The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Let's start with the good.  After 4 1/2 months of disability, Johnny may have an answer for his problems. The spine doctor suggested Johnny go back to the carpal tunnel doctor to see if the continuing swelling in hands was related to his October surgeries. The carpal tunnel doctor said no, maybe it was a bad flare up of Rheumatoid Arthritis and referred him to a Rheumatologist.

Bingo! She took one look at Johnny and said she was 90% sure it was Rheumatoid Arthritis but she would test to be sure. And she prescribed Prednisone in the meantime, until the test results are in. The Prednisone has worked a minor miracle. Johnny is walking, swellings are down quite a bit, and he is not freezing all the time anymore. He's happy. After 5 days on the prednisone, he cleaned the bathroom and vacuumed the rugs. I'm happy.

Next appointment April 3rd when he starts on the R.A. medicine if it has proven to be R.A. Dr. Macasa ordered blood tests and lots of x-rays so we will find out then. If not R.A., it is some other type of arthritis: "polyarthritis unspecified". Whatever, she seems to really know her stuff and we are confident she will get him on the path to recovery.

Okay, the bad: our peacock, that we've had almost forever, has disappeared. And two chickens have been killed. We know not by what. Suspects of the moment are Goshawk or Barred Owl for the chickens, raccoon or coyotes for the peacock. We saw two coyotes in the driveway yesterday morning.

Here is the last photo I took of Fred, the peacock, before his disappearance. It was taken February 8, 2018. We are holding out a slim chance that he was frightened from his roost and took off sailing/flying to parts unknown. I have spread the word for neighbors to watch for him. All we've heard so far is that there is a cougar roaming the area, eating chickens.

The ugly: one chicken was disemboweled on top of the chicken house roof. I have a trail camera set up to see if anything comes back to feed again. I  took photos of the mangled bird but will spare you from posting them here.

There is always more beauty than ugliness in this world, so here are some photos of a waterfall along the way during our Dipper Survey of yesterday, Sunday, March 18.

And the three very much alive Dippers that we found.

Today, March 19, was my monthly Beached Bird Survey at Bob Straub Park in Pacific City. Happily, I found no dead birds on the beach, this beautiful, sunny day. I took a photo, as always of Haystack Rock...

 ...and of a weird cloud formation... in an otherwise clear sky overhead...

...and of the sign warning of DANGER, Extra High Tides, NO CAMPING...
although it now looks like DAN Extra High, NO CA  which seems to mean "No Extra High Californians. DAN, this means you!" There is a marijuana dispensary in Pacific City now. You gotta watch those Californians...