H1N1 Up Yer Nose

It was a classic drizzly November day today, with some periods of heavy rain. Grey skies throughout, except for a rim of sunlight from the west just before sunset. Anyway, it's damp out there and the trees are bare. It's only a matter of time before I see Orion in the evening sky and winter begins. I was up in the wee hours one night early last month and for some reason I had to go outside, and there he was with animal companion Canis Major. But that doesn't count. He has to be in the evening sky.

Lilly and Ann received swine flu immunizations up their nose today at school. So far Cook County has declined to likewise immunize the adults of our household. Last week I called the county's flu hotline and, amazingly, got a human being instead of a recorded message. I expressed interest in getting the vaccine, and she asked, "What disease do you have?"

That is, we have to have an existing health problem of some kind if we're between 25 and 64. Alas, we're too healthy right now to get shots from the county, the main advantage of which is the low, low cost -- not free, but no extra charge on top of the taxes we pay to support the the county health department. A rare thing in the hall of mirrors that is health-care pricing.