This time of year in the Ohio Valley two types of alerts are guaranteed to keep the mobile phones abuzz: stormy weather and pollen.

For this writer, the latter seasonal affliction is less about sneezing, although there is some of that, and more about headaches. The best way to describe this unique pain is that I feel as though someone has wrapped one of those lead-lined blankets (like the kind they put on you when you’re having dental x-rays) around my head.

The OTC pain killers are always close by right now.

But, oh the beauty that comes from that pollen!