Has it been so long since I last wrote? The days just seem to pass me by.
I did do a photo record of one week (a photo a day) for Swap-Bot. This is my favorite of the bunch:
Okay, what's so special about that? Well, I've been trying to get a good photo of those petunias since I bought them, and I could never get the color and focus together in one picture until this one. So it's called "Petunias: Finally."
You can see the rest of my week
here. And if you look at my whole album, I've posted a few others that didn't make the cut for the swap. Also, I've got some good chicken pictures coming up, but I don't want to post them just yet.
If you don't want to hear a litany of health woes, stop here and skip down a couple of paragraphs to the stuff about bears and moose.
I've been coping with a slight bout of depression, compounded by some health concerns. Last winter I had a severe
Raynaud's episode that lasted several hours, caused the most extreme pain I've ever experienced (including gall bladder pain and broken bones) and left my hands and arms numb and weak for several days. I've never fully regained the strength in my hands. That and some other problems led my doctor to suspect lupus, but while the ANA tested high, there has been no definitive diagnosis.
Now I'm experiencing a lot of pain in the joints of both hands, especially my thumbs. I'm trying to get in to see a rheumatologist, but there's only one in Alaska -- in Anchorage -- and so far no luck getting an appointment.
Of course, since I make a living with my hands, this is terrifying.
The pain and weakness has hampered my work enough that I did finally decide to skip Girdwood this year. I just didn't think I could manage it alone. But I fully intend to go back next year. They've agreed to save "my spot" for me, and I'll hire somebody to go just for set-up and break-down if I have to.
I really was disappointed to miss seeing everyone. Girdwood is my one big opportunity to interact with customers every year (aside from the holiday bazaars, which are different), and it feeds my spirit to hear people express delight in my jewelry.
The other thing that I'm trying to come to grips with is that I'm going to have to have Mohs surgery on my face for another suspicious spot, this time below my left eye. I have a long history of skn cancers, both basal cell and melanoma, and this March I had a four-inch incision across my forehead at the hairline:
Mohs surgery for a particularly aggressive basal cell cancer. The doctor (another Anchorage one, and again, the only one in Alaska who does this surgery) did an amazing job of it, so I don't look like Frankenstein. But I'm not looking forward to this whole process again.
Enough complaining.
A couple of interesting events:
A pair of grizzly bear cubs (3 to 4 years old) have been haunting the area. I woke one morning to the phone: my neighbor calling to tell us they were in his backyard wrecking things and to be careful. Our poultry might be a draw for them. We haven't seen them, but Millie has lost her mind a couple of times in an odd, restrained sort of way -- not the all-out pulling at her chain howling/barking for all she's worth that she usually does for a moose, but a weird muffled bark/howl.
These bears had a couple of siblings that have been shot in other neighborhoods this summer, and I think their mom was killed last year. The extensive wildfires the past couple of summers have destroyed a lot of their habitat. We've been told that the bears have become too aggressive and not to hesitate to shoot, but I hate that thought. (Besides the fact that I don't shoot anything anyway. But G. would if one of our lives were in danger... Only then, I hope.)
We've had bear on our property in the past, but they didn't hang around and we only knew after the fact. And I got scared pretty good a couple of years ago walking on the gravel banks of the Chena by myself; when I retraced my steps to go home, I discovered huge bear prints that had been following me for awhile. I couldn't stay there, so I just sang at the top of my lungs all the way back. Didn't see the bear, thank goodness. (My singing might be an effective bear deterrent, huh? It has worked with moose, but that's another story.)
So, I don't just breeze out to the chicken coop these days. For awhile I carried a walkie-talkie just in case, but now I'm just very cautious, especially when rounding corners.
The other cool thing is that I saw a medium-sized bull moose feeding in the Chena a few days ago. I'm used to seeing cows with calves and have tons of pictures of those, but I've never seen a bull standing still in all the 12 years we've been here. My only experience has been having them cross the road in front of my car: scary enough. So I was really excited about seeing this one bobbing for river greens and munching away. Unfortunately, I was
so excited that my picture-taking skills went right out the window, so the only visual record I have is a bit like the Loch Ness monster photos: grainy and blurry. Oh, well.
Must go and accomplish something on this lovely day. I hope not to leave the blog so long again -- and to be much more cheery the next time.
