Oh, woe!
First a bridge came unglued. Then I got an appointment with my old dentist in another town, who now has moved, and couldn’t be found once I got there.
So I got ‘worked in’ by a local dentist I found on the internet…and they (quite reasonably) took xrays and discovered an abscess. Oh, joy. Extract, root canal with a new bridge (4000.00), or implant? If an implant, five of them, because of the bridge. And they’re costlier than the bridge.
Well, I decided to spring for option B. And faced a root canal with a completely unknown dentist who sort of specializes in root canals. It truly was an abscess: I asked to see the xray.
Today I went in for the procedure, and I’ve had worse discomfort from fillings. Wonderful job, very fine doc, very meticulous, and the best news—he was able to temp-glue the old bridge back in, and it looks as if that 36-year-old bridge is going to work fine. The doc said that bridge was a real work of art, to have lasted this long, in that shape.
So I’ve got a sore jaw and am reduced to soup, but that’s from the strain of a long procedure, no pain from the tooth.
IF I’m not going to have to spend for a new bridge, I may have another one looked at. I had a bad accident back in the 80’s, pitched headfirst over the handlebars on a downhill—the city had installed one storm grate the wrong way, and I dropped a tire into it after a car veered over at me (stupid joke—and when I fell, they ran like rabbits). The result for me was a lot of dental work and jaw troubles. But the good news is—my original dental team were aces. And the fact that this one didn’t hurt at all, except the pesky little xray tabs, says I’ve found another good one.
Congratulations Chondrite!
I finally found my password (I refused to change it)! It feels like forever since I’ve been here.
It’s been a strange summer. We have been inundated with Forest Tent Caterpillars and Gypsy Moths. Consequently, the trees are looking very sparse indeed. The fish pond and pool have been unusable. They smelled like backed up septic tanks to put it bluntly! Now that everything is pupating I have been working on the pool. It may be swimmable by the weekend! Proge has been working on the pond. We can now see the fish about four inches below the surface! Last year they looked like they were swimming in air the water was so clear.
CJ, glad to read that you found a good a good dentist. Toes crossed that things continue to get better!
Mom has been telling me about the seventeen year cicadas, which did a number on the ancestral homestead. She’s been going around picking up branches that have died and fallen for the past 2 weeks, every day.
The problem with Gypsy Moths is that they are an import so have no natural predators. When weather and cycles coincide the insect results can be devastating.
and you have to be careful if you introduce one of their natural predators that the predator species doesn’t then prey on other native species in addition to the target invasive species. Kind of like what rabbits have done in Australia, or mice, and then the mice become overpopulated, so cats are brought in, and the cats prey on the mice, but also other desirable Australian species…..
Americans romanticize nature.
They think they know what it is, how it should be, and, worst of all, that they can “fix” it.
It’s all about balance in a literally unimaginable web.
No, anything you “do” unbalances it, so it goes to a new equilibrium. You can never get it back to what it was. Whatever you try only pushes it further away, makes it worse.
Do as little as possible, or do what you mean to do, take responsibility for it and leave it there. There is no going back.
without getting into a political discussion, it’s not just “Americans” that do that, and whether it’s for economic or “aesthetic” reasons, other cultures have done the same things.
I certainly agree Americans aren’t the only ones, and even not all Americans. I don’t see my opinion as particularly “political”, but soundly ecological based on one simple fact, Nature doesn’t pick favorites, we do. Just ask anyone, “What’s your favorite animal or plant?” Most people will be able to answer readily. Ask why.
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it to be “political”, and certainly not only Americans and not all Americans. IMO, it’s just ecologically sound. Nature does not “pick favorites”, humans do.
Paul and Joe, I think you’re mostly agreeing with shades of distinctions on a few points, and I think most here would agree too.
Earth’s biosphere and ecosphere are incredibly complex, interwoven systems. There are multiple checks and balances that help keep things in equilibrium, but humans are capable of overtipping the balance, through inexperience and ignorance and occasionally, short-sighted arrogance. Natural processes themselves (weather, meteor and comet hits) can wreak large changes too.
We are so new at trying to manage ecological resources that we think we understand some portion of a system enough to fiddle with it to adjust it. But there are always ripples, side effects that are unforeseen, because we don’t understand enough and don’t look deep and wide enough.
That analogy with bringing non-Australian species into the continent, then having big problems with spill-over effects is a good example from, I think, the 1800’s. It’s happened here in America and elsewhere. Then there are also the unintended consequences when complex animals and plants, or microorganisms, hitch a ride on a plane or ship or in a container, and get released accidentally into a non-native environment. This happens despite our best efforts. But then, it’s happened without human intervention too, when species get swept into a new land. Life is very tenacious and exploits any opportunities it finds to propagate and expand territory.
The thing is, we’re not the only highly efficient top species on the planet. Plenty of other lifeforms are very, very good at what they do. We just happen to be one of the species that’s self-aware and technologically advanced enough to dabble in the ecosystem ourselves, directly. But other lifeforms are darned good at whatever it is they do, plants or animals or fungi or whatever other kingdoms/phyla.
So very many variables, such a large, interconnected system, to try to understand even a tiny bit. What an amazing thing is this big blue marble in space, how unique and valuable, and how fragile an oasis in the desert of the void of space.
(Hmm. “The Big Blue Marble” was a kids’ Saturday TV show when I was a kid and young teen. A product of 70’s culture, and really a fine program. I wish they’d do a show like that again these days. I don’t think there’s been anything like it since.)
@ BCS, Re: “Show it again”
I really wish instead of “Doo Wop Tunes of the 50’s” PBS’ pledge drives would show Kenneth Clarke’s “Civilization“, Jacob Bronowski’s “Ascent of Man“, and James Burke’s “Connections“.
I only saw 3 or 4 episodes of Connections, and liked it very much, but it doesn’t get frequent replays on local PBS. Talk about a random chain of thought!
I swear I closed that tag!