The HOT 99.7 is my current body temp, not a local radio station. Actually, maybe it is a local station, I don’t know; I don’t listen to local FM. Sadly, I find myself still awake at 4am, sipping hot Theraflu (this stuff WORKS) and trying to get Charlie out of my head…which is in Mississippi, by the way, if you’re looking for a music reference this morning. I’ve got a recurrence of “the crud” and am phoning this in from fever land. Thankfully I have a wife who’s a nurse and has a thermometer (and a wonderful bedside manner).

We’re kinda walking wounded at Casa del Clint these days. My wife had a particularly painful tonsillectomy last week, the day after which we discovered we have a 6-week old baby with an infection in both ears and snot in his nose. All it took was a few sleepless nights with PJ to let this nasty bug get a foothold in my sinuses again. The only one having a decent time in our house is Scooter, our bird!

I went to bed early after the Wizards game tonight, slept like a rock (except for all the tossing and turning) until 2:20am on the dot, and have been awake and miserable ever since. It reminds me of an episode of the Simpsons where Homer eats an “insanity pepper” at the local fair. As I recall, he has a really trippy hallucination in which he finds himself face down in the desert. Next to him is a coyote, voiced by Johnny Cash. The coyote tells him what happened and Homer asks, “are you my spirit guide?” Johnny Cash simply replies, “No, Homer…I’m your coyote.” Well, after nights like this, I sum it up by saying that I saw my coyote.

My dear friend Mike Holwegner used to tell a joke when he had a cold: “What’s green and goes backwards?” Then he’d snort back a nose full of gunk. You’d have to know the guy to appreciate his humor, which was a near daily part of my morning until his passing a few short years ago. I’ve got green in my head, but not in my camera; instead, I thought I’d showcase a little local color from a week or so ago.

Obviously I love sunrises and sunsets…heck, anything that happens in the sky. What I encountered east of Bismarck on this trip was a pleasant surprise: the pink of the sky with the blue of the snow. It’s a scene right out of the 1980’s; in fact, I’m pretty sure I still own some snowboarding gear in these colors!

Another pleasant surprise is that we’ve got landscape features like this within five minutes of Bismarck city limits. I’ve found bluffs, outcroppings, valleys, and all kinds of other really cool places. Since they’ve assigned all rural roads a street name for 911 purposes, it feels even more like these places are a part of town.

During the summer a sunset like this would likely be more red than pink, and would be offset simply by a dark horizon instead of a blue one. The snow helps out there by not only keeping the ground illuminated somewhat, but also by adding some analogous color. (In an effort to enhance my skills and be more valuable at work, I’ve been studying color theory.)

And then the sun began to fade, adding contrast to the bands of clouds. Like I said, this is literally within minutes of city limits. Anyone who thinks Bismarck-Mandan is boring is looking for an excuse to be lame. We live in a remarkable city.

Well, that’s it. I just slammed the last of the Theraflu…you know, the part where all the nasty bitter grainy stuff is? Bleah. My wife is still on pain meds for her post-tonsillectomy pain, and PJ is on the mend. They’re couch pilots tonight. Scooter’s keeping an eye on us like a responsible bird should. As for this blogger, it’s time to throw down a bottled water chaser and bundle up to sweat this thing out. Have a happy Wednesday, and try to stay clear of “the crud.”