Having developed an allergic, stress-catalyzed reaction with a high chance of shutting off my airway at random times and no time limit on relapses, I have to move because it is the tenants of 2 of the other 3 units in my building who shower me in allergens and stress me to the breaking point. I spent half of yesterday, split across two visits, in the emergency room with massive angioedema--thankfully in my face, not my throat or my intestines (its other favorite vacation spots). Angioedema prefers the throat to the other locations, cutting off airways at random times, and no one has yet said I won't be at risk of relapse for the rest of my life, only that it "may take several years" to stop if it does at all.
I won't be able to take much with me...I must leave behind my love and light of 11 years who is not allergic, our pets, my family's heirloom furniture, and...of course...all the rocks.
I have MANY rocks. The ones I'm 100% sure of after taking all my meds are: dusty-raspberry-colored quartzite from the Bitterroot River, quartzites in other colors from other locations, MANY local southwestern Montana jaspers that are largely reds or greens, multicolored shale (tan, dark and light green, dark and light reddish-purplish, some calcite layering--stuff makes GREAT photo backdrops) from just west of Missoula, MT, and a multi-year rockpicking collection from Biggs Junction, Oregon that includes opalite, flint, rhyolite, jaspers, and some spectacular light-in-bright green amygdaloidal basalts along with "lava bomb" style bubbled basalt, much of which has assorted druzy shades lining the bubble vugs.
If anyone wants a look at samples I can definitely do that--just need to know the best section to post them in and which ones people want to see. I can even start that post with an updated-as-I-go list of identified stones.
I also have other hobby items that might be of interest to friends or family y'all out there might have handy. I'll be rehoming a MASSIVE stash of Magic: the Gathering collectible playing cards since I will have no one to play cards with and they're not good for solitaire games. Not sure about books yet, but it's likely. The only thing I won't be offering up is my enormous archive of photos showcasing minerals and rockhounding sites, as I have already promised that part of my photographic legacy to the Bitterroot Gem & Mineral Society because they have no resident photographer for club events OR mineral specimens.
I'll be setting up an appointment tomorrow to get help finding a new place to live. After that, if anyone here would like to adopt some rocks, sooner will be better than later because I have no idea how long this will take to get set up and figured out and I may have to put together a move in just a day or two. It's a pretty sure bet once I move I won't have internet access any more, so when I have a due date on that I'll have my membership here closed to avoid cluttering the servers.
As I have no access to PayPal due to my peculiar refusal to send them scans or photos of my driver's license AND social security card (despite having a verified-their-way bank account!) when they will not guarantee who has access to that information, I am not looking to SELL rocks. They just can't go with me and my nearest and dearest aren't all that into rocks. The only payment I'd ever be interested in is paying it forward by helping someone else you run across someday when they need it.
I'd be willing to give your MTG cards a good home. I'm an avid player.
