u/RampantWeasel

All my life I've always been super sensitive to mosquito bites. And I've seen comments around here making me think there must be some Fibro link to it.

Like for me I would compulsively itch mosquito bites. Could not stop thinking about them or the itching.

And now I'm even more sure there's a link.

I've been on (generic) Contrave for weight loss for 3 months now. One component of that is Naltrexone (my Rx is 50mg/day). From the very first dose my fibro pain was gone. Completely. Unless I miss a dose then it creeps back a bit.

Anyway, this weekend I went to a bonfire at a friend's and the mosquitos were pretty bad. Even with pants I managed to get a few bites. Here's the kicker, my bites don't itch. I see three of them. The one ON MY KNEECAP briefly itched today when I touched it getting undressed to shower. But it was just a passing itchiness. Like I gave it one light little scratch, and went on with my life.

This must be how it is for non-fibro people? I've always wondered how people manage not to scratch until they're bleeding.

I bought a 1500 pound platen press and press folks online are saying that a flatbed tower would be the best way to get it from the garage it's in in Seattle to my own garage in Tacoma. Drive up access on both ends. Press is on skids and should be able to be pulled up on a flatbed pretty easily. These presses are top-heavy though so we need to be careful.

Also, there's a timing issue. The seller is available at 8pm tomorrow night for me to come get it.

Any tow truck operators willing to go on this adventure with me? Send me a message and an estimate, assuming 40 miles.

I've been talking with someone local that is pretty desperate to get rid of a C&P 10x15 and made plans to go get it on Saturday. But my dad, a career pressman and Heidelburg mechanic is strongly trying to talk me out of it. He's scared I'll get hurt loading/unloading it and I'll be in way over my head once I have it. And I guess I'm wondering if I will be.

Despite growing up in printshops in Michigan I didn't really pay attention much to the presses. I've never had classes. And my dad lives across the country and will not be traveling with his failing health.

I did see that there's an 8 week (8 days of 3 hours of instruction) letterpress class that I can take near me (for $500) this summer.

Is it reasonable for a complete letterpress beginner to load/unload a C&P using these instructions https://excelsiorpress.tiiny.site/reference\_html/movingapresssafely.html

Reasonable to learn to operate it on my own?

I did teach myself 3D printing about 6 years ago, before the easy 3D printers were out and I've built a few Prusa's from the kits so I like to think I'm pretty mechanically inclined.

Is this more press than I need? Really I want to make prints of my poetry. But not at like production quantities. This will just be a hobby for me.

Edited to add: I'm a 37 year old woman. My husband can help with the loading/unloading.