Colder yet, and cranky

Lily the Golden Retriever is 8. It's been years - YEARS - since she's needed to go out in the middle of the night. However, last night she needed to go out. At quarter to two. It was -0.5* out. I was not happy.

This morning, it was -5*. Imagine my delight when the school bus driver didn't even stop long enough at the foot of our driveway for us to hear the engine. Now, it's her position that she HAS to adhere to the published schedule, which has our stop at 6:55. This regardless of the fact that she gets them to the schools so early that there aren't even any teachers in the buildings yet. It has been the position of EVERY OTHER DRIVER WE'VE EVER HAD that getting the children to school is the top priority. This woman expects my children to be waiting at the foot of the driveway in BELOW ZERO TEMPERATURES for her to show up. Sorry, that's not ok. The driveway just isn't that long, and the time it takes them to get from garage door to bus door is, oh, maybe 15 seconds. I had to get into the car and head almost a mile into the back neighborhood to catch up to the bus. And oh, by the way? The driver she's replacing realized within a week that the schedule got her to the schools too early and started showing up between 7 and 7:05. Nobody was late to school. And even in bitter cold, when my children stood at the door into the garage, watching for the bus, she gave them enough time to get down the driveway to the road. Is not the purpose of public school busing to provide the children safe and reliable transportation to school, and relieve the parents of having to drive them? Why should there need to be private vehicles spewing more carbon exhaust to get children to school???

This morning marks the first time, in the ten years I've had children riding school buses, that I have called to complain.

In other news:

I got in for my allergy shots yesterday. My left arm is kind of stinging and a bit achy today. It's a series of 30 injections, once to twice weekly depending on my schedule, to retrain my immune system not to react to the allergens. I started the series in September. The first ten shots come from the 'green' row, the next ten from the 'blue' row, and the last ten (plus maintenance) from the 'red' row. I'm into the red row now for everything! So - five or fewer weeks from now I can go from weekly/twice a week trips to less and less frequent trips. In case you're curious, I tested allergic to the following:

Dog (problematic!)
Cat (wasn't a problem until I got suckered into a house cat, and had a barn cat hurt who is in the house until spring, and likes to sleep on my chest)
Feathers (less of a problem before the dairy goats arrived, causing me to spend more time in the barn with the hens)
Mold
Mites
Trees (their designation, not mine. No idea which trees)
Ragweed
Grass and plants (their designation, not mine)

Looking forward to not needing daily allergy tablets - and even more, to being able to breathe through my nose reliably!