Hot Tooth, Cold Wind [Updated]

Geez, the wind is ferocious today!

Temperature only in the 30s, bright and sunny, but don’t forget to bundle up. As for me, I’m off to the dentist. It seems a root canal I had done two and a half months ago has decided to go bad. If the x-ray confirms an abscess, then it’s probably an apicoectomy for me to save the tooth and crown. I sure need something. I woke up last night at 5:00 a.m. with some of the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my chin and jaw, and we won’t even talk about what the tooth itself feels like. Oh joy, more money for my mouth. This has been the season of the teeth, boy howdy.

So to take my mind off all this, I decided to dig up the previously promised picture of a hummingbird in the snow in San Cristobal. Here it is, taken on May 5, 2001!

There was only a little snow when I took that, but a few hours later, we had almost a foot. In May, at 8,000 feet…

The most common misconception people have about this part of the world is that it’s hot here. That’s a laugh. It’s never hot. Oh sure, if you sit in the direct sunshine in June, you’ll get fried. But when you move into the shade, you’ll feel a chill. I don’t remember what “hot” feels like, although I’m content to wonder instead of experiencing it again. But sometimes on quiet July nights under our down comforter, I think back to Maryland and recall how hot the wooden floors got in our old farmhouse during horrible heat waves, and then a little of it starts coming back.

I could stand a little heat right about now. And a jaw that doesn’t throb…

UPDATE: Oh, I’ll be off to the endodontist in Santa Fe, all right. For what procedure, we’re not quite sure yet. I’m likely to be probed with tiny microscopes first. At least I know the guy. He’s excellent. However, the first order of business is to quell the nfection, to which end I’m taking a powerful antibiotic that one of my long-time readers and commenters will love. The directions say, “This medicine should be used only for serious infections because infrequently there are severe, rarely fatal, intestinal problems (pseudomembranous colitis) that can occur.” Oh great. But hey, “rarely fatal” doesn’t sound so bad. That pretty much describes a normal day for me.

Ah, but the weather! Those weather bureau folks have such a fine ironic sense of humor. This is the forecast for this evening:

Partly cloudy. Windy. Isolated snow showers late in the evening. Lows 5 to 20. Northwest winds 20 to 30 mph decreasing to 10 to 20 mph after midnight. Gusts up to 40 mph. Caution advised on area lakes.

I’d say if anyone even thinks about going out on a lake (?) tonight, assuming he can find one, a compassionate bystander would break his oars. Take away the keys. Whatever.

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