Oh Deer...

 We got neighbors that think they're beautiful, and feed them . But mostly what we have is a public that's tired of the pests and a government that doesn't know how to solve a really pretty easy problem, if you can set a aside human emotion.  These urban Deer have habituated themselves not only to town but specific houses and green area where they feel protected. They eat everything, new budding tulips, perennials of all kinds and stomp down paths through wonderfully manicured landscaped yards . AND...I'm of the opinion that it's just a matter of time before us human types realize they carry the wasting disease or the Burcelosis type of thing that could be passed on to our kind and at the very least our pets . So what's to be done ? Here's a pic of the enemy, shot on yesterday mornings walk .

The woman who lets me live here has been calling me Carl lately, surely you remember Carl Spackler from the movie Caddy Shack. I haven't resorted to middle of the night black opps....yet...but I am armoring the perimeter and trying to Deer proof our back yard that has 42" chain link all around that that these hybrid urban Deer bound over like it was a steeping stone.  Now MPeasy and a few of our friends have questioned if I really could be successful.....mmmmm....it's junior varsity insulting if they think we can't out smart these cuties who are ruining the yard. Here's the plan.

So that's what Carl is doing. Now what's the City of Helena doing ? mmmmmm.....Well, the first thing you do is form a committee while forgetting a basic tenant of politics is that if you want to slow something down or even do nothing the best thing is to form a committee. Then you set an ' acceptable ' number of deer per neighborhood and then decide how many of the vermin to execute to get to that number. I'd say the urban deer 'acceptable ' number should be zero, 0 , none , notta...then when the g-men go to work you end up with 1/2  of your goal . Makes sense eh ? So, while we lounged around Mexico this winter the animal control people here set traps to cull 250 or so deer of which I think I saw they got  38. 

So, here's a suggestion from the new guy, don't ya just hate that ? But a lot can be learned from your more 'hands on ' neighbors to the north where they deal with this stuff routinely.  Back in the day Alaska had a Governor who we all loved who could make sense of problems and said famously " you can't just let nature run wild ". 

Dear Mayor Collins : Have you ever heard of Hagermeister Island ?  Let's assume you haven't . It's near the north shore of Bristol Bay in the Alaska Maritine National Wildlife Refuge. Years ago an entrepreneur decided that this uninhabited island would be the perfect place to raise reindeer and then harvest them for meat. Well it worked real good until the harvesting part came around. There's no port, there's a big ol dangerous ocean surrounding it and the closest butcher shop is only 2,000 miles away. So the g-men put out a proposal that anybody who wanted could go to Hagermeister Island and harvest the animals in hopes of achieving and ' acceptable ' number.  This place is a reserve and the herd was stomping down the habitat and destroying the bird rookeries and eating all the kelp on the beach and jeeez, what a mess. So, after many years of little or no harvest it was time to cull the herd....with the Air National Guard , now these guys know how to get it done. They come in with Helicopters and mini-guns and Walla, no problema. 

Just last year after watching the Mulchatna Caribou herd decline to the lowest levels ever it was decided that predation by Grizzly Bears was a huge factor . So, turn the problem over to the ADF+G and they arm a Super Cub with a good shot and an AR-15 and couple days later 100 of them are eliminated. nothing to it.

Does that guy look like he could stomp s*^# out of you ?  ( that's a real pic of one of many ) Well that's what the  cowboys who were coincidentally from Montana found out when they  were hired to round hundreds of those guys up on another Alaska Island with the same problem. Chirikof Island was over run with cattle that nobody could, for lack of a better term 'handle'. The government wanted them gone so a barge was brought in and the cowboys saddled up and....were back in the Anchorage Airport a few days later after being unsuccessful for many reasons one of which was that after years of neglect the animals are basically wild .

So Mr. Mayor, I know , enough anecdotel stories however interesting they may be. You wanna know why I tell these stories. Well it's simple .  When faced with way more challenging situations than urban deer these folks went to work . Don't ya suppose we could do at least a bit more to make our city just a little more people friendly and little less deer friendly ? After all.....you can't just let nature run wild .

Another big step For Kenai Kings

 People who know me are aware of how close to my heart / life and of course for the future of these fish are to me. If we only knew then what we know now, but as Gary Allan sings ' life just don't work that way'.The Alaska Board of Fisheries just wrapped up their 3 year cycled meeting on Cook Inlet and gave the plans to recover these one of a kind fish and chart the future of them with a mild massage. Mmmmmm, well they lowered the spawning (escapement ) goal , once again . Back in the day the fishery and escapement number was set at a remarkable recruitment ( how many fish return per spawner) of 3 to 1 which for wild King Salmon stocks in the world would be exceptional . For the people needing the lettuce out of this deal it was simple and went like this - Lately ( 1970's and 80's ) our King run is 60,000 fish, so , 20,000 get caught and sold commercially, 20,000 get caught and killed sport fishing and 20,000 get up the river and spawn to repeat the process....perfect, what could go wrong ? 

So the stage was set. The total run shrank and shrank , 3 to 1 management projections weren't adding up so.....the escapement goal was reduced and the math worked out. Then the season was lengthened to add more fish to the count which made the baseline data questionable.  The escapement goal finally hit 15.000 and change before the experts began to question that the 3 to 1 formula was wrong  . The 3 to 1 recruitment model is used and works in many fisheries that have pristine spawning habitat and fisheries like Coho and chums that stay out to sea almost half as many years as big Kenai Kings which are 5 ocean fish....more time in the ocean = more chance of being killed before it's time to spawn. So now, the new action plans and escapement goals and hope for the future rest with what the ADF+G who are  now thinking that the actual recruitment for Kenai Kings is 1.4 or so to 1.0 . This is sustainable but with the current numbers will not allow for  any harvest and of course if they are still wrong and the actual recruitment is less than one to one...well....it's a downward spiral that will end in no fish somewhere in time after old guide #003 has left the planet. And with all this going on, all this guess work or S.W.A.G. at ADF+G (simple wild ass guess ) the B.O.F. lowered the escapement goal once again, now it's 14.500. 

I guess it's a goal thing. In my life I've always set high standards and goals for myself. Some of which I haven't met  and some that I'm still working on and hope to meet in the future....but bureaucracy works this way, set your goals low and success is easier . And if you're a B.O.F. member it will get you through to the next meeting . It's sad .😞

If only everyone could experience it. You've been on the water since 6:00 a.m. and it's finally starting to warm. Your rod goes off and you pull it out of the holder and set into resistance. My friend Sergio Tirado told me once ' there is nothing like the first run of a King Salmon ' . It takes 15 minutes until you get the first real look as the flashing silver grows larger and larger as it comes to the surface. It takes another ten minutes to get him laying on his side and swimming head first towards the net all the time you're knowing that this part is when it can go wrong. Head first into the net and then take the pressure off and drop the  tip, you're relieved . You put your rod down and help your buddy lift it into the boat and like a chorus you both say almost together , ' my gawd, that's a beautiful fish ' ! 

It's one of those things that ya gotta WANT to do

 Freeze out Lake . They don't call it that for nothing . This year we were prepared and brought all the Alaska gear and still...I ain't been that cold since end of September Silver fishing with Chris Fejes when I pored hot coffee on my Extra Tuff's. We get there in time to watch the Geese return to the water for the night after eating in the farm fields all day and then it was off to the motel so that we can be back at the lake for sunrise and see the Geese lift off to repeat the daily process, 20,000  of them. If you might know me to exaggerate a bit just check out this pic.

That would be an icicle on the back-up camera of MP's car....When we got to the motel we went straight to the hot tub where we were joined by a young German woman who had just returned from the Lake with here photographer husband. She had me in stitches : " It's just ridiculous, sooo cold, ridiculous . Oh Helga look, click, click click....click click click, just ridiculous ".  

So in the morning with a temp of 18 degrees and wind at 15 to 20 we got to see the show. The Geese lifted off in three different groups but very impressive. I shot this video with my Samsung Tablet and the quality isn't what I would have liked, maybe poor light as it was 10 minutes after sunrise or maybe the lens was fogged up as it was a -45 chill factor....but you get the idea. Heck, we're out in nature. 

 

So they say we had 7000 Swans and 20,000 Geese. I think last year my pics turned out a bit better but hey, I'm learning.

And Choteau Montana , what a wonderfully welcoming place.  We found two second hand stores for MP. We stayed at the Stage Stop Inn that is privately  owned and is about the nicest / funnest / cleanest place we've ever stayed. They have 2 dollar gin + tonics , MP won 35 bucks while I watched Montana State lose to Grambling in the NCAA tourney and they had the best waffle fries . The hot tub is like they  incorporated it into their business plan knowing that Freeze Out Lake was going to be big draw...It's a great place,  so down to earth , Montana like....this pic tells it all...Now in some towns the Future Farmers of America might raffle a cord but in Choteau, no way, it's a cord and a half. 

So having taken a 7:00 a.m. Lakeside hike, snapped 6 successful pics and 47 failures while drinking 5 cups of coffee we head back to Helena...the long way of course . It had rained the day before so with the temperature drop there was an eerie ground fog . As we drove a long  highway 408 we could hear Geese and bumped into these guys for more pics. I don't know what they prefer to eat but I kinda figured most Farmers here would wish they's find another field.

If you haven't been to Augusta Montana you're missing one of the most beautiful towns in the USA. Nobody cares if you stand in the middle of main street and fiddle with your camera for a blog shot,  in fact I had a Northwest Energy guy wave and give me a thumbs up...you folks over in Jordan Montana could take a lesson.

And now for your semi weekly ' how the hell is 003 doing ' report.

Well : I've seen 5 different doctors and given blood to all five of them. It seems that even though I carry the Factor V Lieden gene mutation they did not feel that would be the cause of such a huge late in life blood clot. So, that rules out one of the three things that could cause that type of clot ( genetics ) with injury or a malignancy being the other two. I've had no injuries or surgeries so they had to rule out cancer. 

My last cancer screening was in this baby where they looked for lung cancer. It did show a 3 mm sized nodule in my lower right lung that they categorize as non-suspicious . weew, were we relieved or what ! It was a CT Scan with contrast where they inject you with iodine type of thing to show everything better and I'll be a happy man if I never have to go through that again . SO...They have decided that my DVT was ' unprovoked ' which is very unusual but in this case it is so . I'll be on the blood thinner Eliquis at least until August when I see my 3rd doctor again to chart the rest of my life, maybe thinners everyday, maybe not....In the meantime I see the neck guy on Monday and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will allow and do surgery ASAP .  I continue to wear the compression socks as you can still see some edema....now those socks are a big pain in the ass but they certainly help, you can see it. And MP always being the loving supporter of this side show found me this deal at one of her 2nd hand stores. Thanks baby for the nod to the old guy.

In the meantime.....

 the fish are disappearing...... Yesterday my curiosity got to me and I went on line to watch The Alaska Board of Fisheries ( BOF ) meeting as they do every three years to set management plans to supposedly maintain healthy fisheries for the use of the people.  It's an amazingly open to the public process where proposals are considered for all and any groups or individuals who submit them .....and it's agonizingly dysfunctional . When I stopped in on the meeting the days of public testimony were over and  the BOF was hearing from anybody that had anything new to say. Well, it was ugly Howard ! I thought I was in a time warp. The same ol same ol people telling the same ol same ol story of what's best for them and not the Salmon. 

When I served on the Governors transition teams there was talk of creating a full time paid professional fish board .  When the BOF got caught vote trading in the early 80's there was talk of creating a full time professional fish board . When, well dare I say, no I won't , but when certain individuals were appointed to the BOF through the years the obvious advocacy and conflicted interest of these people cried out for reform . It hasn't happened ....

Everyone knows the Kenai King Salmon are failing. Now they argue over dozens of dead fish when they used to argue and fight over thousands. It's been well over ten years that rules have changed to try and get more Kings to spawn. Closures , no opportunity, spawning goals and sonar counts going down and down...and yet...they want to and expect to keep fishing. So it's this simple : the same people who helped set the plans  that ain't solved the problem continue to be the ones whose counsel is collected to fix the problem. They cocktail after meeting hours, they're on first name basis, the BOF understands their language because they're ALL commercial users , the coyotes are in charge of the hen house...and always have been.  

It's should be obvious that this traditional BOF system only works for abundant and flourishing fisheries, which the State is running out of. SO, rather than another plan maybe we should be revising the planning process itself. In fact , I'm pretty certain of that .  So here's one of the lists that you know I like, suggestions to fix the fixers . Fish like this hen that Mike caught are the deal, we gotta keep them...

1. The Alaska Native community must always have a seat or seats on the 7 member BOF.  

2. All BOF and especially BOF Advisory Board members can only serve one two terms and a review of their performance should be done before the 2nd term.

3. The BOF will not appoint ' committees ' during meetings . Why ? because the same ol, same ol , people end up on the committees.

4. Public input through testimony will be given once. I don't care who you are or who you think you are , you get to speak once . If advocacy groups ' stack ' their members testimony and it appears as a presentation to the BOF it will not be allowed. 

5. BOF members during the deliberation phase of the meeting will not dine or drink with meeting attendees.

6. BOF members will not vote on any fisheries issues in any fishery that they hold permits or business licenses in or that their families do. They are also excluded from speaking to any proposals that they or their families have an interest in, both in public and in private.

7.   The BOF when taking testimony will give extra attention and time to young people.

8.  Some how Common sense must be applied...these tenets should be incorporated always just as allocation criteria is applied before deciding who gets what and why.

      A. All mixed stock fisheries will be managed for sustainability of the least numerical of the stocks.

     B. Over escapement does not exist . There is no such thing as to many fish.

     C. When there are no fish there will be no fishing.

     D. All fisheries will be managed with the goal of targeted harvest only. There is NO acceptable 

          by - catch . 

     E.  The most important fish is still the one that ends up on Alaskan's table. And, the only time who  

           came first matters is when talking of the Native / Village communities who should always  have                 a preference. 

 

        F.  Trust the math. Keep it simple . Make it  understandable .  

       G.  Good Luck...

And the winner is .....

What a relief !  I mean if you gotta have a problem with your blood this one is waaaaay better than a lot of them.  I really don't know what it means for my future and I won't until I meet with the Hematologist again next week. I supposee it could be blood thinners for the duration or some kind of management strategy . I've had so much blood work done that it's the weirdest feeling of freedom or as my brother called it ' serendipity '....not only do I now know what I have but I also know what I don't have. My blood work by and large has returned to normal, my PSA is good, my lipid panel is good, I don't have any inflammation in my blood that signals bad things . so, mystery solved...I think I'm even going to be able to get my neck problem fixed with surgery this spring. Decompression / fusion : next order of business. And for all my guide friends, I'd bet dollars to donuts the cervical problem came from thousands of hours of rocking around in a boat telling stories, laughing, chasing the pesca and of course making a bit of $$$. And it was all worth it !  

Factor V Leiden

OVERVIEW

SYMPTOMS

TREATMENTS

SPECIALISTS

Main Results

An inherited blood-clotting disorder due to a change in of the blood's factor V protein.

Factor V Leiden (FAK-tur five LIDE-n) increases the chance of having clumps of blood, known as clots. This can be life-threatening. Women with the disorder risk developing blood clots during pregnancy or when taking the hormone estrogen.

Most people never develop symptoms. The first indication of the disorder may be a blood clot. Some clots do no damage and disappear on their own. Others can be life-threatening depending on what part of the body is affected.

Treatment may include blood-thinning medicines. Other precautions, including keeping the legs moving and wearing compression stockings, can reduce the risk of having blood clots.

Very common

More than 3 million US cases per year

Treatment can help, but this condition can't be cured

Requires a medical diagnosis

Lab tests or imaging always required

Chronic: can last for years or be lifelong

Whats a little blood ?

Well I've become quite the veteran of needles and blood draws. I used to be manically afraid of needles but the pandemic and now my seemingly weekly blood draws I've kinda learned a self hypnosis kind of thing that I just submit myself to it knowing that it's all important and going to help. The other day I finally got to see the Hematologist and it was no surprise when the phlebotomist looked at the blood draw order and said ' oh my, 11 vials , " that's a lot ".

So now with my Eliquis blood thinner at work the edema in my leg is looking so much better . I'm wearing a compression sock all day and trying to get my 10,000 steps in which wouldn't be so hard if it would just quir snowing here and warm up a bit. They tell me that the danger phase of the DVT is over and now of course now the 42 dollar question is why is my blood clotting like that so we can keep it from happening again . I've now given blood three times and at each one most of my elevated levels are returning or trying to return to normal. Apparently my particular DVT was trophy sized so the trauma to the body is taking longer to subside....For instance my hemoglobin level on Jan 23 at Urgent care was 13.3 and now it is at 14.5 which is close to the bottom of the normal range of 14.8 . The hemoglobin is one of the markers for anemia which has been making me so tired....it seems to be getting better. So with 11 veils of blood the many tests seem to be normalizing , I'm still waiting to see the ones that were sent to Slat Lake City . Then we see the Hematologist again on March 6th and we'll get the Pro's version of what is going on....and more blood work I'd guess. Here's a pic of a portion of a panel that shows some indicators in the green but also my mchc and rdw variations doing exactly that . Both of those have something to do with the percentage of bigger red cells as opposed to regular sized healthy sized ones... and that's just about as much fish guide / amateur biology any of us need.

The really good news is that all the DVT mystery aside I got the call yesterday from The spine guy here Montana and I've been accepted on referral .   I should be able to get my much needed Decompression and Fusion surgery on my worn out neck . My Hematologist said that by late April it would be safe to vacation my blood thinners long enough to have successful surgery.....and for that I''m soooo happy.

So that's the sit rep, the skinny , the ballad of ageing ...my life....How's about a song ? 

Life should be that easy

But it ain't...However it does look like I'm going to make my promised Mile 14 deadline of at least two a month.  Since my News Years post of promise and rejuvenation it's been a slog, a horrible painful ordeal . So I guess those of you that could tire of this kind of post and I'll just say that I'm posting this for two reason...one is that it's all I've done, I have nothing else to write about . Two, if this helps anybody in anyway with their own health assessments or maybe Mexico health strategies then it's some of the good that I always say must come from bad.

Having seen the good, the bad and the ugly of Mexican health care through the years MP and I discussed the ' code red ' situation many times. We came to this : if something huge was happening to either of us we would only go to a Mazatlan hospital unless one of the two of us could not get on an airplane. Of course we've had to have treatment here but our strategy however right or wrong was to exit stage left. We've seen to many friends languish in the hospital, charged ungodly amount and held hostage to their credit cards, come down with infections....die...

So, a good three weeks ago I awoke with a stiffness in my left knee like I've never had, I could barely walk. Being an active guy I always have some soreness and of course my neck just keeps getting worse and worse. The leg was somewhat red and I ran a low grade temp for a week or so and the swelling and the pain behind my knee seemed to be better. Of course I at first thought it was a blood clot but it didn't fit the extraordinary calf swelling and calf pain that would signal a Deep Vein Thrombosis, a DVT . In fact I kinda got it in my mind that it was related to my neck issues and maybe that damn osteoarthritis that is taking over my life was now invading my knee.  

But Sunday morning a week ago I woke up with severe pain throughout my leg and groin then turning on the light it was obvious my ankle and entire leg was swollen. We were convinced that indeed it was a blood clot . Code red . We call Alaska Airlines get me outa here number and a wonderful woman named Christy in Boise  Idaho says how about tomorrow , in less than 24 hours  .  The flight to LAX was horrible. My neck was actually bothering me the most and once I sat next to the wall in the MZT airport and supported my head against it helped, MP got me boarded first. Once we got through customs and we were relieved to be back in the USA, what ever happened from then on out I new we could deal with. I can't say enough for Alaska Airlines, on the plane or in the terminal they took care of me. In the Board Room we found a high back chair for my neck that I could also elevate my feet. So all be it a little late flight later we went on to Seattle and spent the night. As we waited for our Helena flight the next day I called my Primary Physician and was told ' don't come here, go Straight to St. Peters urgent care when you land, which we did. 

Angela Axmann got me right in....Blood work that came back asap and then an ultrasound imaging shows an unusually large DVT from the knee to the foot. Serious. 30 to 40 % of these DVT's have a piece of clot break free and cause an embolism. Of the 30  to 40% that this happen to 25% have instant death....don't get anymore serious than that . So, it's off to the Pharmacy for the the very best blood thinner named Eliquis. Then I'm told what to do and what not to do and especially told what to watch for and when to immediately get to the emergency room. Luckily I have not had any complications . MP and I woke up on Saturday to great relief in that the swelling and redness were obviously looking better. As I type I'm exactly one week out from flying into  Helena . Tomorrow I get a follow up Dr. check, I feel better and feel like I'm hopefully over the danger and ready to see what this means for the rest of my life. 

So here's a few takeaways :

1. MPeasy is an amazing person...got me here and soooo much more.

2. Tom and Angel, everyone should have friends like them.

3. Alaska Airlines...we try to be loyal to these guys , they're the best.

4. St. Peters Health...in less than two hours had a plan and knew the problem, we even had a few laughs.

5. Compression socks.

6. Stupidity....seems we collide with that in this ole life. I always say you can't worry about what DIDN'T happen, but , you'd be a class 5 dummy if you didn't learn from it.

        A. Never have a massage with  DVT, it can cut loose a blood clot.

        B. don't fly with a DVT, it can cut loose a blood clot.

        C. reading and researching the Internet doesn't make you a doctor.

        D. Have trust.

        E. AND this is a big one that I continuously ignore, because ? well ? #5 , If something is bothering you at age 70 it generally won't just go away, it will and it does get  worse, maybe dangerously worse.

        F. You can have several things wrong with you all at the same time .

        G.  You got a good life, take care of it .