It’s been cold-cold & rainy here the last couple of days.

In fact, Eric lit a fire yesterday morning & finally let it go out just before bedtime.

(I love my Fire King.)

But our backyard has become one giant mud puddle & needless to say, I’ve swept the floor eleven times today.

Earlier last week it actually got up into the low 50’s and I kept my fingers crossed that it meant Spring was finally on it’s way.

At home, seeing Cardinals meant it was finally going to get warmer & stay warmer.

Here?…

No Cardinals.

I’m not sure what Koreans use as a cue for Spring…

- other than the fact that the fruit tree farmers have started putting out fertilizer.

And all the bloggers I’ve been visiting from Texas, Oklahoma & Arkansas have posts with beautiful pictures of Cardinals at their feeders.

Since the PX doesn’t sell bird feeders…not even the bigger BX at Osan…I’ve jerry-rigged my own homemade bird feeders.

(There’s a shocker. Apparently Yongsan is the only base lucky enough to get bird feeders & a steady supply of bird seed. They’ve stopped selling it here now.)

PX / BX – Post Exchange/Base Exchange: Our only place to shop on base (PX for Army; BX for Air Force) for all things American like clothes, shoes, CDs, over-the-counter meds, make-up & crappy 200-thread count sheets.

Yep, went back to my Girl Scout roots.

Pine cones smeared with peanut butter & rolled in bird seed.

These little chickadees seem to like it.

But so far not a single colorful bird of Spring.

What’s HwangSa?

Well, take a look at this satellite image from NASA.

See all the nice plumey white clouds?…Now look at the big yellow / tan one.

That’s HwangSa…Asian Dust…Yellow Sand.

Every year between February & June Korea gets sand storms blown in from the deserts of China & Mongolia.

Factor in all the pollutants from China’s not-so-regulated manfucturing system and well, it becomes more than just dust.

Depending on the concentration levels, it can get pretty nasty: respiratory issues & cardiovascular problems being the main issues.

So when you get orders for Korea, one of the advance briefings you have to attend will tell you all about Yellow Sand.

When it hits 200, we’re supposed to:

• avoid all outdoor activities,
• keep the windows & doors closed,
  • yeah, not so sure how I’m supposed to do that with 2 dogs that have to pee outside every few hours
• remove our contact lenses & only wear glasses,
• brush our teeth & wash our hands, face & eyes when we come back inside,
• drink plenty of water,
• wash all fruits & veggies extra good,
• wash our hands before handling any food at all,
• not burn candles,
• not smoke indoors,
• and use air filters.

In the picture of Seoul above, that day it was over 1,000. “Code Purple” – completely hazardous.

So knowing Yellow Sand season was coming up, I did my research on air filters.

(Are you as anal about big purchases like that, too? Where you’ll read every Amazon review to know which one’s a better buy?)

Maybe it’s just me…and maybe it’s because at the time there was not a single air filter for sale at Humphreys & once again I had to order something online.

So I wound up getting this one – a huge, water-cooler-sized, but very quiet little beast to work the living room / kitchen / upstairs area – since we have an open 2-story floor plan.

It’s not so big, really.

But lo & behold the day it came into the mail room, the PX suddenly had smaller filters stocked.

So I bought a little table-top model for our bedroom.

And by the 2nd night of running them I could tell a difference when I woke up.

No more dry mouth, no more coughing…just a nice, normal morning wake-up.

Even Eric has stopped coughing so much when he’s at home.

And while I can’t be sure…for a while I wondered if all the dust & dirt the dogs were tracking in were contributing to my headaches…I’ll tell you this, they’ve lessened.

And just having a bit of relief is worth the price.