Author: admin

Monday, Aug 24

Called Bi-Mart pharmacy about PreviDent 5000 ppm Booster Plus Prescription strength toothpaste. Spearmint. 3.4 fl oz Rx only.
There I can get 2 containers for $11.75, which is considerably less than $15.00 for one. Turns out the 2 containers are filled by a different pharmaceutical company (Cypress) into two tubes, that seem easier to dispense than from the Colgate one plastic bottle from the dentist, and in the process, I get two more ounces of the gel toothpaste. I only use it at night, when on my way to bed, because I cannot drink anything (even water) until ½ hour after using. So I take my nightly pills before brushing my teeth. I talked to Tiffany at my dentist office, and she’s calling in the prescription for me.

Of all things, at 9:15 a.m. I looked out the back patio door as I sat down with my 2nd coffee refill, and saw movement. It was a hummingbird in front of a red ribbon bow attached to the back glass door to warn birds not to crash into the window reflecting the sky. While watching and wishing I had access to a camera, a second hummingbird flew up seeking nectar neither found. That is not the first time we have seen that behavior, but it is the first time for twin hummers.

I spent a good amount of time cutting John’s hair today, but he looks a lot better.
John fixed a late lunch (a spicy grilled cheese & pepperoni sandwich, ending with a caramel/vanilla ice cream bar.
Now he’s taking a late afternoon nap.

Supper: John had hamburger & onions & Cod fish for meat; I had Fried Chicken Breast. We both had our garden tomatoes, beets, & fried onion rings, dessert: vanilla ice cream covered with hot chocolate fudge sauce.Tonight’s sunset, by Mike McCloskey, taken from J. Ronald Road 6 miles south of us. We’re surrounded by trees for our view west.

Tuesday, Aug 25

John to Dentist, for a filling, and we will be billed. I did not have to pay ½ up front. I went by Hospice Friends for a case of Chocolate Ensure, by the AAC to pick up my card and dice for a Zoom game Thursday of Yahtzee, and to Bi-Mart to pick-up 4 bottles of GoodSense Artificial tears Megan left for me at the front desk. On back to the Pharmacy to grab some Fisherman Friends, and to pick up my Prevident Fluoride toothpaste.

Here’s an interesting broadcast—Nick Zentner being interviewed on another guy’s podcast (audio):

#018 – Nick Zentner: Teaching in Creative Ways

But, tonight is another presentation from on the road from Nick’s field trip to Bellingham, WA.

‘Nick on the Fly’ #16 – Baja BC interview with Darrel Cowan, 8-25-20 (53 mins)

Supper: was more breakfast for me with left over ham & cheese omelet, red grapes, tomatoes, and then ice cream for dessert with hot fudge sauce.

Wednesday, Aug 26

We’ve a friend in Super 1’s pharmacy named Tuesday. I called her about flu shots, ’cause John read they are being distributed. Flu shots are in; she’s going to get hers early too, and will be working 3 days next week: Sept 3, 4, 5 and we are just to stop by.

Wrote check for our farrier David Hazlett, and John is now out waiting for his arrival coming at 11:00 to trim Myst. There was a delay in his arrival because of our living in a rural area. The road was full of cattle being moved from summer feeding grounds on the mountain to the ranch. Had he actually been on time himself, he’d have made it in the driveway before they came by.

At 11:00 a.m. the temperature outside is up to 76° at the airport, and on our front porch it’s 79°.
I’m working on in–house and on-computer chores. Currently, alternating between dishwasher loading and computer needs.

At 4:00 p.m., it’s up to 87° at airport; front porch: 82.4°.
5:00 p.m., 84° at airport; 81.3° on our front porch.Nick with Bijou in his backyard

‘Nick on the Fly’ #17 – A return to ‘Nick from Home’ Livestreams (20 mins)

Supper: Cross rib boneless steak sliced thin fried with onions, corn-on-the-cob, ice cream with chocolate hot sauce for dessert.

I sent an ALERT to our study group tonight in preparation for tomorrow night’s viewing of another field trip led by Nick Zentner.
Tonight, those watching the video from Nick’s backyard, with Bijou his cat buddy, heard he had posted another video for Thursday night’s showing at 6:00 p.m.

Thursday, Aug 27

More fun time with Yahtzee game this morning. It was held on Zoom at the AAC (Senior Center) at 10:00 a.m. We only had time for one game but enjoyed it. I did not win, but all of us except the winner had decent scores. She won because of getting an extra 100 points from having a two Yahtzees (all 5 dice the same). Pretty unusual, I imagine.
11:00 a.m. temp on front porch, 83.1°.

Another evening field trip from Nick Zentner for our education:

‘Nick on the Fly’ #18 – Quartz Mountain Exotic Bedrock, 8-27-20 (39 mins)

Quartz Mountain is about half-way between Ellensburg and Mt. Rainier. Shortly after we arrived here 31 years ago, we went exploring and visited. Great luck! We hit the peak of wild flowers and the large high meadows held jumbles of blossoms and many bumblebees. They didn’t mind our intrusion – just moved away and let us take photos. [About 6,300 feet; here: 47.073521, -121.078980 ]

Supper: Boiled shrimp, tomatoes, and pears, ice cream and hot fudge sauce for dessert.

Friday, Aug 28

Today, I paid on line, our support classification dues to the Kittitas County Historical Museum. I captured the payment details and filed in a folder in my 2020 Donations.

We sometime get two Scammer calls per day and I usually look up the number and block it for future calls to our landline. Then we know when we get one, because it only rings once and stops.

This is the first time for this (but we have heard of it before because we know the Social Security Administration never reaches anyone by phone, but only by postal mail.

SSA Scammer call at 2:01 p.m. today:John came in because of the heat and for a snack, Reece’s Peanut butter cup, followed later by a half of an ice cream sandwich for each of us. He finished digging onions this morning; now they are drying.

It’s now 84.2° outside at 2:30 p.m. The last reading at the airport was 85° before 2:00 p.m.
At 3:00 p.m. it’s 83.5° on our front porch & 85° at the airport

Our morning delivery load of 15.84 tons of gravel from Ellensburg Cement Products (ECP) was an hour early arriving, instead of the planned time of 11:00 a.m. We’ll be billed on our credit card Monday for $260.57 + 21.63= ~ $282.20.

I had a time conflict with being able to watch tonight’s music, but I’ll list it here for you to choose, if you wish to view and listen.
At 5:00 p.m. PST, Kathy Williams-DeVries presented her music livestream from Brisbane, Australia.

Kathy presents Sacro-profanus Concentus Musicas by Schmelzer 8-28-20

She also sent a “Geology Teaser” with a lot of slides of a tour, with many geologic specimens, in a museum setting and she added a musical background she is playing on a recorder:

Geology Department University of Queensland

About 6 PM tonight, Nick Zentner added a new Nick on the Fly video to his packet announcing it on Instagram (social media). You’ll need to follow his YouTube Channel to see when he plans to show it, so you can set your reminder for the time and date. It is going to cover Rimrock Lake (on White Pass-Hwy 12 west from Naches, WA), to discuss another exotic terrane which is called the Rimrock Inlier and has been studied by Bob Miller and other geologists.

Supper: thinly sliced pork fried with onion, corn-on the cob, red grapes, and crunchy butter pecan ice cream for dessert.
Now taking meds, and going to bed!

Saturday, Aug 29

The tops and roots of some of the onions were dry, so John trimmed those for storage. He’s wetting the landscaping activity to prevent dust, and alternating between onions, rocks, dirt, gravel, and fixing meals. Annie and he go for the papers and mail, and feeding the horses. The resident deer and cats are frequent companions. Woody is a stealthy watcher while Czar is like a familiar. Sue just lies around in the shade watching the activity.

I’ve been torn between computer chores, getting out information to the geology study group in preparation for tomorrow morning’s broadcast at 9:00 a.m. which has a worldwide audience.

The next “Photo” is to show the high wind speed (gusts) we experienced during the time we attended a gathering. At 4:20 this afternoon, we went 2.5 miles north to the end of Naneum Rd to a Celebration of Life party for two people–most recently, Beth Brunson, who died of a brain tumor. Damned cancer! Sad thing was she was only 58 and she had survived for 2.5 years the first time she had it by going through chemo and radiation. She was unwilling to through the treatment again, and made an understandable decision not to redo the ordeal.

The surviving family members put on a very nice BBQ gathering outside and invited many people in the valley. Everyone there visited during 43 mph wind gusts and 70 degree temps. I was dressed for it and still cold. I’m glad we went. Now I need to send a nice sympathy card to the family, via email to the couple’s daughter, even though I wrote in the guest book. Beth’s husband Randy died 3 years ago, also of cancer. Today’s activity was a joint Celebration of Life dedicated to the couple with several tables covered with books, photos, and photos on story posters of them in their younger days, being active in our community with their two children, especially in outdoor activities.

Supper: At the BBQ we had choices of several salads (including potato salad, Caesar salad), hamburger (I had ½), ½ bratwurst (excellent-should have had a whole one), chips, roast beef & turkey sliced meat), two items from a full table of many desserts, cookies, cakes and candies. We had one like a Nanaimo bar and another with Chex cereal, caramel, and chocolate.
Everyone at our table loved it. The photo here, from the web is close, but not quite what it looked like. Once home, we had some butter pecan crunch ice cream for dessert.
Take meds, fluoride teeth, post FitBit stats, and get some sleep!

Sunday, Aug 30

I had hot coffee to warm up this morning after a low outside temperature of 50° at 5:00 a.m.; inside, when the hallway got to 69°, John turned the heater on. Also, I made a strawberry protein shake to tide me through the morning before our brunch.

This was the geology of Washington excursion of the morning:

‘Nick on the Fly’ #19 – Rimrock Lake Exotic Bedrock, 8-30-20 (52 mins)

The YouTube description includes this: CWU’s Nick Zentner visits the Rimrock Lake Inlier in central Washington to continue learning about Mesozoic exotic terrane basement rocks.

This morning’s show added two more people to our study group.

Brunch today: Bacon, an egg, and a blueberry pancake, with coffee.

3:00 p.m. today, temp at airport is 77°; temp on our front porch is 75.6°. John’s napping.

Last week we were concerned about the hurricane threatening our friend Gina in Houston. With her broken leg and all her harbored rescue reptiles, there would be no way for her to evacuate. Happily, Hurricane Laura turned northeastward and did not threaten her. It did quite a job on Louisiana, however.

Supper: Spaghetti with sausage meat sauce.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Aug 17 Ryegrass Hill sunrise by Cindi Crawford Ackerlund
Ryegrass is a rest stop on Interstate 90 with nearby wind power facilities. 10 miles down hill, to the east, is the Columbia River.

I called about Sirius XM and established it for another year of service for $69.68. That’s one of the best prices I’ve had in recent years. Considering we are not traveling in my car that much anymore, it is not necessary. However, we can access through our computer.

Wrote Kara Chin about Hike-A-Thon and renewal WTA. They are having it this year and we will be sponsoring her as usual. I processed her donation and stored in our folders for WTA & donations. Many of the office staff have been working out of their homes during Panic2020. So many activities are affected, and we learn of more daily.

I slept in this morning and it is going to be another hot afternoon, and problematic for the valley. Highest temperature at the airport today was 102°, but on our front porch, it was never higher than 96.9°. However, John needs to move our outside gauge, as it is presently in a hotter spot than it should be. Not as bad as the high temperatures at sensors in Death Valley, which are near a black asphalt parking lot.

We have a smoke-filled valley from 3 nearby fires in our region. Last night was so bad, that after the temps dropped to 77 (from 101), we couldn’t open the windows to cool down the house because the smoke was so severe. (As well, the high pressure didn’t help.) At least the high wind gusts have slowed that would fuel the fire.

John’s still outside working in 81° heat at 10:00 a.m. moving lumber cut in early July.

He vacuumed out the a/c filters on our heat pump this morning. We were using it late last night filtering the smoky air out of the house from leaving the doggie/cat door partially opened.

Now he’s unloading our dishwasher and going to worry about lunch.
Lunch: John made me a grilled cheese sandwich and we shared a banana. He had pork and rice from the freezer; cooked months ago.

I loaded some more soaked dishes in to the dishwasher today, but have been working on lots of different unrelated projects.
Did not have to cut John’s hair, as his dental appointment was postponed until Tuesday next week, and he had stuff he was doing today.
We received a nice package from a Zentner study group member who made cloth masks for John and me and sent them up from San Jose, CA. Thanks for her generosity.

Tuesday, Aug 18
Sunrise at the south rim of the Grand Canyon photographed by MotoJW photography (Jason Wiegand, from Wenatchee, WA) who has given me permission to publish his artistry.

Nice and cool for John’s morning work before it got up to 81°
I slept in until 8:30, after being up at 3:00, 5:00, & 7:00. Guess I needed it.

Hummingbird moth – I was introduced to this (never knew of before) by my friend in New Jersey, Elise Schlosser. I asked my lepidopterist friend, Caitlin LaBar about the moth and she said they are one of many several species of day-flying sphinx moths.Hummingbird moth by Elise in NJ; right pix from web
While searching ‘images’ for the moth, I found a video by Mark Fraser, truly a must watch:
Hummingbird Moth Natures Incredible Mimic! 3-30-14 (7 mins)
His commentary follows:

It doesn’t take long to be amazed by wildlife, in fact all one needs to do is simply to look closely. Many species have evolved to mimic other species as a survival mechanism and in the case of the Hummingbird Moth that is a truly an amazing thought. The wings of the humming bird moth are incredible and they hover just like the hummingbirds that give them their names sake. They are also a great example of why avoiding pesticides is so very important. Insects are the main staple of the food web for so many other species and also are amazing when we admire them with an open heart and open mind.

Today at the Bi-Mart Pharmacy, I bought two packs of GenTeal Severe Dry Eye Gel Tears and picked up John’s medication refill. Also picked up Bingo cards at the AAC so I can play, via ZOOM, on Thursday. I went for my monthly blood draw (INR was 2.7), and will go back, 9/15. Then we went by Joanie’s for my blue pants she added elastic to the waist. I was wearing the purple ones she did for me last week.

A nice sunset photo from a former student in the 1970s (at Idaho), Jerry Johnson (now a senior executive at ESRI), but on summer vacation in Wisconsin. This sunset in Ephraim, WI over Lake Michigan from the peninsula that juts out into the Great Lakes in the NE part of the state.Supper: Chicken stir-fry, with mushrooms, our onions, 3 colors bell peppers. Toasted English Muffin bread slice. Dessert: one last piece of Key Lime pie shared between us with a half a caramel ice cream bar each.

Wednesday, Aug 19

Our workers, Jesse and Willie returned this morning early, while still cool, to work on building the forms for the concrete ramp under the new covered entrance. They just left to go get the company’s 2 dump trucks to pick up a little more than a ton of gravel for the base of the walkway, to prevent its settling and cracking. They left to transfer trucks, and will return to spread the gravel.

At 11:00 a.m. the temperature outside is up to 84° at the airport, and on our front porch it’s 89.2°. John’s out working partially in the shade on some of his landscaping projects.

I’m tackling various in house and on computer chores. Got my “jobs list” site worked up ahead, and need to send a few job notices. Loaded the clothes washer and John helped unload the dishwasher, and then helped with the transfer of wet clothes into the clothes dryer. He can reach farther into the wash tub than I can.

While starting my morning computer I opened Facebook to find that a former colleague at CWU Geography, now in Deland, FL had his house hit by a tree, tornado blowdown, but thankfully, he is fine.

At 1:00 p.m., it’s up to 90° at airport; here on the front porch: 91.6°.

3:30 p.m. just off the phone in an 18-minute nice conversation with our 102 yrs. old cousin in PA, using our speaker phone. What a lovely person. Ethel has no health problems except Macular Degeneration but still lives alone, in the same town with her daughter, Pat. She is amazing. Her mind is sharp and if we want to know anything about family history, she’s still able to provide details. We so much enjoy talking with her. Her biggest problem is not being able to see enough to dial her own phone.

5:00 p.m., 89° at airport; 87.4° on our front porch.

Supper: rest of the chicken stir-fry, with tomatoes from our garden, red grapes, meatloaf & beans with franks, piece of buttered English Muffin Bread loaf toasted.

Thursday, Aug 20

I called this morning about an eye appointment. We are scheduled for Sept 30th, Wednesday, at 9:50 a.m. We must call from the parking lot, wear masks, the technician comes out and checks our temperature, and brings us paperwork to fill out. Chairs will be outside the building. This COVID thing has really altered everyone’s lives and businesses (even medical, dental, and vision are caught in the middle). At least they are finally open for business. Normally, we go in in May, but they were closed completely then.

From my camera, I transferred my videotape of the gravel dump trucks for walkway and other still photos, from yesterday’s work. Then I processed the video to YouTube.
Here is it for your viewing pleasure.

Dusty dumping a load of gravel (1.5 mins)

By 10:00 a.m. I was ready to rest. I sat in my recliner and had some fun & relaxation with the Game Day of Bingo. It was held via Zoom from the Senior Center, officially recognized by the name Ellensburg Adult Activity Center.
Next Thursday, we’ll be playing Yahtzee. That should be a lot of fun. I’ll be going by Tuesday to pick up my cards and dice.

Brunch: Pork CheddarWurst “dog” fried and served with pork & beans, I had a slice of English Muffin Bread toast with butter. John had added ham bites also.

Spent over an hour soaking my feet, cleaning, and cutting my overgrown toenails. Our foot doctor closed at COVID and has not yet caught up, if he is even open yet at all. We’ve not heard. We’ve already done our own twice. Medicare was covering the cost. I wore myself out and should have taken a stronger pain pill for my left shoulder before using it to stabilize the toes to do the trimming.

For a couple of years I’ve been calling Gerald (from the music group) just before a TV program he watches. Now he goes to a son’s house for supper, spending the night, and he now has started calling me earlier — 4:30 today.

I keep working on emails, and then I was so tired I took a 2-hr nap. John had had his earlier in the afternoon.

Supper: Nancy had Chicken Noodle soup, added chicken breast meat, red grapes, Cheez-its, and ice cream for dessert. John had ham & beans, red grapes, and piece of pecan pie.

Friday, Aug 21

John’s morning chores were accomplished in cooler temps. It was warm all night because of clouds, and we even had some rain last night. I heard it on the sky light. Not enough to wet the dry grass. Western WA got more, and also in the mountains.

Afternoon at 5:00 p.m. PST is Kathy Williams-DeVries livestream program of music from Brisbane, Australia. Jonathan Cohler, an international clarinet virtuoso from Boston, MA, will be her guest. She’s known him for 2 decades.

Kathy talks to Jonathan Cohler

Supper: small bowl of crockpot chili, red grapes, our own red cherry tomatoes, fried onion rings, glass for me of PowerAde. John will have pecan pie and ice cream for dessert, and I’ll just have ice cream.

We had another delivery of gravel today; a full load of washed material from the crusher. You can see a still photo of the first unload of about half the dump truck and the associated story, below in John’s Friday column, Not So Nasty News. It’s another interesting column you don’t want to miss.

This video is of the unloading of the second half, closer to the house. Near the end you can see the forms waiting for another big truck to bring the cement. If your eyes are really sharp, the dark line to the right of the wood plank is the run-off from our little bit of rain.

More gravel for projects

Fires are raging in California. I sent this report to our study group which has many members affected, and we have friends and relatives in CA as well we are concerned about. Thoughts and prayers for all those involved and especially the firefighters.This is a still above taken from time-lapse photography of fires started by lightning strikes, viewable in the article as a video. All information provided is instructive with the fires threatening many California cities; Vacaville is seriously engulfed with fire. Many in the state are in danger. Note: You may have to close and accept cookies to view the video part at the beginning.

Western U.S. on Fire from Lightning Barrage

Cliff has another interesting post on Sunday: Fog UFO Spotted in the Strait of Juan De Fuca!

There is a blog archive on the right side.

Saturday, Aug 22

Orange sunrise through the eyes of a spider:This unique view was photographed from a bridge by Evie Schuetz on her early morning walk in Kittitas, WA. The web is empty; a caption might be “Waiting for breakfast.”

I’ve been slowing working on soaking dishes and loading them into the dishwasher. Also putting in time on the blog creation, and on getting information to the group about Nick Zentner’s plans for a ‘Nick on the Fly’ episode in the morning at 9:00 a.m.

John’s been doing various outside chores. Hottest was digging out some more onions and bringing them into the shade of the carport to trim the leaves and the roots off. Early on before the temperatures increased, he was out rearranging the gravel at the base of the to-be concrete walkway entrance to our front door.

This arrived on Facebook today, from that gal mentioned above as a lepidopterist, Caitlin LaBar. Her photograph and comments are below:Noticed this Fork-tailed Bush Katydid as I was getting in my truck this morning. Exciting find, I’ve never seen a big green katydid before! I moved her over to the bushy area so she wouldn’t get squished.
Katydid was on my tire, I thought it was weird that a leaf would have stuck to the side of the tire so I took a closer look.

Supper: Fried Chicken Breast, red grapes, cherry tomatoes, ice cream for me for dessert, and John added pecan.

Sunday, Aug 23

Up at 4:30 a.m. with the cats outside wanting fed. Then slept in until 6:00 when John got up and we decided to sleep another hour. He wanted to get an early start before the heat of the day while it was still cool. I slept in another hour before needing to awake and watch a Nick field excursion.
This morning at 9:00 a.m., we had almost 700 folks around Earth watching an incredibly amazing adventure. It has views, breathtaking hikes, and even his family (son & girlfriend) climbing the rocks. Walked right by a large rattler, who moved out of Nick’s path. You must view this episode, it’s a classic.
‘Nick on the Fly’ #14 – Smith Rock 8-23-20 (31 mins)
CWU’s Nick Zentner travels to central Oregon to visit Smith Rock State Park. 31 minutes. Recorded on Wednesday, August 19, 2020. Topics: Crooked River Caldera, Supervolcanoes, rhyolitic welded tuff, Yellowstone Hot Spot, and related things.

Just took me ½ hour to put in all my meds for the week into a container.
Soon, I’ll be fixing me a protein nutrition drink to tide me over until lunch. John’s planning to do some watering and come in to fix a ham omelet. We had a bowl of fruit cocktail and banana to go along with it and a bunch of red grapes. I helped with fixing a bowl of eggs, and washing and de-stemming the grapes. We have an excess of eggs now. I’ll have to make an egg salad. I used to fix a salad to take to a Wednesday Noon music gig: with Iceberg lettuce, smoked turkey or chicken, pistachios, and can add some of our garden tomatoes, and a hard boiled egg. For croutons, I use Cheez-its. That won’t use many eggs, so I’ll have to give some away.

Cooler this morning in Ellensburg, going to 49° before 7:00 a.m.; however, the predicted high today is 85° so it will be warm. At
11:00 it’s 71°, at 3:00 we reached 88°.
John alternated out-and-in; work/rest/drink – trying to not do things in the sun. He’s gone out to move a hose from one to another of our pine trees, and now back in to cook us a ham omelet for brunch. The cats are outside as his companions.

Late afternoon call from a dear friend in Houston, TX.
Two hurricanes are headed toward her.

We talked for ½ hour. She fell and broke her right leg over a month ago, had surgery, and is in a boot now for 3 days but still using a scooter to get around her house. She’s a high school teacher but has to ask for help with getting groceries and going anywhere, because she cannot drive. She also has runs a volunteer reptile rescue operation and needs help caring for all the animals, although she can do some.

Supper: Progresso Soup with added cooked chicken breast. John had breaded cod, fried.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Aug 10

We’ve been beginning our recent week’s blogs with photos of sunflowers; today is no exception. First, from the Badger Pocket, SE of us about 20 miles.This lovely farm scene was photographed by Lise McGowan.
Four days later she followed with this lovely photograph:Lovely sunflower field closer up by Lise McGowan, w/ Mt. Rainier.

Here’s another by my friend, Glenn, he took on a bike ride during our haying season in the valley.Hay field fluffed & ready to bale on Thrall Rd, by Glenn Engels

John arose before me and took care of a lot of things early, inside and outside. I slept in until 8:30 having been up until midnight, and 3 times during the night with feline demands. I did not get a restful sleep.
He’s out again until the temperature rises higher; it went much higher than predicted, so he came back in the house. It’s been 90° on the front thermometer or another one recorded 92°.

Called the Ellensburg Animal Hospital several times about my bill for Myst. Their line has been temporarily down, for several hours, so I emailed asking them to call me. Nothing. I called again later and had to leave a message. So, tomorrow, we’ll have to drive by the office to offer our credit card payment.
Finally, at 4:00 p.m. a call from the vet, our bill is paid, and the receipt emailed. They had the wrong email address listed for us.
Called Bi-Mart Pharmacy for my Amiodarone quartered 200 mg at 9:00 a.m. and they will have it for me to pick up tomorrow.

Tuesday, Aug 11

Bad night with sleep interruptions by animals and unknown reasons. I managed to sleep in until 8:15 a.m. and John was outside moving rocks, feeding, watering, and any number of things I don’t know.

Took my weekly medication on an empty stomach, and spent ½ hour in the kitchen with unloading the dishwasher, and reloading with soaked dishes. Continued that through the morning. Had some food and set up my computer for the day.

In setting up, I found some disturbing news about the health of a former professor in in our graduate school days at the University of Iowa. David Reynolds had last told us July 22 this year he was in the hospital with severe breathing problems caused by having pulmonary hypertension.
He posted this statement to his Facebook page two days ago: To all my friends–Today my doctors told me that my medications are not working and that I have only a limited time to live. I will be on palliative care starting tomorrow. It has been my privilege to know each of you. I have had a very good life and I hope all of you do!

We exchanged some personal message via Facebook. He’s David R. Reynolds on Facebook.

Lunch: Our homegrown tomatoes, bacon, cheddar cheese grilled sandwich.

1:00 p.m. today I watched this video:

‘Nick on the Fly’ #10 – Peoh Point with Jeff Tepper

Afterwards, we drove to town. We started at the Driver’s Licensing building because as John was loading our cooler in the car, he saw the License Tab had expired in May. The State is supposed to send a reminder. We did not receive one. I called and the man in charge said the State had been negligent on getting them out. So I just had to give him my license plate number, and he pulled it up, told me what I owed, and I wrote him a check for $68 (saving a 3% fee add-on for using a credit card) and took it outside, where John adhered the tab.

I picked up our meds and a cloth face mask at BiMart Pharmacy pickup window while John checked for the page of numbers. John says other than being pretty, they seem oddly constructed and non-functionable. Once you touch them the place doesn’t want them back. We do have another. Later John found one in the pocket of his jeans – covered with hay debris and dirt.

I get pro-biotic at a commercial exercise gym. I called the front desk 509-962-6200 at the Gym before going to the lobby. That took much more time than planned, but I left with one bottle that will last for 2 months.

While we were out driving around the temps were in the 70s but the wind speed was 46 mph gusts. Lots of time with errands in town. Also collected some free rewards groceries at Safeway on our last stop.

Supper: stir fry chicken, red, yellow, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, Cheez-its, red grapes.

Wednesday, Aug 12

Slept in until 8:30 a.m.

Get email send to study group and change shoes to walk up to take photo of free chairs at end of driveway giveaway.Still there, may need to have Habitat for Humanity come out and take some of our stuff away (when they get their truck fixed)
On the way out John showed me a table and chairs we have had for many years in the shed where I park my car. He uncovered them and brought them into the yard. These are going to be moved into our new room, under the ceiling fan.The wood on the chairs & table needs some refinishing work, and there is a centerpiece insert for the table. This is all serviceable, but needs cleaned and polished, and just a little stain and paint.

The hills north of us are wearing away, and heading to the Pacific Ocean. Diversions from the streams carry a fine silt. Any place where the water slows there is deposition. To have a place to put in a hose, John has built a small dam. The space needs cleaning a couple of times each season.We know to clean it when Annie gets muck on her legs. She gets in, cools off, drinks, and then carries some of the silt away.

Last night we spent over an hour in high winds unloading “stuff” from the back of the Ford Pick-up looking for an external CD/DVD drive I have had forever. John cleaned boxes from the den and we missed seeing it. I know where it was under a table there in a computer case and all that ended up under the canopy. We looked through every box, computer bag, and container in the truck and did not find it. Tired and frustrated, I finally came in and ordered one on Amazon that will be delivered this Friday. I need it to load the CD with TurboTax software.

Supper: For an appetizer, we had a ½ ear of white corn. Then for the main meal, we had the rest of the chicken stir-fry left over from yesterday, with red grapes, and a piece of Sour Dough Bread loaf toasted and buttered.

Thursday, Aug 13

Our Dahlia (over wintered) and a thistle by Elise Schlosser in NJ.
The caterpillar will become a Monarch & these she took as well.

Up at 4:45 to 5:00 with cats, but back to sleep, still very tired from yesterday’s activities and after midnight computer frustrations. I slept in until almost 8:30 a.m.

Watched #46 Nick Podcast Cle Elum Exotic Terranes and recommended to others to do before tonight’s presentation.

‘Nick on the Fly’ #11 – Mission Ridge with Mike Eddy and Erin Donaghy, 8-13-20 (23 mins)

Brunch: Bacon, English Muffin Toast with Apricot Preserves, bananas and peaches, tomato from our garden.

Supper: Ham, butternut squash and pecans, grapes, cherry tomatoes, with Key Lime pie for dessert.

Friday, Aug 14

Three more website sends from – Carl Hurlburt in Granger, WA

Welcome to Klickitat Canyon, Washington’s newest Conservation Area

Northern China, first supercontinent

Scientists have found what may be the 2 billion-year-old birthmarks of Earth’s first supercontinent, by Huaiyu Yuan, 8-6-2020

I’m ending Carl’s list with the best of all recently sent (I think):

Uncharted Territory: David Thompson on the Columbia Plateau

I’m partial because I own this book by Jack Nisbit: Sources of the River: Tracking David Thompson Across North America—bought from him (with a couple others) when he came to be the keynote speakers at a Washington Geographers’ conference held at CWU Geography Department. He’s an excellent speaker.

Description of the book: In this true story of adventure, author Jack Nisbet re-creates the life and times of David Thompson—fur trader, explorer, surveyor, and mapmaker. From 1784 to 1812, Thompson explored western North America, and his field journals provide the earliest written accounts of the natural history and indigenous cultures of the what is now British Columbia, Alberta, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Thompson was the first person to chart the entire route of the Columbia river, and his wilderness expeditions have become the stuff of legend. Jack Nisbet tracks the explorer across the content, interweaving his own observations with Thompson’s historical writings. The result is a fascinating story of two men discovering the Northwest territory almost two hundred years apart.

Finally, this afternoon, a number of us joined Kathy Williams-Devries from Brisbane, Australia at 5:30 p.m. PST for music.

What has Kathy been doing in Lockdown?

Kathy’s Lockdown Recordings Playlist

Supper: Bowl of crockpot chili, piece of breaded cod, curly fries, bowl of pears, and Key lime pie for dessert.

Saturday, Aug 15

John out at 7:00 a.m. taking care of things before the temperatures rise, which they did. Supposed to be a very hot today and tomorrow, but thankfully, low humidity.
I have to go to town today for a couple of things. I came home with stuff for me and for Myst, our horse on Senior Equine pellets.

John mentioned some interesting items in his Friday post, below in Not So Nasty News — this worth seeing in Item #4: Wind to see strong winds reversing waterfalls at the beach cliffs in Sydney, Australia.

Supper: Tender ham cooked in with mushrooms in brown (roasted turkey) gravy, with our homegrown purple onion (our own purple onion), served with a side of Steakhouse Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes (with real milk, butter, cracked Pepper, & Sea Salt), we got from the refrigerated cabinet of the meat department (as a free rewards give). Other sides were red grapes, and some of our homegrown tomatoes, medium-size, not cherry).For dessert will be Key Lime pie with strawberries.

Sunday, Aug 16

This morning at 9:00 a.m., Nick had several hundred folks from around Earth watching:

Ghost Volcanoes

CWU’s Nick Zentner and wife Liz hiked (previously recorded, 8-7-20) at Cash Prairie– 40 miles west of Yakima – into the William O. Douglas Wilderness to discuss signs of ancient volcanoes, now gone, and thus “ghosts”. 20 minutes. Topics: Goat Rocks Volcano, Mt Adams, Mt Rainier, Rimrock Inlier, & Burnt Mountain.

I must test my new External CD Drive so I can load my TurboTax software (never got done)

Now we have a 2nd in one day from Nick on the Fly, just announced this afternoon.Myrl Beck, 87 yr old, Geologist, Bellingham, WA

‘Nick on the Fly’ #13 – Bellingham, WA with researcher of Baja-BC, Myrl E. Beck (an Emeritus Prof of Geology at Western Washington University) presented 8-16-20 (43 mins)

CWU’s Nick Zentner travels to Bellingham to visit with pioneering geologist Myrl Beck – the founder of the concept that parts of Washington State were once 2,000 miles south (Baja California). Recorded 8-9-20. Topics: Paleomagnetism, Mount Stuart Batholith, Baja BC evidence, Exotic Terranes, granitic rocks of the west coast, and more.

99° at the airport and 96.9° on our front porch. I knew it would go higher that the predicted high. Humidity is only 11%. Recorded high at the EBRG Airport (KELN) was 101°F.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Aug 3

What a difference a week makes!On the patio behind our house, last week’s then single sunflower has added multiple surrounding blooms. But note at the very top the petals have started their demise.

Now, comparing changes within the new room where our attached 2-car garage was previously:Shelving moved from new room through swinging door to the new utility room. I’m standing where the chest freezer will be, and a new Upright Chest Freezer will be placed in the fall where purple bag of dry cat food is above. We’ll have to redo the plumbing connections eventually on the well water treatment.Not to scale, but shows the start of John’s computer desk setup, across the room (behind him) where he’s put up temporarily a Radio/CD player and two speakers. We will be putting the speakers on oak wood two-drawer filing cabinets, and the player in the center on something yet to be determined.

Call from Safeway this morning, to come by Customer Service desk to pick up 2 boxes of Kellogg’s 100% All Bran Buds at $5.99/each. We shall do it tomorrow when in town.
Two more Robocallers blocked today-at least one was political, the day before the election.
I know I worked on things throughout the day, but apparently too busy to make any notes.

Tuesday, Aug 4

Started the morning a little later than usual, but we’d been up till midnight and longer for me last night, trying to complete a document for proofing to send to a fellow Zentnerd in Europe.

This is my morning to have nothing to drink or eat, and to take a weekly pill followed by not lying down for ½ hour and then eating. Today I have to connect my backup external drive for an automatic backup of all new files on my computer at Noon. It can do it without me at home on the computer, but having it in sleep mode.

I loaded and started the dishwasher before we went to town.
We didn’t leave till afternoon, delayed by a visiting neighbor who came down with a gift. It was a salmon he caught where the Okanagan River joins the Columbia River. The Okanagan flows south (Map here) across an open and hot sunny landscape. Its water is warmer than the fish will enter, so they are bunching up in the cooler, larger, river. He took some onions; we had nothing else.

In EBRG, our first stop was to Carl’s Jr for a coupon special of two different sandwiches for each (BOGO—Buy One, Get One free), which we ate on for a couple more meals. From there, on to another place to get some groceries at 10% off, on the first Tues of the month (just on Kroger products—John’s cola drinks). Only bought a few mostly diet on the shelves. While there, we bought some yogurt on sale for the last day at the lower price.
Went by Safeway to the Customer Service desk to pick up 2 boxes of Kellogg’s 100% All Bran Buds. Carmen set this up last week, and checked me out this week.

Drove by Joanie’s taking my old and new neck pillow, an unwanted hot curry package, and some just harvested onions. She has a piece of white fleece she’ll make a pattern for to sew me a cover for my old pillow whose inflatable bellows will only hold one night. Now I have a backup.

We drove by a townhouse on N. Brook Court, to pick up a hairdryer I requested on a free Facebook site. I left a container for her of a few cherry tomatoes.
From Nick’s mudroom I picked up a large envelope with my Craters of the Moon on the Snake River Plain materials. I had loaned him for one of the 75 livestreams.

Wednesday, Aug 5

Midweek of a smoky time in our Kittitas Valley. Regional winds from a fire in northern California – 83,000 acres, called the July Complex – carried smoke into Washington. The fire, red dot, was just south of the OR/CA border. It is close to “contained”, but not fully even on Sunday evening.

The Yellowstone “Hot Spot”
This is a fellow we met and videotaped his lecture in a local Ellensburg IAF Chapter that meets monthly at the CWU Geology building. Those meetings are now canceled for the fall, along with Nick’s downtown lecture series.

Mike Poland: Yellowstone Volcano Observatory Monthly Update: August 1, 2020- (4 mins)

Supper: Sliced roast beef thanks to our new gadget, an electric slicer. So excited about watching him use the slicer, I have forgotten what we ate with it. John put a boneless round roast in the slow-cooker, then put that in the fridge over night. We liked the outcome.

Thursday, Aug 6

About 25 miles north of us:
Tonight at 6:00 p.m. is another ‘Nick on the Fly’ field trip, this to Camas Meadows, presented by his Native guest Randy Lewis. This was a beautiful trip down memory lane with his cultural heritage reflections of living and communicating with nature in the Wenatchee Mountains and meadows.He actually started this presentation in the high hills, rocks, and dirt, above the meadows with some powerful stories.

‘Nick on the Fly’ #9 – Camas Meadows with Randy Lewis

Below is some background information on the meadows with directions to the site, restrictions, and parking notes (one needs a state Discover Pass to enter):
Other interesting facts about the old wildflowers: Camas Meadows Natural Area Preserve
WTA Trail Guide– Camas Meadows
and here’s a comment from the locale newspaper in Wenatchee, regarding the place. Camas Meadows, where the checker-mallow is found, is a beautiful sweeping grassland amongst a ponderosa pine forest with a stand of alders in the middle. Camas Creek cuts through the center of the alder stand. It’s unique to have a meadow at about 3,000 feet of elevation (Wenatchee World News).
Supper: Spaghetti and beef round sliced with a bean/tomato chili mixture John made. Side of peaches and banana, and orange juice.

Friday, Aug 7

Up at 4:00 to 5:00 with cats, but back to sleep, still very tired from yesterday’s activities. I slept in until almost 9:00 p.m., but I was up later than desired last night.

John was up and around doing inside and outside chores. The temperatures are lower today, starting out in the 60s, only supposed to go to 70s today. We are staying home.

Called my PCP’s office to leave a message, for call back by Lizzy or Kaylein to transfer prescription from Kaiser Permanente (mail order) to Bi-Mart Pharmacy for John’s Hydrochlorothiazide (needs to be 25 mg tablet cut in half, which makes it the best price (yeah, I’ll play their games), and the pharmacy obliges by halving these for us. His dosage is 12.5 mg. I never received a response (which I had requested). Telephone communication with that office is next to impossible. I should have left a message with a triage nurse who knows me well, to honcho the request.

Our neighbors’ son must have gotten more ammunition as he is out shooting again. It’s right next to our pasture land, but the horses are not bothered by it, because they’re used to it.
Lunch: John fixed a grilled cheese, roast beef, & mushroom sandwich for lunch; it was scrumptious.

John harvested more onions today, and has written it up in his weekly blog column, Not So Nasty News. Check it out (has nice photo descriptors). Also has some nasty news included about Water Hemlock near our irrigation ditch.
John introduced a term I had not previously known of: (the Wisconsinan Glacier): interesting for the geologists reading this blog. We learned it simply as the Wisconsin Glacier. This mention is of an appearance in Ohio.

Check this link:
Wisconsinan Glacier

As well, he harvested some red cherry tomatoes, which we enjoyed with supper tonight.
His column is full of interesting material, go ahead below mine and go through his Not So Nasty News.

Today, I sent this message to the Geology study group, about two upcoming videos.
Next are the next TWO ‘Nick on the Fly’ programs, #10 & #11. Titles only, so please keep an eye on his YouTube channel for the expected time and date, and when I know the URLs, I’ll notify the study group.
Here is what I know about #10: Peoh Point. Nick will be south of Cle Elum, WA with his guest, Geologist, Jeff Tepper, University of Puget Sound.

Here is what I know about #11: Mission RidgeNick will be on Mission Ridge with his guest, Mike Eddy, Geologist & Geochronologist from Purdue University

Cancelled the music from Australia because our leader, Kathy, was not feeling well.
Supper: Beef crockpot chili, red cherry tomatoes, peaches & banana salad.

Next is something that arrived at 6:30 p.m. from Nick via his message on Instagram I just happened to refresh and see 9 mins after he posted, for his field trip series ‘Nick on the Fly’ – Cash Prairie and a hike into the William O Douglas Wilderness Area, near Rimrock Lake, in view of Mt. Rainier, Goats Rocks Wilderness and Mt. Adams. He will hike into Shellrock Peak, and look at deposits from Ghost Volcanoes. Check this out for #12 in the series.Map and Satellite image of area, between Yakima, WA & White Pass, Hwy 12 takes you along the north edge of Rimrock Lake.

Saturday, Aug 8

Started the morning with normal sleeping in for me, and John was up and working in the new room on his computer. Now he’s done his morning feeding chores, and I’ve been up working on my projects. The most interesting is a phone call request which was all though messages only with the nurse of my PCP about a prescription for John being transferred from one pharmacy to another. They received the phone request in the morning and were supposed to call me back in person to discuss the details. I thought I was clear about that, and the details, but I never received any call. This morning, however, I received a call from the pharmacy for pick-up today of the med. I called to check and found it was the right drug, but with the wrong number of months covered. It was filled for one month, not 3 which all of ours normally are. It’s now been corrected, and we will pick it up next Tuesday.

My main chore today is working on the weekly blog, and to load dirty dishes.
Brunch: Bacon, peaches, blueberry pecan pancake with maple syrup.
Nice temperatures for working outside today and tomorrow (in the 70s (currently 64°) with a 32 mph breeze. Tomorrow in the low 80s, Monday higher 80s, Tuesday back to lower 80s highs, Wednesday cools to 70s. At 3:00 p.m., wind gusts went to 38 mph. Next Sunday – 90°, maybe.

We did receive our mail earlier than usual today, and delivery of our newspaper. The front page had an interesting story which relates to several of the videos we have been recently getting from Nick to South Cle Elum Ridge and to Easton’s Cabin Creek. Unfortunately, the article started on the front page of the paper and moved 6 pages back to be completed, giving me a difficult time to get the text into a form that could be read in here, so I did the best I could. There is going to be a survey of county residents, and I know Darcy Batura who is involved in the planning in the upper county, so I wrote her, asking how to be sure to be included in the survey. She said she would keep me in the loop.
I’ll put the two parts below separately so they are readable. The map I put in the header serves the best information about the land use patterns of ownership.Finally, change of subject:
Here’s an important background for those who enjoyed Randy Lewis’ presentation Thursday night this week, to catch his presentation back during the Nick from Home Episode in June (#59), if you missed it then.
The link is way below (at the bottom) and other info you need to watch before the actual presentation of Native American Geology.
Nick will comment a few minutes through the storytelling by Randy Lewis, in a video which was filmed by students and merged later into the final video. The most amazing thing to me is that the students filmed Randy at a separate time from when they filmed Nick, and then, with their teachers help they merged the parts of the story so it looked as if it was give and take and shared throughout the time.

I’m going to start with that, so you are sure to watch that 24-minute Vimeo video (with password protection) before you watch Nick’s video with Randy, which is a field trip to Wenatchee along the Columbia River there, looking down from up on the hill on the way to Saddle Rock. In Ellensburg, we are not far (straight distance, without roads) from there over Colockum Ridge into the Kittitas Valley.

Okay, the password you will need is Spexman Uppercase on the S is required.
The link to the Vimeo, is: just click on this link below, and then type in the Spexman password by hand, unless you can copy/paste it.

The Winter’s Tale; Dragon Spexman; Narrated by Randy Lewis; comments interspersed with geology by Nick Zentner (23 mins)

Please watch this all above, before viewing the video below.
You may have a white bar covering the bottom of the screen that blocks the translation of the Indian language appearing in yellow. Click on the X to remove that obstacle.
Actually, on the bottom far right, click on the insignia with 4 dots, and moving your cursor over it, it says “enter full screen”. You truly want to do that to watch the whole program.
After you watch it, then go here for Nick’s field trip with Randy down from Saddle Rock but above the Columbia River.

‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #59 – Native American Geology (6-6-20)

At 5:00 p.m. our wind gusts are up to 43 mph
Supper: Shrimp, fried onion rings, bowl of homemade crockpot chili, blueberry pie and frozen strawberry yogurt for dessert.

Sunday, Aug 9

Early morning, there was a 5.1 Earthquake 2.5 miles from Sparta, NC just south of VA and just east of Tenn. First time since 1916.

Sparta, 5.1 Earthquake

John’s worked outside moving rocks, for over an hour and fed the horses. He’s back in the new room now working on his computer and will be returning to the kitchen to fix an omelet.

I’m working on the blog, and other household chores.
John put together a brunch; large so left-overs for Monday. Started with a cheese omelet with 3 colors of bell peppers, tomatoes, & mushrooms, and some of the thin sliced beef. Also, home fries with onion and mushrooms. Orange juice.

I’d started unloading the dishwasher, he did more, but still it needs finished.
I stopped to put in all my meds in the dispenser for the week. Okay, all in and back to the blog. Temperature went up to 81, and John came inside to the cooler house (73 without a/c turned on). The room intended as a “living room” has lots of glass on the west side and it warms up. That’s on the fix and improve list.

I just checked Instagram and found that this afternoon Nick posted another field trip (to Bellingham, WA) to a backyard interview with Myrl E. Beck, Emeritus Prof of Geology at Western Washington University. Add that to our list, as #13 more details to follow as I learn them.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, July 27

Starting off with a compilation of pictures from friends afar:Left 3 by Elise Schlosser in NJ-Turkey Vulture, Squirrel, & Smoke Signal Clouds; Right by Maude Buszek in MI-Gold Finch & Thistle.

Today, my PCP verified my dosage in my Atorvastatin and the prescription has been sent to Bi-Mart Pharmacy for the best price. Melanie is my tech there who took care of giving me all the financial information I needed to make my decisions. I transferred 4 scripts there to save many dollars.

Temperature supposed to go to 96° today.
Today at 3:00 p.m. I’m going around the rural block a mile for my haircut with Celia. Luckily, she has a/c as well as we and my car.
John moved a few buckets of rocks this morning for our yard landscaping project, watered plum trees and raspberries, and will be watering squash plants later. He returned to the house and went out and picked 10 ounces of raspberries. He’ll wait to pick more in the morning, when there’s no sun on them.

Need to work on Martijn report from the Netherlands on European geology, in a document to share with the study group. Also received a document from Kathy in Queensland, Australia, who wanted me to “proof” her script of the geology field trip tomorrow night on “The Building Stones of the Brisbane CBD.” Today is when she plans to record it. They are still in winter there. I need to review that and get comments back to her. It’s only 3:10 a.m. in OZ. Got my comments sent to her before she’d be out on the road.

None of the workers have come today. Possibly too hot for morning work in the sun and they have other projects. We are currently 6° higher than the airport 5 miles south of us (they posted 76° at 9:53 a.m. (but that would have been for the past hour). Our outside thermometer is not well located for morning readings. The siding on the house near where the unit hangs is dark brown and gets direct sun from sunrise to about 10 AM.

Another Robocaller blocked; been doing 1-2/day for weeks.
Just succeeded in renewing my 2-year free subscription to Aramco World, and sent the link to Elaine Glenn for her to initiate a subscription. Internet makes it so much easier than when we started years ago. It is on-line now, also – Aramco World . Cute owl photo there now. Photographer, Mohammad Khorshed, claims it is the best photo he has ever taken.

At 3:00 p.m. I went a mile around our rural block for my haircut from Celia. Dropped by Ken Swedberg’s truck to pick up from his visor a cloth mask he was given and gave me.

John went in the heat (but mostly on a shaded driveway) to pick up the mail today. Brought back a fabulous card from the Senior Center (Ellensburg Adult Activity Center), computer-made solely with pictures from prior years. So from them via USPS, to our scanner, and now to you:
Panic2020 closed the AAC, along with everything else in town, so I have missed a lot of the normal activities since the middle of March. Above I was a clown in A Fair to Remember, Christmas party, St. Patrick’s Day, A Classic Car Show, A Christmas Past with and old friend who passed this year, lower left sitting on Santa’s knee, John & I at AAC, on around to the Heart-shaped image of us, taken on our 50th Anniversary while at another party at the center, where we also celebrated the day, 7/12/19.

Supper: Meatloaf & beans, breaded shrimp, John’s homemade applesauce, French fried onion rings, and chocolate chip cookie dough pie for dessert.

Tuesday, July 28

Nice sunflower was blooming alone but now some neighbors are coming out of their buds. That will make all the birds happy eventually, and we’ll have a good view out the back patio door.We had a much smaller few in the garden over a week or more ago.

John’s been up and out mowing dry grass up by the county road, graining the horses, and I slept in. Now up, took my weekly Alendronate and am getting something in my stomach, plus enjoying a cup of coffee.

I’m staying home with high expected of 92° today, less than yesterday’s 99°. A hot week.

Lunch: John fixed us a grilled cheese & bacon sandwich, bowl of fruit: banana and peaches, with a drink.
Much time spent with major problems getting cleaned-up on my laptop Dell computer, with willing help by my guru, David at ComputAbility in EBRG. His machine commands repaired the problems with bad files in my memory, that he thinks might have been caused by a power surge. That had made my computer unstable and it was crashing regularly. It lost its way. The system commands found and repaired many issues. Maybe my life will be easier now. It has been stressing me big time, as many of you have heard. Fingers crossed for a new lease on life with a working computer.

John left for town to buy an upright freezer for the new Utility Room. There are none available.
When Panic2020 started folks not only bought toilet paper but apparently to have something to store it in, they bought freezers. Two of the local stores claim they don’t expect any until October. We don’t need one, except for the convenience, so now are hoping for a Christmas sale or something. Jeez. The economy has been flattened and the virus/sickness goes on.

Temperature at the airport up at 2:00 p.m. to 95°. John’s out in the hottest part of the day splashing water on squash and tomatoes, and it’s likely to get hotter.

I loaded some dishes earlier and now need to do more. Just did and now they are soaking. Need to get out the announcement to the study group about tonight’s scheduled field trip about Geology, from Australia.
For tonight, Kathy has given members of the study group interested in geology, two options for viewing her field trip.
One went live at 5:30 p.m. on Facebook.
I prefer the YouTube version, which came on at 7 p.m. Not everyone has Facebook, so those people were there too. As you are watching, look at the different rock types used in the buildings. The Brisbane tuff is very colorful, and the swirls in the sandstone quarried is amazing.

The History and Building Stones of the Brisbane CBD

Supper: Cordon Bleu, applesauce, butternut squash with marshmallows & pecans.

Wednesday, July 29

Awakened by 8:00 call from RCI, the company that handled the condo-week banking and transfers we’ve used for years. We are done with those, but the dues were paid in advance. As few are traveling, they may not last. Up at 5:00 with cats. Sadly, also up at 3:00 a.m. with problems and inability to sleep with new replacement neck pillow. I even changed my incline level/angle, to adjust. It does not fit as my old one to give support at the back of my neck. Mostly for me, the new one presses high on my cheeks and ears, a cheek/ear pillow, not a neck pillow. It has a smaller and narrower inflated support at the nape of the pillow on the back of my neck. I tried my best and finally gave up and went back to my old one. Thankfully, I finally got some more hours of sleep. I’m going to see if I can remove the cover from the old one, and deflate the new one to put in the encasing. Will do in the daytime. It is now completed and is doing fine. It’s obviously covering a larger area at the back.

Another robocaller blocked at 10:15 from Roy, WA.
Just called Bi-Mart and talked with Brenda, about John purchase yesterday for which he was swiped charges for 5 bags of dry cat food, but only brought 4 out of the store. At 10.99 each. He gave me the receipt when home, and I saw it had 5 bags, but I didn’t say anything. Until it cooled down after 8:00 p.m. last night, he didn’t go back to his car to bring in the cat food bags, and the floor mats and door step mat he bought. He put them in our new room, and came and said, come out and see what I bought at Bi-Mart today. I went and admired the mats (especially the Mohawk rug, and he had leaned 4 bags of different flavored cat food against the wall. I said, where’s the other bag? He said, I only bought 4. I told him the receipt said he paid for 5! So, it was too late to report to Bi-Mart. Brenda told me to take photos of the barcodes on the bags I have. Done. We’ll just go pick up one we were charged for.

Been busy washing a load of clothes, and need to unload the dishwasher. Also figure out the Fred Meyer 5X coupon meaning. Got two digital 5x coupons for yogurt for Tuesday next week. Made a printout to take Tuesday.

3:53 p.m. temp at airport is 100°, on our front porch, it’s 94.5°. Seems at about mid-90s the automatic sensor (See: ASOS) at the airport losses contact with reality and gives a high reading. Atmospheric researcher, Mark Albright, at the Univ. of WA, thinks the fans in the sensor need replaced. The weather folks down in Pendleton OR are 3.5 hours away and don’t care.

A young fiddler friend and his brother are boy scouts and so this is of interest: Nick talks to the boy scouts:Nick’s speech begins below in the YouTube version at 1hr 1min:
Nick Zentner, 1st Keynote Speaker at the Grand Columbia Council, Boy Scouts of America (20 minutes).
Our friends, an Ellensburg family, the Landons, have had two sons involved with BSA Troop #493. Son Beckett is still working on his Eagle Scout honor, and his main project is creating two neighborhood libraries in Ellensburg. His mom, Laura, with us at the YouTube version above, and mentioned in the notes below.
The majority of the people watching were on the main entry site for the BSA — not the YouTube version. The YouTube version was being hosted by an Eagle Scout. The main site was the center pivot. But the same material came across both. We did have an active Live Chat going the whole time, but they chose not to publish that. I’m sorry, as it would have showed a lot of the information we shared that Kathy has mentioned. I’m so sorry I was not capturing the live chat conversation. Had I realized it would not be recorded on the replay, I surely would have. I was there the entire time. Buffering a lot, but catching most of the entire presentation. We had many of our normal crew, there, e.g., Patrick and his mom. We even reminisced about the livestreams and about our history with some of the topics people were mentioning while we awaited Nick Zentner’s talk, which did not come until 1 hr 1 minute into the show. We have all seen in the livestream content he summarized some of in his 20 minutes. All the regulars missed his toast at the end. Laura was interacting with the rest of us. Her older son Trip is an Eagle Scout, and young Beckett is still working on his Eagle Scout honor.

Thursday, July 30

Interesting start of the morning. I needed to do some networking for helping out a friend having a yard sale this weekend to find homes for many musical instruments.
Phone from Roy, WA blocked yesterday just came through again and rang once, which happens when it’s blocked, and announces that on the caller ID. Great resource!

Wrote Katelyn to see what the analysis of the Zoom music decision was (request the tapes or her opinion). Sent at 1:15pm
Worked on Jobslist account, sending out job announcements to my Google Group (with >800 members searching or helping share job announcements with those who are – across MANY disciplines: Geography, Geology, Anthropology, Biology, Environmental Sciences, Conservation, GIS, Political Science, Resource Management, Urban Planning, and more.

Highest temperature at the airport today occurred between 4:00 and 5:00 and was 104
98.2° house at 1:53, and at airport is 100°
99.0° house at 2:53, and at airport is 104°
99.1° house at 3:53, and at airport is 103°
98.4° house at 4:53, and at airport is 102°
97.5° house at 5:53, and at airport is 102°

Other stations in the area show the 4 to 5 degree difference with the airport reading. One is only 9/10th of a mile from the ASOS, and at the same elevation.

Thanks to Carl Hurlburt, who sent 2 links to our Geology & Earth study group:

Snowball Earth ? A plunge in incoming sunlight may have triggered ‘Snowball Earths’ (7-28-20) by Jennifer Chu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mapping the bottom of the ocean Scientists are still learning about Earth’s last frontier, (7-28-20) by Suzanne O’Connell, The Conversation, about researcher Marie Tharp.

Friday, July 31

We didn’t start our trip to town until 10:00 a.m., in John’s Crosstrek. On the way in, John dialed sister Peggy, and we had a nice talk the rest of the way to a shady parking spot at Bi-Mart.
Bi-Mart: we went to buy a meat slicer John wanted and to pick up the bag of cat food he was charged for on Tuesday. We also bought some Shout Out for the stains on all John’s work shirts. It does a nice job. We’d used up the previous bottle the day before when washing clothes. On our way to other stops on our list, we went by Super 1, and I stayed in the shade of the building while John went in for some corn and bananas. I called a friend and reached her in Seattle, to put in my order for a med I get through her at her place of business. She will order me a dosage for a couple months and I won’t run out for at least another week.

From there we went by to drop our ballots at the drive-by box in the parking lot, outside the County Courthouse. Then, on to Safeway for a bunch of savings on Just 4 U (J4U) items, and reward points. One reward we used was for $7 for any item in the meat counter over $7.00. We found a piece of Wild Caught Salmon (surely it was Copper River Salmon), and got a filet of it. It totaled $13.26. We also bought two $2.99 loaves of English Muffin Bread, but turned in a reward for $2 off any bakery item and got another $1 off the other loaf (J4U coupon). Another J4U coupon gave us PowerAde for 49₵ each, if we bought 5. Then we had another reward for $5.00 off all our groceries, if over $5 purchased. We went out with all that for $3.26. Not bad for my efforts with the transaction creation and being sure we were given the expected breaks. John doesn’t want any part of such finagling, but I groove on playing the game. They set it up, we might as well take advantage of it, and accept the benefit. From there, off for Joanie’s to pick up pants she altered for me.

We finished in time to go by the Kittitas Pantry, after 1:00 p.m.
A few tables are in the shade of the church building, where one can pick or not. I took an orange, 2 small Roma tomatoes, a loaf of 3 cheese bread, and two peanut butter topped cookie mixed cake/frosting over a brownie. At the very end from a refrigerated truck, they offer various cuts of meat (such as chicken legs, various pork items (even pork loin roasts), the only thing I would normally get there they were out of (chicken breast filets).

Finally, with no choice, one gets a whole box of staples, such as cans of soup, beans, meat, pasta, dried peas, etc., nuts, trail mix, orange juice, dried fruit, and peanut butter. We took away a lot of food, and sorted out a few things for us. John took the rest to Amy, and she will distribute to other families. There is lots of food in the USA – getting it to those in need is not straightforward.

Kathy Williams-DeVries will be on at 5:30 p.m.PST with her musical background (plays clarinet and a variety of recorders. Tonight features the clarinet, and a guest songwriter and jazz clarinet player, Andy Firth (both of them are from Australia):

Kathy plays Kathy plays Andy Firth

Playlist for tonight

John completed this Friday column and published it on our blog tonight.
We had a late supper that was very nice: Wild caught Sockeye salmon, corn, and potato

Saturday, Aug 1

Started this morning about 7:45 to get ready for watching a Nick on the Fly livestream, a pre-recorded field trip to Easton, WA yesterday for a hike with his wife, Liz. We didn’t know about it until late last night, so I notified the people I had emails for, hoping they would see mine or Kathy’s note on the Facebook site.‘Nick on The Fly’ #7 – French Cabin Blueschist About 8 miles north of Easton, WA, 9:00 a.m. Aug 1, 2020 (18 mins).

After that we did our own things. John mostly was outside because the temperature was much cooler than it has been.
In the afternoon, he did go to town for pelleted food for Myst, who is eating again, and doing much better.
While there, he went to Fred Meyer to the Pharmacy to pick up a medication for Annie, our Brittany, and to get himself some Raisin Bran, as Safeway was out of 100% All Bran Buds, that is the highest fiber source, and goes well with a handful of mixed nuts. For me, he also picked up a special deal on yogurt, both Chobani and Tillamook.
Supper: Battered fried chicken breast filets, corn-on-the-cob, and bowl of pears.

Sunday, Aug 2

I received from Elise Schlosser in New Jersey, this morning – an excellent, scientific report interviewing a beekeeper about his honeybee hives, and an entomologist. This is a professionally excellent discussion. Watch the video included below. I have compared to 3 other “TV news” reports. This is superior.

Washington State Captures First “Murder Hornet” (6 mins)
Unloaded dishwasher, finally.
I finally put in all my meds for tonight and for the week.

I shall end this week with a spectacular sunrise photo taken this morning.

The photo above just came to me after John had started on an edit of this report. Sunrise this morning taken by my friend and former graduate student, on whose thesis committee I served.
Jen Evans Yenter is a great photographer, and we live in a picturesque valley.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan