It has been quite a while since I last posted, and that’s not by choice. Of course, the holidays bring with them the usual bustle of various sorts, but that had little to do with my step away from here and from the shop. The cause of it all goes way back to my teenage years when I was in a car accident and cracked a vertebra in my neck. (Note: Always wear your seat belts, kids!)
As time has passed, the old injury on occasion makes itself known to me. This time it happened because I was talking on the phone too long with the phone crooked between ear and shoulder. I know not to do this, but sometimes it slips my mind. It started bothering me, so I put the phone on speaker, but apparently all had been undone already, as I awoke in the middle of the night with my neck screaming in pain. I’d done myself a number good this time, and for weeks on end all I could do was lie flat on my back or sit upright and look straight ahead. No health insurance meant I couldn’t just run off to the doc for a checkup. I also was out of work, because I could hardly do a thing physically. I finally went to a chiropractor with the help of some family intervention, and things began to improve. I am now 50% better according to the doc, but it feels like 80%. It’s definitely better than when any movement at all sent jabs of pain up my neck and how sometimes all the muscles in my left arm would start jittering.
The doc said I could finally start doing things again if I took it easy, so today for two hours I worked on the big sculpture commission I’ve been working on for the past thirteen months. It needs a different motor put on for the lift, so I am working on the retrofit. I worked carefully, and there was only one point when my fingers started tingling (pinched nerves in your neck make your fingers go numb), so I stopped what I was doing and moved the work around.
It wasn’t a huge day as far as sculpture progress, but it was a huge day for my own progress. I hope to be back to getting some real work done soon. I hope to get this big sculpture finished so all of you here can check it out! I also have a new commission that I got back in late November that I would love to build and show off as well. That one is going to be pretty special with some very unique elements added to it that I’ve never seen on any RBS ever. Fun stuff in store, so stay tuned!