Runny nose, cough, sore throat, congestion, and a general feeling of malaise. Those are some of the official symptoms of a cold, and I have all of them. And considering that I’m taking Claritin AND nasal steroids, there’s no way my nose should be running like this unless I have a cold.

Still got in the thirty minutes of walking, though. Ever extended the first session to fifteen minutes because I didn’t feel like stopping. And I think it’s having an effect — we had a short but hellacious thunderstorm here earlier, and while glancing out the back window to estimate how hard the wind was blowing I spotted one of the potted plants in the back yard merrily bobbing away in the pool. Since the plant was still floating and I happen to really LIKE it (it’s a combo of yellow lantana, orange firecracker plant and red geraniums) I dashed out in the middle of the storm, ignoring the tiny chunks of hail coming down, and fished the pot and the saucer thingy out of the pool, much to the cats’ amazement.

It didn’t hit me until I got back inside and was busily stripping and toweling off that I’d been able to get into a semi-crouch with no real pain in order to retrieve the plant. So hey, apparently I’ve got that going for me.