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Post by stevec on Oct 9, 2014 19:01:03 GMT -6
I spent two days traveling from RI to FL to help my daughter move into her new apartment. When I arrived I opened my garage in FL to see what needed to be moved the next day. Evidently I stumbled into several spider nests. Two bites on my chest, two bites under my armpit, two bites on the inside of my arm near the armpit and one nasty bite on my leg above the ankle. Itched like hell that night and the next day.Considering the soft tissues on my chest, armpit, and arm, it's strange that the most painful bite is on my leg, where the venom must have penitrated the muscle. 6" welts in all areas, but the doctor stared long and hard at that leg bite. I got a warning to watch it closely for "veining" or if any area turned black. A bit drowsy from the antihistamine she prescribed, but it looks like I'll survive.
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Post by woodrowli on Oct 9, 2014 21:02:09 GMT -6
I spent two days traveling from RI to FL to help my daughter move into her new apartment. When I arrived I opened my garage in FL to see what needed to be moved the next day. Evidently I stumbled into several spider nests. Two bites on my chest, two bites under my armpit, two bites on the inside of my arm near the armpit and one nasty bite on my leg above the ankle. Itched like hell that night and the next day.Considering the soft tissues on my chest, armpit, and arm, it's strange that the most painful bite is on my leg, where the venom must have penitrated the muscle. 6" welts in all areas, but the doctor stared long and hard at that leg bite. I got a warning to watch it closely for "veining" or if any area turned black. A bit drowsy from the antihistamine she prescribed, but it looks like I'll survive. I wont even joke about that. The leg bite does not sound good. Florida has some of the nastiest spiders on earth. While most only give annoying painful bites a couple of them carry some powerful ammo. Keep an eye on it the bite of a recluse of hobo spider is some serious business. You can rule out a black widow as one of the first symptoms from them is severe stomach cramps. But hobo and recluse bites are sneaky they take days to show just how nasty the bite is. The visible signs are the earliest way to identify it. With early identification and treatment they are very easily treated, but the key is early treatment. treatment can't start with out a positive ID of what did the biting.
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Post by showmedot on Oct 10, 2014 7:57:41 GMT -6
No kidding a brown recluse bite is serious stuff. A former boss of mine got bit on one foot by one of those in his basement laundry area. For a while it was questionable if the foot might have to be amputated.
Yeah, definitely watch those bite areas carefully.
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Post by stevec on Oct 10, 2014 22:37:55 GMT -6
All's well, I still have all my parts.
The affected areas were huge this morning, about 12", but only pink, not bright red like yesterday. The swelling has gone way down and only slightly pink tonight. No infections and no necrosis which is a big relief. I can't say I wasn't nervous. The first culprit I considered was the recluse spider which was scary, especially considering I had seven bites.
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Post by woodrowli on Oct 14, 2014 17:47:19 GMT -6
Just checking. Are the spider bites healing?
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Post by stevec on Oct 14, 2014 20:46:20 GMT -6
Just checking. Are the spider bites healing? Yes, arms and chest are back to normal, the leg is down to a 3x4 discoloration, sort of brown. It's a miracle i survived. Must have been the expletive laden prayer I yelled out. I suspect it's not the words you use that impresses god, but the heart felt emotion.
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Post by woodrowli on Oct 14, 2014 21:45:13 GMT -6
Just checking. Are the spider bites healing? Yes, arms and chest are back to normal, the leg is down to a 3x4 discoloration, sort of brown. It's a miracle i survived. Must have been the expletive laden prayer I yelled out. I suspect it's not the words you use that impresses god, but the heart felt emotion. Glad to hear they are getting better, no matter what source you attribute it to.
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Post by Jim on Oct 16, 2014 9:48:43 GMT -6
Yes, arms and chest are back to normal, the leg is down to a 3x4 discoloration, sort of brown. It's a miracle i survived. Must have been the expletive laden prayer I yelled out. I suspect it's not the words you use that impresses god, but the heart felt emotion. Glad to hear they are getting better, no matter what source you attribute it to. Me too! But.... Just in case you have a relapse... can I have your telescopes? Jim
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Post by stevec on Oct 17, 2014 8:46:58 GMT -6
Glad to hear they are getting better, no matter what source you attribute it to. Me too! But.... Just in case you have a relapse... can I have your telescopes? Jim I wish you'd have spoken up sooner, I just got done signing all the trust documents a couple of months ago. But just for you, and because of all your depressing Super Bowl miseries in the past and in the foreseeable future, I will leave you all my scopes and EYEPIECES! One set has my name on them.
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Post by stevec on Oct 17, 2014 9:26:29 GMT -6
Jim, Would you like to get close to these Couture Balls? These are my high power eyepieces.
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Post by Jim on Oct 22, 2014 9:53:23 GMT -6
Jim, Would you like to get close to these Couture Balls? These are my high power eyepieces. Funny you should mention that. I hardly ever use high power eyepieces because the seeing here is always so bad. Planetary viewing is always frustrating. (Still, it is worth it to live near the mountains - great weather, skiing, hiking, best football on earth and so forth...) Anyway, last night I dreamed that I was viewing the moon - at really really really high power. I could see individual boulders, that sort of thing. Everything was perfectly still in the eyepiece - like a photograph. But then the dream changed and I was inside an unfurnished home. It was dawn and four big black cockroaches walked by. They were glossy black like some crickets are, not the normal soft brown of normal roaches. Two big ones and two little ones walked by in a tight formation, and I thought I should smash them, but I didn't, they were kind of pretty. (Do you suppose I was dreaming of being in Florida - with the steady seeing and roaches?) Anyway, after that I looked around the room and said to myself, this is a nice size house - I'd like for Linda to see it. (We are going to downsize in the spring.) Then I woke up! Jim
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Post by Jim on Oct 22, 2014 9:58:52 GMT -6
Jim, Would you like to get close to these Couture Balls? These are my high power eyepieces. Funny you should mention that. I hardly ever use high power eyepieces because the seeing here is always so bad. Planetary viewing is always frustrating. (Still, it is worth it to live near the mountains - great weather, skiing, hiking, best football on earth and so forth...) Anyway, last night I dreamed that I was viewing the moon - at really really really high power. I could see individual boulders, that sort of thing. Everything was perfectly still in the eyepiece - like a photograph. But then the dream changed and I was inside an unfurnished home. It was dawn and four big black cockroaches walked by. They were glossy black like some crickets are, not the normal soft brown of normal roaches. Two big ones and two little ones walked by in a tight formation, and I thought I should smash them, but I didn't, they were kind of pretty. (Do you suppose I was dreaming of being in Florida - with the steady seeing and roaches?) Anyway, after that I looked around the room and said to myself, this is a nice size house - I'd like for Linda to see it. (We are going to downsize in the spring.) Then I woke up! Jim p.s. If Dot and Woodrow are confused (or appalled) by "Couture Balls" check out page 155 or so - Steve is famous! books.google.com/books?id=_RV_AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA155&lpg=PA155&dq=Couture+eyepieces&source=bl&ots=8qm8kTR5EV&sig=qgJkzSkcdNcg4igMcHfwVAXJKtc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TdNHVMyaI_PV8AGk34DABw&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Couture%20eyepieces&f=falseJim
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Post by stevec on Oct 22, 2014 22:23:13 GMT -6
I was famous for a little while, at least in amateur astronomy circles. I also pushed the limits on an astronomy forum by referring to my Couture Balls. Ultimately, the moderators had enough of my toilet mouth and told me to refer to them as spheres. Balls are funny, spheres are not, nevertheless I raised over $1200 for charity.
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Post by stevec on Oct 22, 2014 23:26:17 GMT -6
Jim, Would you like to get close to these Couture Balls? These are my high power eyepieces. Funny you should mention that. I hardly ever use high power eyepieces because the seeing here is always so bad. Planetary viewing is always frustrating. (Still, it is worth it to live near the mountains - great weather, skiing, hiking, best football on earth and so forth...) Anyway, last night I dreamed that I was viewing the moon - at really really really high power. I could see individual boulders, that sort of thing. Everything was perfectly still in the eyepiece - like a photograph. But then the dream changed and I was inside an unfurnished home. It was dawn and four big black cockroaches walked by. They were glossy black like some crickets are, not the normal soft brown of normal roaches. Two big ones and two little ones walked by in a tight formation, and I thought I should smash them, but I didn't, they were kind of pretty. (Do you suppose I was dreaming of being in Florida - with the steady seeing and roaches?) Anyway, after that I looked around the room and said to myself, this is a nice size house - I'd like for Linda to see it. (We are going to downsize in the spring.) Then I woke up! Jim Last June when traveling north from FL to RI, my wife and me stopped at the most disgusting motel on the planet somewhere in VA, I believe. My wife made the reservation from the road and she tried to find a hotel that would accomodate my daughter's rabbit. She's so friggin honest, I would have simply snuck the rabbit in...................anyway it was late and we had no other place to go. The hotel was in receivership, everything was falling apart, pool water was green - enough said. I refused to take my socks off to walk around the room. At some point while trying not to be grossed out and trying to get some sleep, a roach ran up my boxers and across my ass. In what seemed like one continuous movement, I jumped up, ripped my boxers off and threw the boxers on the bed. At that point my wife was attempting to smash the roach, but it ran under her pillow. I flung the pillow onto the floor and the roach followed, and that's when my wife delivered the crunching blow with her foot. Great teamwork, and I have to admit, I was amazed at my wife's courage and relentless pursuit of the roach. She didn't flinch. I'm the one that's usually called to bug killing duty. The f**king thing was an inch long and half as wide.................goddamn, I'm grossed out all over again. I can recommend FL from January to June, but mid June to September, not so great - hot, humid, and nasty thunderstorms. It's difficult to plan a day outside. It's paradise though during the time we're down there(Jan-June). This year we're heading down the 1st of December. Football sucks in FL, except when the Pats are on the road visiting. Skies are pretty steady - got some great views of Jupiter and Saturn, certainly better than up north, though RI isn't as bad as NJ. Downsizing is a great thing. Our NJ home was wonderful, but I don't miss it. We gave away so much stuff that we accumulated over the course of our lives, it was amazing. Good luck with yours.
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Post by showmedot on Oct 23, 2014 14:42:25 GMT -6
Yeah, I can relate on the downsizing cleanout. I thought I would NEVER get the junk sorted out before we moved from our house to this apartment. (And I didn't. Some junk got moved since hubby's company paid to move us.)
I took 30-some brown paper grocery bags full of books to the Friends of the Library dropoff. We still have a bunch of books, but I swore that five tall bookcases had to be max in an apartment, so whenever we add a book, it better fit on a shelf. Otherwise, something's gotta get donated. Amazingly, we've stuck to that.
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