When I woke up this morning and saw the reddish brown stains on my pillowcase, I thought I might be rusting. Maybe it was time for a new undercoating, or p'raps I'm not drinking enough ginseng tea. But no, there were also stains on the shirt I'd worn to bed, so I got up to look in the mirror. Sure enough, a trail of dried blood led from my nose down my cheek and neck.

Okay, this is already more information than you signed up for, but this was a first. I get nosebleeds sometimes from my allergies, and I'd had a particularly violent sneezing spasm late last night, but I've never awakened to the sight of blood on my pillow before. Worse, I'd gone to bed in one of my favorite T-shirts.

I went to work on the shirt with cold water and mild soap, as I've always been taught. That seemed to do the job, but I guess I won't know for sure until it comes out of the dryer. The pillowcase is white, so it was more of a problem, but it's not something I parade around in, so I'm not too concerned about it. And my face was probably going to get a washing this morning anyway, blood or no blood.

Maybe I should be worried about an event like this, but I'm not. Still, while I was out on my errands this morning I stopped at Target and bought some new clothes, including two new shirts. Now I can retire some of the old ones and use them only for sleeping, just in case.

If it didn't cool down so much at night out here in the country, I wouldn't even wear a shirt to bed. Even in the hot days of July and August, though, there are very few days when this house doesn't get so much cooler at night that I want to keep some clothes on. The cool nights are a good thing, I guess. They probably would make it easier to sleep, if I had normal sleeping habits.

When I lived in the city, the hot, sweaty nights were miserable, and I roamed the house looking for relief. Now I'm up half the night regardless of the temperature or the time of year. Maybe that's what I should be worried about, instead of a little blood on the pillow. I slept better than usual last night, so the bit of extra laundering I have to do is worth the price.

While I was at Target, I also bought a pair of shorts. I realized last week that last summer's shorts are tight on me right now, and although today was cloudy and cool we're getting a lot of shorts weather these days. I only bought one pair at the larger size, though, because I fully intend to fit into the smaller ones by July.