Feeder and stuff

Bear Dec 24 at sister's waterhole

My son went down today and rehung the feeder, this time a foot higher. For sure, that should work for now, until he gets the new feeder made. It's hard to tell from this next photo comparison, but the first photo was taken late August, before the bucket was raised to where it was hanging almost from the top of the pole, thus at about an 8 foot above ground level. On the second photo, taken today, the bottom of the bucket is just barely below the top of the 4" pipe. There's an extension above the pipe. So I feel certain the bucket is a minimum of 9 feet above the ground now and out of the reach of bears. But we shall see. There's plan B, so not to worry.

Eventually, I won't be able to hoist this current feeder, if I can even do it now that it's raised, but we're still working out a few details on the new feeder that he's begun building. Mainly, since it's going to be close to the ground within a bear's reach, how to be sure a bear can't poke a claw into a port and laboriously scoop out all the seed. I've seen bees empty a feeder by shoveling the seed out, and some birds can shovel out an unbelievable amount, creating big piles of seed on the ground. Our current ports only work when they're above a bear's reach. So that's the main concern. Covid and cold weather have slowed us down, but I'm relieved to be feeding birds again. I'm reluctant to cut off the pole until we're sure the new feeder ports are bear proof. In all other regards, it will be impenetrable.

I'm dealing with another health issue, unrelated to Covid. My young new doctor wanted to do some routine tests that I went along with about a month ago. Turns out I have chronic Hepatitis C and had to have had for 40 or more years. I was shocked since I've never used a drug, or even smoked a cigarette of any kind in my life. (Never did alcohol, coffee, or caffeine either.) Wracked my brain trying to figure out how I got it. I had a blood transfusion about 45-50 years ago, back in the day when blood wasn't tested for stuff. (HIV didn't even exist in those days.) Have to get a bunch more tests done, to rule out cancer, etc., but the slowness of the process drives me nuts. I want to start treatment asap and they say, if I don't hear from them in a couple of months to call them. OMG! Really? I suppose a few months more after such a long time doesn't matter, but it matters to me. I feel fine other than the last two or three years I've had a mysterious pain in the back. Not sure if it's because of my worn out disks, but doubt it. The doctor said liver pain could present in the back. She's a new doctor and I'm her first Hep C patient. It is curable, and I'll have to take a daily pill (I think) for two months. No big deal. For more technical details, my liver is damaged to a stage 3 out of a possible 4, the latter being full blown cirrhosis. But I'm basically healthy and feel good. My liver is functioning pretty much normally. The virus load is about 3 million, which seems high to me, but doctor says it's average. And the only other possible source that I can come up with, and believe me I've tried, is around 1980 I went to someone's house and got permanent makeup tattooed on. Did that 3 times, before I gave up because it never stayed on me (eyeliner and lip liner). I always hated wearing makeup and it was a fad at the time. The woman was busy and probably didn't properly sterilize her needles. When I was young and poor I had dental problems and eventually had my teeth all pulled (now replaced with implants), but some of those dentists were real sleazy. All I could afford while raising four kids on my own. The bottom line, I'll never know where I got it.

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UPDATE: Further liver tests showed my liver to be fine.