An Outdoorsman's Journal

Three Challenging Week's

Hello friends,

   Last week I wrote to you about the fact that I was very ill. This week, I am going to describe my life for the last 22 days of purely trying to exist through what was determined on day 16 to be Giardia and E.coli. In other words, I had a parasite and E.coli, that literally cost me a lot of body weight and made me extremely, painfully ill.
   The story over the three weeks is pretty crazy and once again for next week's deadline, I cannot do field work. On the other hand, tomorrow I leave for Montana and then Calgary, Alberta and as I have said for years, "The sun always comes up in the morning".
   On Tuesday, July 21st I learned that my golden retriever Red only had one puppy in her. The same day I learned of what would cost a chunk of money in setbacks. That night I literally lost my body strength and could not hold food down for the next 14 days.
   On Saturday, July 25th I picked up my daughter Selina at the airport in Madison for what would be an 8-day visit at home. Selina is making a major move in the very near future and I did not want to trouble her with my poor health.
   I might add that Selina chose this date so that she could be home when Red had pups, today was day 62 of what is normally a 57 to 63 day gestation.
   At this point it would be 12 days before my diagnosis, something I only have myself to blame for.
   On Selina's first full day at home we swam in the pond, fished in the pond and ate fish from the pond, it was a simple and great day for a father and his daughter. On day 2 Selina was able to witness NOAC "Necedah Outdoor Adventure Club" at its best. I am the president of this club. In our 3-year existence, we have built a beach with a picnic area and swim raft, a disc golf course and every winter we create and maintain a lighted ice skating rink. On this day NOAC hosted a beach party with free hot dogs, brats, chips and water along with music from a local dj.
   On Wednesday Selina and I hit the Wisconsin River in our canoe along with Red who was now on day 65. I was feeling rough but kept it quiet, it was the first time that I ever felt Selina was a stronger paddler than me. That evening we drove down to rural Portage and spent some time with her brother Travis Dushek who has purchased 13 acres of beautiful land on the Fox river along with his wife Anne.
   On Thursday night, which was day 10, Selina was out for a few hours and I became very ill, everything hurt, my legs were numb or untouchable from the knees down. I lived in the bathroom, the right side of my chest always hurt, and my belly was very sore and swelled up. My eye sight was very poor and my mental condition was not good. The following afternoon Selina went away to see her very good friends from college for the weekend.
    For the first time with the help of a friend I made sauerkraut from my garden, very cool. That night, I literally felt like I could die from "beaver fever/giardia."
   The following day, 18 quarts of chili from my garden were created, by the end of September, there will be 90-quarts in the freezer and that night Beaver Fever hit me the worst yet. I wanted to take a bath, and had a hard time getting out, then it felt like electrical pulses were shooting down both of my arms from my elbows to my fingertips, just the sheets touching my legs from the knees down was unbearable.
   Selina headed back to Montana the following night, if all goes well I will meet her on Saturday, August 15th on a remote mountain that neither of us has ever seen.
   The following day, Red gave birth to her pup, a lone male. The veterinarian told me that it would be no problem to breed her the next time she goes into heat as only having one pup will not be hard on her. I was really looking forward to having a pup, that will have to wait. Four other people also have chosen to wait until this spring or next summer.
   Exactly 3 weeks ago today I lost my health and temporarily my disposable income. Single, low income, homeowners often share this problem.
   I have energy for an hour and then feel like I lost every bit of my stamina for the next hour, yesterday my physician told me that this will last for up to another month.
   I have 4500 miles to put on The GMC Hotel, elk to find and a daughter to move!

   Remember what I said earlier about the sun?

   Sunset