"Old folks" learn to live with the joint and back aches of degenerative arthritis, but I was not prepared for an attack of PMR, a condition which was not even "discovered" until after I left Family Practice in 1966 for a career in uniform with the US Public Health Service. After that, my clinical duties were mostly with young active duty military and dependents, so I was not very involved in chronic issues of the elderly.
My own "discovery" occurred after I Googled "shoulder pain and generalized muscle pain and stiffness," and there is was: Polymyalgia Rheumatica. I tried home remedies such as ice packs and doses of NSAIDs and Tumeric.
It's an old adage, as Sir William Osler said, "A physician who treats himself has a fool for a patient." Early morning walks found me lagging behind my child bride and turning around halfway as MaryLou whizzed by on her way back home. Anyway, I deferred to my Internist and her referral to a fine Rheumatologist whose tests indicated inflammation and confirmed what Google had already told me.
The morning after my first dose of Prednisone allowed me to turn over in bed and even tie my boots and raise my camera to my face. Since then, except for weather and intervening appointments I have not missed a predawn wetlands walk. My energy has returned, but age plus immunosuppressant drugs are combined risk factors during the pandemic.
There were hints that land bird migration was picking up. The first Blue-gray Gnatcatchers had arrived from their breeding areas not far to the north:
![Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 01-20200811](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50214813181_1c103e8c84_z.jpg)
![Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 02-20200811](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50214812426_3396fbeef8_z.jpg)
Acrobatic Black-and White Warblers also need not wander too far south of their nests (note the spirals of sapsucker wells):
![Black-and-White Warbler 03-20200811](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50214297068_c791c04ba8_z.jpg)
![Black-and-White Warbler 05-20200811](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50214814341_66cea43282_z.jpg)
![Black-and-White Warbler 02-20200811](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50214816941_3c6991516e_z.jpg)
It is a joy to walk out on this peninsula in the dark, watch for meteors and listen to the sounds of nature awakening. High water has cut the peninsula into a muddy archipelago. The outermost island is inaccessible without Wellies:
![Calmover Everglades before sunrise 20200810](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50211029538_2d5b40341d_z.jpg)
Great Egret before sunrise:
![Great Egret before sunrise 220200810](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50211558401_42571b116f_z.jpg)
![Great Egret before sunrise 02-220200810](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50211829362_a424683a37_z.jpg)
Our back yard lake has actually been more productive of wading birds than the wetland lakes and flooded prairies. A Great Egret and a Tricolored Heron seemed unusually chummy:
![Great Egret- Tricolored Heron 20200813](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50222827871_3fd20d1f7e_z.jpg)
![Great Egret- Tricolored Heron 2-20200813](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50223049247_e37023fc33_z.jpg)
They were joined by a photobombing immature White Ibis:
![Ibis Egret Heron 01-20200813](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50222185643_0d6feb7a46_z.jpg)
A pair of Egyptian Geese lounged lakeside:
![Egyptian Geese 03-20200812](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50219491806_c9168e5983_z.jpg)
A Tricolored Heron put on quite a show one morning. "I see the fish, I seize the fish, I squeeze the fish, I eat the fish."
"I see the fish and stalk it furtively...
![Tricolored Heron 3-20200813](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50223061007_dd9e0b227e_z.jpg)
"I seize the fish and quickly carry it to high ground in case I drop it...
![Tricolored Heron catches fish 01-20200813](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50222195048_383aa584bf_z.jpg)
"I squeeze the fish and carefully work it up to my mouth...
![Tricolored Heron with fish 02-20200813](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50222177713_9cf4d0f5ac_z.jpg)
"I eat the fish after flipping it up in the air and into my gullet in a move too fast for the camera:"
![Tricolored Heron with fish 04-20200813](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50222202058_3e51bdd461_z.jpg)
![Tricolored Heron 03-20200811](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50214720623_9076d13d40_z.jpg)
Pop-up storms are a feature of the summer season in south Florida. One morning the sky seemed placid except for a storm cloud on the southern horizon, building fast and moving my way :
![Storm approaching 02-20200812](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50218975281_8cc44d1a8c_z.jpg)
![Storm approaching 05-20200812](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50219195337_6b4735f434_z.jpg)
Conflicting winds stirred the wispy clouds into random hash marks as I neared the exit gate and heard thunder:
![Storm approaching 09-20200812](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50218975996_a652c1c386_z.jpg)
A reassuring hand (or was it an eagle's wing?) extended out and seemed to say "Everything will be OK:"
![Clouds - a reassuring hand 20200812](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50219194817_910ccebaf8_z.jpg)
Topping off the week was this uplifting photo of our grandson's wife volunteering for veterinary school:
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Linking to:
Skywatch Friday
Weekend Reflections
Saturday's Critters
BirdD'Pot
Camera Critters
All Seasons
Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)
Natasha Musing
Our World Tuesday
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Please visit the links to all these posts to see some excellent photos on display
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