I smelled hyacinth today even though they are just popping through the soil!
Your Mail/UPS/FedEx delivery person know you're addicted?
Fun idea for a thread! Must say, since my hobby/addiction to mail-order plants and garden products has grown, I've become best buddies with our mail carrier and package deliverers. Our USPS mail carrier leaves things up by the mailbox--which is fine--but the wonderful UPS and Fed-EX guys (and they always seem to be guys for some reason) carry the packages down the walk to my back door. Some of the boxes are really big! Like I just ordered several Earth Boxes from HSN. Those will be a challenge.
threegardeners your mom sounds like my late grandpa. He hated that his neighbors used a woodstove too. He would literally ask us to leave if he could smell even the faintest scent on us. My grandma had lilacs and lilies of the valleys growing in there yard. I don't know how she got away with that. lol
Iris, I think my dh says he's allergic so I won't plant them! lol A friend of mine gave me an off set from her lilac bush last year. I had to banish it to a part of the yard as far away as possible. There's another one, he says are right up there with lilacs. Now I don't know exactly what they are - but I think it's a type of hydrangea. I remember when we would go for walks at our old place. Their was a house with a row of them along the road. They were very pretty, kind of late blooming, the flowers looked like hydrangeas, (they probably were) they were like small trees. His nose swells up inside - I guess. I am glad I am not like that. I think it would take one of my greatest pleasures away.
My crocus are popping up - yay! Can't wait for stuff to get going!! :)
Try a shrub with smaller flowers, less apt to have a lot of pollen, I would think.
I have a lot of allergies and I can tell you that smoke really aggrevates my nose (any kind of smoke, including walking past cigs). Esp if my allergies are already bad - forget it.
I once sat in a restaurant (am I bad that I mention it was in the midwest?) in the "non-smoking" section. We sat right next to a three-quarter wall and on the other side the servers were smoking. I was trying to be good and not complain to move so we stayed. We were visiting relatives who have pets and so my allergies were already active. I got a sinus infection for at least 2 weeks after that. And if you don't know, sinus infections SUCK. (I feel for the folks who get them regularly!!)
So never again will I sit anywhere near someone smoking. And yes I'm one of those folks who will hold my breath going by someone smoking. I just don't want to risk annoying my nose more than it already is (I have year round allergies).
I also try real hard to get all my stuff non-scented. If a shampoo scent lingers, for example, the next morning my nose will be all crazy. Seriously. It is ridiculous, I know. Forget a perfume aisle.
Most of the stuff in the beauty section just drives me nuts, ESP if it is all natural. I was out of it one day after sniffing shampoos at a local whole foods type store - it was like I had been out in the pollen all day.
Sorry, it is not fun and something I have to think about when I go out. Pretty soon I won't be able to go outside much for about a month. AAARRRGGGHHHH
As for the actual topic, I haven't mail ordered much yet. But my husband gets free political books because he's a known political blogger. During the election we got at least one book a week. It was ridiculous!! But by the time we hear the truck and get downstairs, they're usually gone. I always try to yell thanks, but who knows if they hear or care.
May be good - he may wear lots of cologne!
I feel your pain eevie...I shop for my Mom and it is hard!! I actually go to s hunting store and buy her this soap the hunters use to remove scent from their clothes. Expensive, but you take the lid off and sniff and it's like a black hole...a void...totally no smell. I get it by the case.
I have to buy her new things like clothes, bedding and towels, etc. in the summer because it has to be outside airing out for almost a month before she can bring it inside. And I pray a neighbour doesn't fire up their wood stove or bar-b-que while the stuff is out there or it would be another month.
Scents get in her lungs...when she moved out here she ended up in the hospital immediately with pneumonia...for 2 weeks on account of the lingering scents in their new house.
My wife's boss is like that. She found it odd that one of the first things he asked in the interview was if she wore perfume.
This message was edited Mar 19, 2009 5:33 PM
There had to be a campaign to get the perfumed inserts out of women's magazines as people with allergies could not read them.
Wow, I'm so glad I'm not that sensitive to chemicals and such (I know enough are like that to warrant a place like allergybuyersclub.com...some of their stuff seems overkill until you're reminded it isn't).
I'll remember your mom next time I complain about my allergies!!
Oh, and for folks who have bad tree pollen allergies, it may affect what you eat. It is called Oral Allergy Syndrome (I think there may be another name for it also).
http://www.calgaryallergy.ca/Articles/English/Oral_Food_Allergy.htm
Luckily I can eat some on the list, but no fresh tree fruit for me (along with some nuts and sunflower seeds). Going to a nutritionist on Monday and I can't wait to see her face when I tell her all the stuff I have to avoid :) Plus my husband has a strange sensitivity to citric acid so I can't peel an orange in the house, so no citrus either...between that, his IBS and my allergies we're just loads of fun over here!! :)
I am sensitive to the mold that grows on the outside of tree fruit... can't wash it off... peel it.. gets on my hands.. cut it the knife drags it through... no win no win
Wow - you guys really have it bad. I have outdoor allergies but Allegra works well for me. Helps all the symptoms except the itchy eyes.
with my "experimental" shots... I can get away with eating that stuff though
yeah, allergy shots are my last option. 5 yr commitment though which is harsh (esp for $ - I can get it down to 2 vials, but for everything it would be 3 shots a week!). I have to do a nasal spray and allegra during bad times, and nasal spray at all times. If I remember :o (which reminds me....)
oh, and interesting thing is, when I lived in DC I didn't test positive for birch but after I moved to Vermont my birch is off the charts (and is affecting the food). strange huh? oh, and no local honey either. ugh, need to go find a distraction to cheer me up
My dh got a nose spray from the doctor. It smells just like hyacinths. Very pretty. : )
I'm finding I get a touch of allergies - usually during grass season. stinks
wish you lived in NJ Evie... my place does it so I only had to take one shot a week... and now I am down to every two.. might change once the pollen kicks in though... will soon see.... but they let me take em home and give them to myself.... just keep an epipen on hand just in case
The asthma specialist I go to says that grass pollen causes the most problems. Pine pollen looks the worse however, yellow powder all over everything.
Tree pollen release in early spring is the worst for me.
I think the trees make my eyes water up.One year it was so bad I remember having to pull over because I couldn't see through the tears in my eyes!!
My USPS guy, Wayne, retired last year. He always referred to my deliveries as " more plants for the park." Our new guy is just as nice but he hasn't endured the spring deliveries yet. He goes to the gym every day after work so at least I know he can physically handle the challenge. He always has treats for the dogs also.
Mailmen are keen to dogs' needs!
This message was edited Mar 19, 2009 10:26 PM
Dogs, yes......Not so much with watch Ducks though.
And bunnies?
Not sure, i'll let ya know!
Ha! I love these stories. I'm still on the shrub layer so not too many mail orders yet, though I'm thinking of starting this year (locally it is hard to get exactly what I want, grrr). Man, what compliments you get - park, etc.
And I can totally picture Sophie in the front stomping her feet as the guy comes by. Hee hee.
OK, our new guy is a winner! He delivered the mail today, went back to the office and a box was there. He jumped back in his truck and brought it over. My first co-op order is delivered and this guy is getting a big fat Christmas tip this year!
Good for you - and him!
nice
I could hear the mail truck going north at the moment. should be back this way in about 15 minutes & it better have an iris catalog. Do you hear that Mid-America?
ROFL ^_^
I think they heard that in South America!
But did they hear it in Oregon?
The echo will reach them.
I can so relate IrisMA. I'm waiting for a dahlia order.
My UPS guy has my phone number.
Mine has my picture up in the training room.
Hmmm.
doing what dance?
Not dancing; chasing the truck. I thought they were lost and were driving away with my dhalias.