Fun With Food Poisoning...and some weather

I've had two cases of bad food poisoning in my life and unfortunately making it a third one over the last few days. I'm not entirely sure where I got it from, but have a couple of suspects in mind. One of them served some yummy peanut butter cookies, so that served to cause me some worry with the big salmonella outbreak courtesy of Peanut Corporation Of America.

It started coming on Friday night but I was feeling better by Saturday morning and ate breakfast and lunch. I even took my first visit to the Amarillo Zoo which I'll post pics of later. By Saturday evening, I went downhill fast and furious. Let's just say that I felt I had a volcano in my stomach. I was up the entire night for about 14 hours straight into Sunday afternoon...at least what I can recall accurately. It was so bad at one point that I almost called somebody to take me to the ER. I lost all my strength and couldn't hardly stand or even sit. I've only felt that weak on the two other occasions of food poisoning in my life. I was so dizzy and lightheaded that I couldn't balance very well when I could stand. The cold sweats completely soaked my sweatpants and t-shirt. I was drenched. Scary stuff.

Sunday afternoon finally offered me a break as everything was cleaned out my system...twice over. :-) I got enough strength to get to the corner store and stock up on Gatorade and vitamin water. That actually tasted GOOD and replaced alot of my fluids, electrolytes and vitamins which made me feel better...but not without alot of grumbling in my gut. I ate a little oatmeal later and that sent me into round two Sunday evening, but not nearly as severe as round one. I slept ALOT through the night and felt better Monday. I even gained a little appetite so I ate some chicken and rice later in the afternoon. Big mistake a few hours later.

Round three was pretty bad and kept me up all last night again. By now, hugging the trash can while sitting on the throne is an art form perfected. That brings me to today where I'm felling a little better, but with no appetite. I keep downing the fluids I mentioned above in small but frequent quantities. I'm feeling better, but still no appetite and of course feeling pretty weak. At least the "volcano" seems to have quieted down. I'm hoping to try some more oatmeal later in a small dose and eat a little yogurt to see what happens. Wish me luck. :-)

So boys and girls, check that food temperature and cook things thoroughly. I'm still not sure where I could have possibly contracted this stuff. However, there is one buffet here in town I won't be going to again....ever.

And for a bit of weather.....

The current upper air pattern definitely changed, but not quite as I thought it would. The west coast trough is further west and shallower. It definitely is far from the normal February pattern of a deep west coast trough pattern. As a result, all of the upper air impulses ejected out of it track just to the north of the Panhandles and West Texas. Thus, we are getting dry slotted with each one. The long range models offer very little hope for any sort of precip. There are some interesting teasers from about day 9 and beyond, but I'm not biting on any of that yet. The old saying goes that "It don't rain much in a drought". Indeed.

And on the job front, I'm STILL waiting on word back on the big job opportunity here in Amarillo. I'm told that this isn't unusual for this employer...even with making an offer. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and trying to be patient. I am really wanting this opportunity not just to stay in Amarillo, but doing something I know I would enjoy and away from the typical corporate lunacy I've experienced too much of over the years. Wish me luck here too. :-)

Like I said, I visited the Amarillo Zoo on Sunday and caught some great pics which I'll post later....seeing how there's nothing much weather to talk about except the extreme wildfire danger....like a broken record. Ya'll take care.