Rough times

The weather, the road and me have been having some rough times as of late.
First the weather. As of Sunday evening the time of the vernal equinox, spring had come to this dirt road. Unfortunately somebody forgot to send out the memo because we woke up to snow on Monday morning. On the up side, it is March so we know the snow will not hang around for long. On the down side, it's spring damn it! I want sunshine, daffodils and turkey vultures! 
The road is having a tough time because you can't really plow 1 1/2" of snow. Least not on a dirt road. The plow will usually end up plowing up the dirt so the solution is time and sand.
And finally me. Well I suppose it is inevitable that I will have to have at least one hell of a cold every winter no matter how hard I try to avoid it. I have never understood the term 'catch a cold'. Why on earth would I want to 'catch a cold'. Pure and simple to have a cold is a misery. Colds go in phases and the phases don't really last more than a few hours but those hours might as well be days. And now that my kids are grown and gone I no longer have to put on a brave face, go to work and try to be a good mommy. I can be as miserable as I want and I am.
Saturday started with a mild, dry cough which escalated into an upper chest painful cough. This was accompanied by the typical stuffed and/or runny nose. (Why did I not invest in Kleenex tissue stock?) From there the temperature starts to go up. The cough gets worse because now it is 'loose'. My mother would say that was a good thing but for the life of me I can't understand why. I suppose it has to do with being able to spit out the phlegm. Something I just never got the hang of and to this day regret that my Dad did not teach me to 'hawk a louie'. To add to the spice of being sick I added in a migraine. Don't ever do anything half way I say. Last night was the night that sleep eluded me. I have an elderly dog with a cough. Actually she has several coughs and I am starting to believe she can do some of them at will. Last night was the gentle lady like cough. Not really too loud but done at just the right intervals that you never get more than 10 minutes of sleep at a time. So today the bags under my eyes look very similar to carry on luggage. 
Today I can tell that things are getting better. The cough is slowly subsiding which is great because I think at this point my lung capacity has been greatly reduced. Going upstairs I have to stop half way up for a little breather. The nose is still putting out vast amount of, to put it politely, snot. It has and always will amaze me how much snot sinuses can produce. You would think that there would be a production limit but there isn't.
I will have to say my hubby has been a brick through all of this. He even took yesterday off to stay home with me. He did all of the cooking and in his mind the cleaning too. But we won't go there. He made me my favorite egg drop chicken broth with homemade noodles. Not once but twice! He got me ginger ale to drink and ice cream because we both are firm believers ice cream can cure almost anything. And during all of this he managed between Saturday and Sunday to boil down some 60+ gallons of sap into 1 1/2 gallons of Capp's Own Special Syrup. (And the season is not over yet!)
So like the road, life has not gone smoothly or as planned which is typical of life in general. Spring has not sprung and weather forecast for the week is more winter like than hoped for. But the red-winged black birds have been gracing my birdfeeders and I have been watching the robins busy feeding on the sumac seeds. So it really is right around the corner along with the end of this cold. It all take time and patience which we all know we are short of at this time of year.
Both my cold and the cold will retreat in time. But it is hard this time of year with the high expectations of the spring and summer to come. At least my tomato seedlings are starting to sprout. Now that gives me hope!