Wednesday, January 23, 2019

yo-yo weather and another feather


Yesterday it was 71˚ and then plunged to 30˚ during the night with a light rain, currently 38˚. Such is our yo-yo winter weather. Once again I gambled and didn't cover anything though I don't generally worry about quick dips between 32˚ and 30˚. I haven't been out yet but the foliage on one of the angel trumpets and the jasmine that I can see from here look fine.

Here's the new heron feather, 7 1/2". Eventually they'll be slumped to have some curve to them.


Overall it came out better than the first one but a little too blue I think. Still shiny even though Marc adjusted the firing schedule so I think that's a function of using transparent powder over the base rather than opaque powder but since I haven't done one with opaque powder I don't know for sure. I'm using the transparent powder for the blue heron feather because I don't have the right blue color in the opaque glass powders and I think I can mitigate the shininess with my finishing process buffing it down. I have two more feathers I want to try which will be done in opaques which is what many of the samples are about, trying to get the right browns.

I had an appointment with the GP Monday. I finally broke down and made the appointment as I've been having almost daily episodes of irregular heartbeat of varying intensity and varying lengths of time, usually minor lasting only an hour or so but it's been going on for a couple of months now. The good news is my blood pressure was fine and while I was talking to the doctor it started up so she was able to hear it...three beats, drop the third beat, skip a beat...she sent me down immediately for an EKG but as usually happens, by the time I was hooked up and relaxed on the table, the little pumper was beating along on a happy rhythm so she referred me to a cardiologist to wear the 24 hour monitor. Still waiting to set the appointment.

It's still raining lightly out there but should stop soon and clear up some this afternoon and then off to yoga this evening.

I'm not even going to comment on the state of the government, the Republican traitors in charge of the continuing shut down and the 30% of the population that still supports them, or the smug little MAGA hat wearing bastard whose rich family hired a PR firm to spin his smirk and of course the MAGAts were invited to the White House or that his school sent a bunch of privileged white boys to protest women's reproductive rights or that Trump's main WH lawyer graduated from Covington. What is there to say that hasn't been said ad infinitum by better writers than me. At this rate there won't be much left of this country by 2020 which is exactly what they want. Putin is celebrating our demise.





11 comments:

  1. I'm just going to say that I love the feather and also, I am SO proud of you for going to the doctor. I know how hard that can be.

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  2. I hadn't heard the WH lawyer went to Covington. Interesting! Good for taking care of your health. We're having some yo-yoing weather here too.

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  3. If nothing shows up on the 24 hour monitor, make sure they put you on the week-long one. Good for you to go to the doc for this. And the heron feather is so elegant and beautiful. Very nice work! If you make enough of them you'll have an entire bird!

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  4. I have this private hope that the other 70% of us will finish stepping up with mops and shovels and scaffolds and paint buckets. It really will be a decent exercise in clean up.
    You feathers are beyond charming. Excellent tweaking. Looking forward to the next iteration.

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  5. I have periodic heart weirdness, but it's SO periodic that I'm not very worried about it. Right now I'm attributing it to caffeine. Ha! Hope the monitor catches what's going on & they have an easy fix for it!

    Love the feather; hate what's happening to our country.

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  6. I am glad your doc got to witness what you were talking about. So frustrating trying to get something that happens at random to do so at a good time. Now, at least, the doc has witnessed your problem. Hope answers are found. I always admire your art. A magician you are. The weather here in North Texas is totally wild, too. Shorts one day, coats the next!

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  7. Same here, with the yoyo weather. -12 on Monday and it's in the 40s and raining today. Better to be safe than sorry, when it comes to your health. I love that feather! I can't even think about what's happened to this country without it affecting my blood pressure. I'm clinging to my belief that Karma will bite them all in the ass, big time.

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  8. Actually saw a heron who didn't go down south the other day. Posted a shot for you

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  9. Love the feather! Make that appointment!! Remember that I had the same thing happen with my heart and ended up spending 4 miserable days in the hospital having every cardiac test available. I now take a low dose beta blocker and my heart only skips when I am extremely tired or forget to eat. I have more energy. At the beginning of the drug regimen I was overwhelmed with fatigue and had to slow down tremendously, but after my body became acclimated, my energy returned. Best part is that a 90 day supply of this very old and established drug is only $3. I requested not to be prescribed any new drugs. I do not want to be an experiment!

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  10. This feather is so lovely!

    Don't ignore the irregular heartbeat. Maybe also get a heart ultrasound and have an ECG while on a treadmill/exercise bike.

    I laughed about the jumps and irregularities of my heartbeat for years and in 2015 ended up in intensive care with auricular fibrillation and a daily dose of beta-blockers since.
    I was lucky.

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    1. I'm following through. summer of 2017 I had two weeks of pretty intense episodes and went to a cardiologist, did the EKG, wore the monitor, did the stress test, the ultrasound (I have a minor leaky valve), and some other kind of xray after the stress test. doctor said I had no sign of blockage, had a healthy heart, and pretty much blew off the episodes of irregular heartbeat and they had stopped by then anyway. so, yeah, I'm going to a different cardiologist this time.

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