Just when you think things are getting better.....Poor Alli.  I kept her home yesterday, just as a precautionary 'one more day' to make sure she was fine.  We ended up at the doctors in the afternoon because she couldn't breathe.  I dug up her old albuterol inhaler (that we haven't used in several years - the medicine expired in 2008!) and used it until we could get in to see him.  He couldn't find any sign of infection, so the treatment is just the inhaler - though he did give me a free sample so I wasn't using old medicine.  Poor baby!  She was still wheezing a lot last night, so we took off her brace, which seemed to help.  I used the humidifier in her room last night, and she slept through the night, sounding pretty clear. She was up bright and early this morning (6:00) and sounded good, until I put her brace back on.  Immediately, she was wheezing.  Great. She's allergic to her brace now.  Probably not, but when I took it off, she stopped wheezing, so for today at least, it is staying off.  She is still coughing occasionally, and has a bit of a wheeze, but nothing like yesterday!  She is out of school one more day - Ralph already had the day off, so he is watching her today.

Fall arrived with a vengeance.  We went from hot days and cool nights to rain and wind.  The snow levels dropped Sunday night, and all the mountains around us were dusted with snow.  The clouds cleared away in the afternoon yesterday, and Shasta looks awesome!  Even Shasta Bally (the mountain directly west of Redding) had snow on top.  Early for snow this year - it could be a cold winter!  I can definitely feel the temp change - we were 90+ during the day, and now we are 50+ during the day - what a difference!