Monday, Sept 28
Temperatures are not really high today. John has been out, landscaping (rocks, dirt, and gravel), exercising Annie, and feeding critters.
Lunch: John came in and found some fried chicken in the freezer (thigh & leg). I’ll share a bite of the thigh and have one of my nutritious drinks (Ensure and Yogurt) to accompany it.
I put in all my medications for the week, as this morning I used the last for this week.
Then started loading dirty dishes into the dishwasher. Ran after supper tonight.
Two more robocallers today, now blocked. One wireless from Colville (60 miles north of Spokane), and the other in a person’s name, Sobel Robert from NE Illinois, and Chicago northern suburbs. The geography of these is intriguing. Plus, a previously blocked one came through today as well; one ring happens and the system shuts it down.
Supper: John fixed us fried onion rings and a pizza full of all sorts of things: including pepperoni, ground beef, bell peppers various colors, sausage, and cheese.
Rest of the day filled with computer work, washing dishes, and going shopping tonight in my car with boxes to get my donation paperwork receipt from last week of some onions, summer yellow squash, and about 15# of two kinds of dry cat pellets to the Kittitas Pantry.
Tuesday, Sept 29
Early morning visit before 7:00 a.m. from contractor Walter Davenport, who viewed the problem with roof drainage. Concrete pour for the walkway is scheduled for the following Wednesday, so the drain issue needs attention. I stayed sleeping but at 7:40 a.m. Walter called back to say the concrete would be delivered at 8:00 a.m. next Wednesday, Oct 7. He ordered an extra 2 yards, because John wants to pour concrete in front of our tall shed, for which he will need to build the “forms” to pour it into.
I took my weekly medication tablet on an empty stomach and hooked up the Backup Plus drive for its noon backup of my computer’s hard drive.
John drove today because his car hasn’t been moved in a while.
Our first stop was at the WA License bureau (DOL) to get the disabled parking sticker paperwork to take to my cardiologist’s appointment the end of October. We have to renew yearly. This requires a valid MD’s signature. This, the DOL, is at the Meridian Theater building adjacent to the Bi-Mart parking lot, so not out of our way. Our “hay” guy Mario was visiting with someone in the doorway, so I got to say hello.
I don’t have much need for using the permit. I only need it at one campus building where I’ve attended meetings monthly. The university converted all the spaces near the building to Handicap Access Only (HAO). The closest parking spaces not HAO which allow me to use my CWU Faculty Parking Permit, are at least two blocks away. To access those, one must have a valid STATE permit in addition to the CWU Parking permit.
John parked near the Bi-Mart Pharmacy for me to pick up 4 Original Fisherman Friends Menthol Strong cough drops, added to my Atorvastatin refill. John picked up the page of prize numbers and met me back at the car.
On by the AAC, where I picked up the packet for Game Day of Balderdash, for Thurs. Oct 1, at 10 AM Zoom Game Day. From there, I called CJ that we were on our way around the block from her house.
We went by CJ Anderson’s house to pick up something from her, and leave some gifts for her from our garden (onions, summer squash, and a bucket of Dahlias). She came down to meet us and we had a nice visit in the shade to catch up on things. On the way home, we added a stop by Amy’s house to leave some gifts on her porch for their family.
Another scammer called-Ronald Maxey (out of Colville again, so they are now blocked).
Supper: Chicken, fried onions (ours) and mixed vegetables (not that great from a can). Dessert, vanilla ice cream with chocolate hot sauce and cashews.
Wednesday, Sept 30
We left 9:15 a.m. for the eye doctor visits for both of us. Arrived at the Front door ~9:40, noted the number of our parking space to tell them when I called inside to have them send a technician out to take our temperature (we had to put on our masks). Had new things happened and paperwork required, we would have had to fill it out in the car. We waited a few minutes for the assistant to come take the temps. Then, we waited a few more minutes for an assistant to take John to his appointment. John took the car keys with him so he could return there when done. I waited in the car until they came for me ~10:00 for my appointment, and I locked the car when I left.
I was taken first for my Optimap imaging (which John also had), and for the machine recognition of my needed correction to eyeglass lenses in both eyes. Plus, they measure what the current glasses have for a prescription for range and close-up vision. Each eye is evaluated separately and then both together. My eyes are even at 20/20 each. Also, eye pressure is taken. Mine was 15 and 17, well within range.
Once in the examination room where the doctor arrives eventually, the assistant continued with questions about eye dryness, conducted a peripheral vision test, and ask a few other questions while preparing notes for the doctor. Then she took my BP (which was higher than normal, 135/85). I guess all the stuff happening raised it. Then she left the room and left, saying when Dr. Davis finished John’s examination, he’d be down to visit me. I was out of there and in the car with John, after going through checkout procedure at the front desk and a restroom break, by 10:38 a.m.
All the charges will be submitted to our insurance policy, and because this being so late in the year, our deductible will have been met and this visit will cost us nothing. We’ll see. Neither one of our prescriptions changed, so no replacement eyeglasses needed. That will save us a lot of money.
From there we went up the road a little, to the Pilot Gas Station, and filled John’s tank in the Crosstrek, which he’ll drive tomorrow to bottling and lunch at White Heron. The price per gallon was the best in town at $2.50; not low compared to some places in the USA. From there we came on home.
John ate some brunch (leftover pizza) and I had drunk a nutritious protein drink earlier (chocolate Ensure & vanilla yogurt), so I had ½ of two donuts (sugared & chocolate covered).
John went outside to move some more gravel into the area under the new added carport. Gravel now covers most of the area in front of the house, and the dust is gone. This is the initial covering, so more to follow.
Supper: onion rings, shrimp boiled, cod breaded fried.
Thursday, Oct 1
7:30 AM: John leaves for bottling Pinot Noir with a lunch after outside as the weather is nice. Site overlooks the Columbia River above West Bar with its Giant Current Ripples. Ice age floods rolled across this region, and because of the turns of the ancient river, deposits of sandy material of gigantic size were left. The vines of Mariposa Vineyard are planted on deep sand. The canyon walls are of basalt.
John is taking a deli food tray with Pepperoni, Hard Salami, cheeses, and crackers. Others bring other stuff to share. There are 5 others involved in the bottling process and lunch.
Received a nice morning call at 9:30 a.m. from Gerald, my 89 yr old friend in Thorp (Guitar player with our KV F&F music group). The end of January 2021 he’ll turn 90! He’d finished taking his morning exercise, walking out front around his driveway loop.
I fixed a nutritious drink, vanilla bean yogurt with chocolate Ensure for drinking with my coffee, during the Zoom session. At 10:00 a.m. I participated in a Zoom Game Day at the Senior Center to play Balderdash, with 4 players. Erin & Jacquie played as a team and they won the game over the other two of us.
Today is a diuretic day, but I waited until after the Zoom was over before taking it.
At Noon John called from White Heron, will be delayed until 3:00 to 4:00 getting home, because they ran out of corks midway through the bottling, so they broke for lunch. Just outside the door was a big box of just delivered corks. So lunch. Then back to finish getting the 2016 Pinot Noir into bottles. They had 2 long food and wine events and John did not get home until 5:30.
At 11:00 I returned a call to Tuesday, the Super 1 Pharmacist, who called me during my Zoom Meeting. Can’t interrupt the game.
I talked to Tuesday about the flu shot and need to tell John she has us down to receive the next 2 doses that come into the pharmacy.
I finished an email to send to the study group with recommendations for background materials to supplement information about the topic of the lecture Exotic Terrane – G tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. broadcast. It included links submitted by 3 study group members (including me), a gal from Australia, and a fellow from Seattle, WA.
The temperature outside is 69° at our house, and at the airport at 12:00, it was 65°.
At 12:23 p.m. I had a scammer call from Brunswick, MD that I blocked. Yesterday, I had blocked 3 calls in the same day from the same location, Kennewick, WA. Yesterday, I had a scammer call from a Wireless number registered near Colville, WA so I blocked it. Yesterday morning while we were at the eye doctor, we had a scammer call from Shelly Gagnon with a phone near Colville, WA. These guys are persistent. I blocked that one.
HOLY CRAP! I just spent 20 minutes on the phone making an annual physical appointment at Cle Elum KVH Family Medicine for the same day for John and me to visit our PA-C, Chelsea Newman. {photo below}
The scheduler’s name is “Passion” and she is the “replacement” for Laura at the front desk who retired. We have had 32 years of Laura.
I think I knew more about getting the two of us scheduled than she did. We finally decided on December 10th (Thursday) for the first part, and John is scheduled in for 3:00 p.m., but I’m scheduled in for 4:00 p.m.; the next appointment is December 17th (Thurs) for the second part, John at 3:15 p.m. and me at 4:00 p.m. I don’t know why they need to be so separated. Soon, because of the year +a day rules, we will get pushed into January. Won’t be the end of the year but the beginning. She didn’t realize about the 1 year after a year’s date from before. By the time I called, Chelsea had no openings close to the date last year.
Just off the phone with the Dentist’s office and Tiffany there. Yesterday in the mail we received paperwork from Delta Dental (DD) Insurance that we owed $90.40 toward my tooth repair on 8/25. Tiffany brought up our account and says we have a zero balance, because the insurance picked up all the cost after what we had paid already. Don’t know why their paperwork from DD is out of date, but I thanked her.
I’m new to Instagram, so today a learned to click on the airplane and send a message. Taught myself that today. Managed to send to Nick 3 papers sent by a researcher of Exotic Terranes who is at the University on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. These will help Nick prepare his Sunday morning lecture on Cache Creek Exotic Terrane.
Friday, Oct 2
Started with two robocallers 20 mins apart both from Colville, WA (509-690-XXXX) different numbers on last 4 digits, first with a name (Tracey Rieckers). Both now blocked.
Lunch: Bacon, eggs over easy, and I had toast. John had toast early, so switched to potatoes for this.
Our 2:00 p.m. meeting of Nick from Home met for an extended time today because of an overheated iPhone that Nick was using in the hot sun. After the initial warm up time before 2:00 and into it through his giving thank you messages for gifts from viewers, he started his lecture on the blackboard and only got a few drawings and words in, when the screen went black and we totally lost him. We could still comment on YouTube Livechat, so we knew what was going on. He had to go cool down his phone in the freezer. He was talking to us on his laptop. He did not have to make a new livestream to continue, but the whole process took about 24 mins. He had to change position in the backyard to get out of the sun, around the building into the shade, and take the cozy fort and the blackboard with him. A bunch of people left as viewers, and we were down to about 18 diehards. The rest of the show went all right, and we ended up gaining almost 900 viewers worldwide. That 2:00 p.m. viewing of a Nick from Home today went very long to 1 hr 52 mins because of the technical difficulties. This makes me wonder how all the remote learning is doing for public schools.
‘Nick from Home’ #82 – Exotic G: Quesnellia
Supper: French fried onion rings, John had fried potatoes, and we had a bowl of Progresso soup with smoked turkey added to the carrots, tomatoes, with wild rice. Dessert: Cherry pie with vanilla ice cream.
After dinner and the cat food bowl had long since been brought inside, we had a RACCOON visit to front porch feeder station!!!! Annie the dog and I heard him hit the wood as he climbed up and looked in the window and we both saw him. I screamed and she ran to the front door and barked. John heard the commotion and came out to the front door. He saw the motion sensor light was on where I park the Forester. He didn’t see the critter.
Saturday, Oct 3
Slept in for me after a late start to sleep.
I finally got the email off to study group members for Nick from Home series with the information about the Earth Science Weekly site. I included the ones from this week’s send from Mark, which then I must distribute through the Jobslist to get to everyone (including adding them to the Earth Science Weekly email distribution list).
Diuretic day for me today.
Continued with Tax prep; very small amount of filing done today.
Another Robocaller blocked on my Panasonic land line.
Brunch: Bacon, English Muffin Toasting bread, and eggs.
Supper: A soup bowl of several mixtures of leftovers, best described as a bowl of chili-based stew with corn, Alfredo noodles, pork, smoked turkey, chicken, diced tomatoes, pinto beans, and a small amount of spicy spaghetti sauce. I added Cheez-its for a replacement to the noodles I didn’t take many of.
Sunday, Oct 4
John started outside with Pat Jenkins; he previously did the removal of the concrete in front of the 2-car garage. He is taking some of the outside slabs from the lumber milling. John can make use of a few for fencing material, and Pat’s loading his to cut up later to use as firewood for his wood stove. Also, I have to call Maryann (up the road neighbor) and have her bring her pickup soon for some free firewood from us.
Clear, sunny, no rain, and nice for Nick’s 9:00 a.m. program.
I started at 8:26 a.m. on line to capture comments on starting with pre-show of the lecture. This is a premiere showing by Nick Zentner in ‘Nick from Home’ fall series on Exotic Terranes.
‘Nick from Home’ #83 – Exotic H: Cache Creek
John came in and baked an apple crisp for us to have for desserts, or an afternoon snack. He’s been cleaning out our old chest freezer in the tall shed, and found these frozen apples already cut, sugared, and with cinnamon, ready to have a crust added (and he did from Pancake mix). I finished unloading the dishwasher so when I have time, I can load some soaked dishes.
For brunch, I had a nutritious protein drink made with Chocolate Ensure and a Chobani peach yogurt. I’m not sure what John had. We had some of the Apple Crisp for an afternoon snack and it’s quite tasty. I’m working on the daily entries for my blog. He’d like me to be done earlier than late, but I need to get typing and organizing fast.
John’s making a rock-filled trench under the drip line of the new car-park area. Sifted dirt goes to the garden and rocks go back in the trench. Then, more gravel all around.
A music person, Laura Nelson, has suggested our group do a gig in the parking lot at Meadows Place; not being allowed in – and all that. I have names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses – and no interest in outside performances. Anyway, I followed-up on her request. A few may be able to do a Saturday thing, and maybe the weather will cooperate. It is now up to Laura.
Supper: All leftovers tonight. That’s the end of such for a while.
I need to get my $60 donation check I wrote tonight for the CWU Foundation to cover the scholarship luncheon group donation put into a stamped envelope and into the mailbox, when John walks up to open the gate. I suspect such things won’t be sustained for long as virtual encounters.
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan
This is only one category which the leader put on the screen all possible categories to choose from. This is just one example. 
She had many responses, and I think #5 (my choice) was winning the battle. {John likes #7.} I haven’t checked to see her final decision. To me this logo shows more of the field and show (Dual) aspect of the Brittany, and is something that will look good on stationery, a business card, or a bumper sticker without using color.
Friend Louaine gave us a dozen small pears from an orchard on the other side of the valley. Thanks, Louaine. They claim to be Cinnamon Pears. Trying to search for such brings numerous recipes using the spice. I found a photo of a dwarf Bosc Pear tree with Cinnamon colored fruit. Interesting, maybe we’ve been given Bosc pears. John will ask a few folks that might know, and report next week.
Lovely photo by Michelle Schock posted in Kittitas Valley Visual Delights; taken toward Manastash Ridge, about 8:00 p.m. 
From the GOES west satellite from UW Atmospheric Science
Another photo of the valley near Ellensburg looks more like the close up agricultural land we were riding by. Our view from the bike ride of Mt. Stuart was very small because Nick couldn’t zoom his I-phone in as close as the view above.
This photo was actually taken in a different direction from Mt. Stuart, and yesterday by Barb Bailey, on her way back from fighting Seattle traffic, and she was happy to be coming home to her agricultural Kittitas Valley.
The contractor received the description this evening, and knows how he will fix the problem. He’s coming over to consult with John tomorrow afternoon.
Thin blue line is the west coast; black arrow movement.
I just checked the National Hurricane web site. The area where storms begin (off the coast of Africa) to the US Gulf and East coasts is blank. Officials have been giving names to storms that don’t amount to much. They ran out of names. The Greek letters were needed.
Mid-week photo today, all the way from Chile, from a gal we knew when she was a student at CWU a long time ago, Mérida López Nualart. She looks as young as we remember her; no clue how old she is now. She was here as a language student, then returned to teach English to folks in the Chilean Air Force. 
From the GOES west satellite via UW Atmospheric Science
While I wasn’t paying attention, Smokey has been changing.
John worked some with the landscaping process, digging, sorting, and moving rocks and dirt. The loading ramp is filling with rocks, the garden soil is growing, and the front area is taking shape. All slowly. The smoke is not helpful.
Less than 2 hrs. later it had increased in coverage. The orange in the bottom image is the red in the top images now, as orange. The top right image shows the measurement of the miles as over 20 miles to the south from the original start of the fire at the northern tip of the pattern.
Burned trees-ground cover, heat melted aluminum, burned fields
FORD Bronco & Allen Aronica helping family with cleanup efforts 
Above photo by EvieMae Schuetz. Particles in the smoke filter and scatter sunlight. When the atmosphere is too filled with smoke the sky goes dark.
Top shows the purple top of the desk barely as John demos the way the desk drawers work. Bottom: with the desks out, junk was moved to the truck and backed into the hay barn. Now he has to unload and stack it. About 8 of the boxes are, in fact, empty. Eventually, I will have my computer set up in the new room, using one of the desks, and the desk top will be enhanced with the lavender (came out pink) painted ceiling.
From the GOES west satellite from UW Atmospheric Science
Last fall I noticed the Oak trees near the hospital not only had amazing red/orange colors, but they were also “masting.” ( the production of many seeds by a plant every two or more years in regional synchrony with other plants of the same species)
We are the red dot north of the smoke. A map for Tuesday, below, is a zoomed image.
Top two photos from south with Umtanum Ridge in the background, left was 2.5 hrs prior to 2nd, by Kathryn Buckholz. Bottom taken from Cove Rd in the Kittitas Valley, the North view over Manastash Ridge, the next day, by Wayne Erickson. Story continues through the week. 
Sunrise over lovely “quilt-barn”, photo by EvieMae Schuetz
I’m showing this here for you to compare in 4 days with what I will post below on 9/4 of the entire footprint of the fire, which has all the values (in the map legend) of the boxes and the colors and the spot in the center of the square, indicating the initial posting of a fire at that location. The dark red is 0-6 hrs since starting.
These I snipped from a video taken by a firefighter on the ground.
Rebecca with her puppy Brooks, a French Brittany.
The fire has crossed the ridges and has come into our valley, and is at Ringer Road.
The hills are a’fire; taken from Alkali Rd (marker in prior map) by EvieMae Shuetz; The smoke picture she took from Clerf Rd east of Kittitas, WA.
Hope your week was fine.
Above: Looking NW over Wenas Lake late Monday, Aug. 31, 2020. 
Summer has been dry and hot, and still they bloom.
