I never paid much attention to pollen counts until I acquired Waldo and discovered he has severe allergies. Each spring it gets harder and harder for him to breathe. I brought him once or twice to the vet, who gave him a quick shot and presto! Allergies subdued in a majorly way, really quick. I noticed his improved breathing on the car ride home!

However, I’m reluctant to submit Waldo to the trauma of a trip to the vet unless absolutely necessary. Heck, I’m never really sure I can even catch him to put him in the carrier.

This spring, I noticed that weather.com will email you the daily pollen counts at the start of each day. They also break it down by trees, grasses or weeds and indicate the level of severity (low, moderate or high).

In early April, Waldo was already showing signs of having breathing issues, so I decided not to throw open the windows the way I do on warm days. I love the fresh air and breezes coming in the house, but it just wasn’t worth it when Waldo was affected by it so much. So I kept the house shut up continuously right through June; the only fresh air getting in here was when I went in and out the doors.

The difference has been amazing. Waldo is breathing so much better.

Not only that, but I came to the conclusion that the pollen he’s allergic to is tree pollen. Now that tree pollen season is over (according to my weather.com reports), it’s down to the grass and weed pollens, and Waldo doesn’t seem affected by that at all. Perhaps the tree problem is more of an issue because it’s floating down through the air from a much higher starting point. I know that when I still had my screened porch, I’d get a thin layer of green dust on everything in the porch and family room.

I’m really glad, as I knew I couldn’t keep the windows closed forever, and that when it really heated up, I’d be forced to open windows since I don’t have central air.

So now I’m enjoying wide open windows (and so are the cats) without any repercussions.

Yesterday, I got a check for $113; it’s the up-front bonus from my Chase Sapphire card. Still working on rewards for dual cards, something I don’t usually do, but I wound up applying for 3 cards right before I bought my new car. So now I’m working on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and the Bankamericard Travel card. After that, I may take a little breather on the credit card rewards. I feel like you really have to stay on top of them when you’re working to earn those rewards within a given time span.

So far, year to date, I’ve earned $355 in credit card rewards and in another few months I’ll have earned another $615.

I also participated in an easy promotion where you just have to use your BankAmericard once to pay for a phone/cable/Internet bill through June 30 and you get a $15 gift card at Target and a few other stores.

Last night I made my first of the season pesto sauce over pasta. It didn’t taste quite right, because I substituted dried garlic flakes for fresh garlic, and it tasted a little flat to me.

I finally got paid $110 from a Yale study I did in early May. Now that I’m working 3 full days, I will by necessity have to cut back on these kinds of studies, and market research focus group studies, as well, but I will still keep my eyes open for things that might take place on my days off (Thurs and Fri).

The mulberries are starting to ripen on the big mulberry tree outside my window. I only know that because I can hear a variety of fruit-loving birds fluttering around in the branches each morning, including cedar waxwings, cat birds and robins.

Lucky Robin, if you’re reading this, you’ll be pleased to know I fed the boys canned rabbit for the first time ever this morning ($2 a can) and they loved it. I think you're on to something.