going to school or at least until a little later in the morning when I felt better. By shortening the school day even a little bit I felt I was cheating “The Man”. Ma didn’t seem to mind since she was from that generation of ladies before the feminist revolution. She stayed at home and did the housekeeping unless she had to go shopping which meant taking out the baby buggy with a kid sister in it and walking three or four blocks to Madison Street in the Austin neighborhood. In 1960, you could park your stroller outside a store front and expect to see it again thirty minutes later.
Continue reading “Under The Weather? Impossible!”