Maniacal mischiefmakers are abound?

I am at a bit of loss for words these days. If you remember a post back in ....I think August, involving one of our neighbors known as 'Crazy Jack' suspecting that we were part of the mythical 'Artesians', than you remember how shocked we were that someone would actually think that these little mischief makers were real, much less living down the road from him....in Nikiski of all places. I am left to ask myself...is he really crazy? Or did he know something that most may not. Could it be that Jack himself has knowledge that these fabled 'troll-like' creatures do in fact exist? Or is it just a time honored legend of a long forgotten beer campaign?? I have pondered the premise of his curiosity since that cool summers day that Michelle was accosted by Jack's intrigue at the end of our drive. I have wondered. I wish I could tell you, "I seen em".....but to no avail. No in my mind the story of the Artesians has long gone out with the end of Olympia beer a couple of decades ago. But then again....what if???



Thanks for keeping touch Yvette. After I read your comment the other day I thought....duh! You know it is amazing how the simplest things go undone when you pick up your family and their entire lives and move them 3,000 miles away to start anew! We started this blog back in the heyday of packing and since then have been 'do-bees' getting re-settled. So it never occurred to me to just put our website in the 'favorite links' area of the blog....duh! So for those who didn't know, Maryann and I have our art website at http://www.alluvialflowstudios.com/ and hope if your curious you will check it out. If the link doesn't come up on toady's post, look at the top left corner of the blog page under "favorite Links". Mind you it is in need of some updating....I think that is number 139 on the list! But nonetheless it will give you a chance to see at least what we were up to before we moved. Hopefully soon we will have more of what we have done art wise since we got here!



In other news I was probed, poked, and shot in the ass the other day! No joke man. I woke up Sunday morning to this incredible itching sensation in where else but....my middle finger. It eventually went away and I was left at a loss as to why it was so itchy that morning. Later that day I noticed a little red mark that felt like a cut on the tender part of my...middle finger... and figured that I had gotten bite by something. No big deal, I've been bite before. It all started going downhill later that night as I noticed that not only was that little bite getting bigger, but my hand was swelling up like a balloon. Maryann got home at around 11:40 that night and upon seeing it freaked, and had me ice it and take 2...not 1 but 2, Benedril. I know it was 2 because when I had to try and wake up at 6:30 AM the next day to go to work.....I couldn't! I was about as out as a baby in a Charmin factory. When I finally did come around, my.....middle finger...was hard and swollen, and the bite was big and purple. I was figuring that if it didn't get better by that night I would start to worry. I mean, I have seen bites that leave bruises before, so I wasn't losing it yet. That morning I was working at one of the apartment units that we are renovating with my constituent, Rodney, and just asked if he had ever seen a bite like this, hoping he would just say something like..."oh yeah, it's just a non-lethal bite from the anarobious rectus abscolius spider......no big!" Instead, he relates a story about some guy who got bit by a ...."what do you call it" spider. Apparently dude was digging through lumber at Home Depot and got bit, as the spider came in with the wood shipment of which the guy was foraging through. When he started describing the bite as 'eating away the skin' I knew he was talking about the Brown Recluse spider. Of who anyone living in Calaveras County is very familiar of. Now, it has long been my understanding that the Recluse can't survive in the cold. So I thought...naw. But. It did get me to thinking as a couple years ago when I was bit by that Black Widow spider, I remember seeing pictures of the progression of a Brown Recluse bite, and how it took 4 or 5 days of progressively getting worse. After the 5th day of progression I couldn't look at the pictures anymore without blowing chunks. Anyways, now I was getting nervous. Maryann was on-line after Rodney and I's conversation and discovered the Hobo spider, which is a relative of the Brown Recluse....and does live in Alaska. Apparently most Alaskans don't trip on spiders as there traditionally have been no venomous spiders to speak of here. But in the past years more and more venomous spiders, like the Hobo have been imported here by cargo containers from the lower 48, RV's vacationing, ect. and spiders like the Hobo have began to adapt and thrive. Maryann came down to the job site and as soon as she saw my finger said that it was exactly like what she had read and saw on the Hobo, and the progression was the same. She took me to the Medi-Center in Kenai. It's a little cute igloo with Eskimos........ It's a modern facility which was very comfortable and friendly. Best thing is that when each nurse taking my vitals or doctor checking on me asked whats wrong, I got to flip them off and say "this is whats wrong"! I think they were all starting to like me actually! =) Turns out I was super dehydrated, of which they were all freaking out about, and had a cystic, or something ominous named like that, infection which was bad enough for them to put me on I.V. Problem is, that the nurse was having a hard time of it finding my veins to give me an I.V. due to my extreme dehydration. They had to draw blood samples from those same elusive veins, and anybody who knows me, knows I despise needles. I got poked like no other! Too much if you ask me. But they got their blood, at the expense of my pain. And then it happened. Someone said the 'H' word. It was being suggested that I may have to go to the hospital since they couldn't find a good vein for I.V. Worse than needles do I despise hospitals. Then the nurse who was stickin' me like a pin cushion perks up and says that a couple of shots of some kind of antibiotic in my ass may do the trick! You have never seen someone roll over to shine their glory as fast as I did. These people were expressing how sorry they were that I had to get stuck in the dark side of the moon not once but twice, all the while me grinnin' ear to ear asking when they were ready for the next cheek! If I didn't know anybody in town before yesterday, I know them now as I don't think anyone in that office will forget me! I was pleased this morning when I woke to find the swelling subsiding and the purple turning back to red. Now there is still a chance that this bite may break open as it is apparently supposed to do days after. This won't be good because it is the skin around the bite dieing and they will have to.....well you know. Grosses me out just thinking about it. REMOVE THE DEAD AND INFECTED TISSUE....EEEWWWWW!@!!#!! But lets hope the good lord is on my side and it won't go that far. I do seriously have faith that I will be just fine. Just sucked! There was some bigwig '40 year EMT veteran' doctor there this morning when I went back for my check-up, who just had to see this dehydrated spider bite victim. The office got a good chuckle when he came into the room and asked if he could look at it and got the birdie! I will keep you posted on the progress.



I leave you with this mystery of the existence of Artesians. I was driving down a road outside of Kenai the other day, and came across something that left me befuddled. As I said, Olympia Beer went out a couple of decades ago, yet here outside of Kenai I discovered possible evidence of their existence! More than just the Olympia Beer can. Possibly an old Artesian well. Is it old? Are they down there in that there well today as we write? Is Jack really crazy?? Who really knows...... I do know one thing for certain......"it's the water"!