Author: admin

Monday, Mar 20

For Mar 19 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=1.06. Events: 7 H, 17 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 37 min with (max = 16 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 88, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 92.6%. Pulse avg. 54.9, low 50.

John left for pruning at 7:30 a.m. He saw a herd (100+) of elk north of I-90 on the way down the hill. Better on the hills than across the road, where they have caused so many accidents that the DOT put up a large number of warning signs on I-90. They are lighted text in large letters (similar to the one on the right below, but with a different wording to watch for ELK on the road, not cute small signs such as this in the middle below. Lynn Davenport sent me the actual picture of ELK NEXT 10 MILES warning near Vantage. Even though it is blurry, it gives you the idea. I found the middle sign on the web, and the one on the right was sent to me by Bonnie Hartman in Kittitas. Now you have a picture of the type of sign I was describing above.

Many accidents have caused them to put up the warning “lights.”
I asked on line (Facebook) for a photo of the I-90 signs and that’s how I got the ones on the left and right above.

This was a report in January this year, in the Wenatchee World. – A herd of some 250 elk have been crossing the highway to graze in the median, prompting the Washington State Patrol to warn motorists to slow down, especially at night.

In the last couple of weeks, vehicles have struck and killed about 30 elk along that stretch of highway, said Trooper Wright. No people have been seriously injured, but several cars have been damaged.

In 2016, Rich Landers of the Spokesman Review reported at least 65 elk have been killed this winter on a stretch of Interstate 90 just west of Vantage. It’s by far the worst year in memory for elk collisions in the area, the Yakima Herald reports.

Also in ’16, the report was that the herd consisted of 500 Elk.
A few Colockum Elk with Columbia River in the background.

I am supposed to hear from Lindsey D. today about coming for wood. I did not. Later in the week, I heard she was not back in town yet because of a relative’s need to go to the hospital.

I spent a lot of time trying to work on getting fiddlers and others to come to the Senior Center (Adult Activity Center) to play for next Friday’s Special Event, Louisiana Bayou.

Tuesday, Mar 21

For Mar 20 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=1.01. Events: 2 CSR, 7 H, 20 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 56 min with (max = 12 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low was 89, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 92.5%. Pulse avg. 53.2, low 50.

Active rain cancelled the trip to prune today.

I spent almost 2 hrs trying to unravel the problem with no mail delivery – apparently it is because the Post Office will not detour to deliver the mail north of the bridge construction over the irrigation canal on Naneum Road. The spot is south of Bar 14 road and north of Rader. More later.

I sent a few photos to Katrina at the AAC, with higher resolution to see if they would work for the brochure (quarterly) with the schedule. It is going to work and she has loaned me an SD card to put in my camera, so that I can use my camera and not theirs.

I left at a little before 1:00 for town, stopped off at the bread room, finding a loaf of English Muffin bread and a loaf of Rosemary Olive Oil bread. I went to the post office to pick up our mail that has been held and not delivered (with no notification), because the postal carrier was not approved for a deviation from Naneum Road. That should have occurred weeks ago, to get permission from USPO-Seattle to allow him to by-pass the bridge support construction over the highest irrigation canal in the valley. It is down Naneum Road from us almost 2 miles.

There was a long line and no one at the first window for rural non-delivery pick-up. The window was closed (I assume for lunch). I turned around and left, going on to the senior center for my Jazzercise exercise class. It was pouring rain.

Afterwards, I went to one of my normal stopping places on Tuesdays (Bi-Mart), to check my number, but I didn’t win anything today. I continued back to the P.O. When I got in the window was open, but they have done away with the express line to that window, and were taking people in only from the long line to the main counter, where now there was only one person. To say I was disturbed is an understatement. Earlier, I had just been frustrated. At least I finally made it to the counter and got my mail. In the mail was a 3-day priority package with onion shoots that should have been delivered last Thursday – with the notice, OPEN IMMEDIATELY.

Wednesday, Mar 22

For Mar 21 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=0.36. Events: 2 H, 14 RERA. Time on 5 hrs 29 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low was 88, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 92.5%. Pulse avg. 55.5, low 50.

John left just after 7:30 a.m. for pruning at White Heron.

I worked hard on several projects until walking out the door at almost 11:00. I got to Gloria’s about 11:20, and we went on to the Food Bank, where six of us entertained the lunch guests. It was a good meaty chicken w/ cheese pasta today, green salad, grapes in a cluster, and a piece of chocolate covered crispy cake for dessert.

Then we left for Super 1, where I picked up two lemon meringue pies (one for me and one for Gloria). My rain check ends the end of this week. Hers goes until 4-11. So, I used mine for 2, and kept hers. Amazingly, I saw John (back from the vineyard) at the bakery and gave him mine to buy and take home, and I took hers to the counter and checked out. Hers was double plastic bag wrapped and in a paper bag, which we left in the car in the shade while we exercised at SAIL. We had a large class today.

Thursday, Mar 23

For Mar 22 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=1.14. Events: 2 CSR, 1 CA, 8 H, 14 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 52 min with (max = 20 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 88, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 54.1%. Pulse avg. 54.1, low 48.

John left just after 7:30 a.m. for pruning at White Heron. Sadly before he left he found the skunk had dug under our front fence (we had closed the gate), and had eaten all the hard cat food in a large Pyrex bowl behind the barricade for the deer, at our front door. John put a bowl of food on top of the cable table with protecting rocks, and coffee cans, so the noise would alert us if we were home. John had not been gone very long at all when I heard a noise and jumped out of my chair and went to the door. There was a deer eating dry cat food from the soup bowl. I yelled and she went out over the 4′ fence. I picked up the bowl. The entire ruckus warned Woody I was home, and she came to the front door. I gave her some canned food, and put the little bowl of dry next to her by the front door. She ate out of both. After she left, I brought the bowls back inside.

I managed to finish assembling music that I had printed last night for two people by sorting & checking for the order, plus punching three holes in it.

I drank lots of water to go for a blood draw at KVCH. I got there but had to wait about a half hour, only to find out the paperwork on my standing order was not corrected as requested 2 weeks ago. It was supposed to have additional blood drawn for my potassium measurement. She went ahead and drew it. I called to report it to my PCP office.

From there I went to Hearthstone, with my several packages of stuff for different people I would see there. I left some in the car to distribute at the end of our playing. We had a huge bunch there, and played from before 2:00 until after 3:00. Everyone in the audience had a good time. We had 13 players/singers: Sharon, Maury, Dean, Kevin, Gerald, Charlie, Evie, Nancy, Amy & Haley, Anne, Rita, Dave, and Janet. Haley sang to Cockles & Mussels and danced to Irish Washerwoman. (She’s almost 4 the end of April). The residents, guests, and we absolutely love her. I’m sorry I don’t have a video.

Friday, Mar 24

For Mar 23 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=2.07. Events: 2 CSR, 1 CA, 11 H, 3 PP, 15 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 18 min with (max = 9 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 89, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 93.1%. Pulse avg. 53.3, low 48.

John did not go pruning as it has been raining (still is at 11:00 a.m.) since midnight. He had to feed the animals in the rain and put on his old green hard hat to do so.

I printed music and contacted the person needing it. In fact, I worked much of the afternoon on music for next Friday’s Louisiana Bayou performance at the senior center. Now I must work on music for Saturday night for the Blue Agates Square & Round Dance Dinner music.

The sun finally came out so John could do some outside work in the sun. Meanwhile, he also changed filters in our furnace and vacuumed two others. The other two larger ones require the dishwasher to wash one at a time, but it was not empty and not as much of a concern as the ones that when dirty, prevent airflow.

I squeezed in time to unload the dishwasher and start on a new load.

It took me 4 times to get the data from my oximeter into my graphing software. Now I have to move it to the CPAP software for comparison. In all the finagling, my software quit working so Saturday will be the time to load the new version of SleepyHead on my new computer. This one is a new one that we never included in the system before a few months ago. You can see the new package on the left and the dirty one on the right. We were able to buy a case at Ace Hardware at a decent and lower price than any other place in Ellensburg or Yakima. John vacuumed two of the other metal filters, and we left the two large ones (with better airflow) to be washed later. They have to be done one at a time running the cycle of the dishwasher.

I need to change the filter on my CPAP machine.

We had a visitor the past couple of days, and today I got his photo. We have had to move our dry cat food out of the place on the front porch because he finished it up two nights in a row, with the gate closed, and John barricading the holes where he was coming under the fence. He made another and came in over night, but the only thing available was a few shells of sunflower seeds under the feeder. Not nearly as filling as the dry cat food.On another stinky subject, John’s Letter to the Editor was published in the Daily Record today.Saturday, Mar 25

For Mar 24 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=2.05. Events: 12 H, 1 PP, 17 RERA. Time on 5 hrs 52 min with (max = 2 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 87, 1 event <88% with overall avg., 93.1%. Pulse avg. 52.6, low 47. Those results look very good, so the missing data are okay to wait for and not worry about.

Today is Stephen Brazeau’s celebration of life. I am not going to be able to attend, but I sent a nice note following up on my original sympathy letter. This one contains all my memories of the happy early childhood memories of what my father taught his “tomboy” – including playing Mumblety-peg, fishing, shooting guns, passing a football, throwing a baseball and softball, and working on cars. He died when I was in the 9th grade, but his teachings have followed me throughout my life. I am sure I inherited his musical abilities, as well as his brown eyes.

My next project (completed tonight before this was published) is to complete adding the newest version of SleepyHead software to my new laptop, because my version on my old one quit working this morning. I talked to people on the Australian Facebook site, a friend in Idaho, and a newly found friend in Germany!!!

Here is where I’ll start with the new computer: Download from here: https://sleepyhead.jedimark.net/
This is free software for anyone using a CPAP machine, and it is excellent.

Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John

Still on the Naneum Fan

but is dumb as a stump.

Monday, Mar 13

For Mar 12 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=0.74. Events: 1 CSR, 5 H, 26 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 45 min with (max = 17 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 72 (spurious, when stopped CPAP), actual low was 90, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 93.1%. Pulse avg. 55.1, low 50.

First, the phone call yesterday evening, mentioned in last week’s blog, but then the photos arrived today, with this message from Jeri Conklin, my co-owner of our Brittany, call name Daisy (Cedaridge Kip’s Camelot Shay Tre’ JH). Angela Schillereff, Jeri Conklin, Kurt Conklin, Tim Schillereff, Scott Azevedo with Daisy (my Tre’). Shay Tre’ means the third Shay in our family of Brittanys. (Our first was Sirius Sashay; second was Cedaridge Legacy of Shay). Butt, the horse, is on the left.

Here’s Jeri’s note on Facebook with more photos, below:

“Congrats on her 2nd place in the Open Ltd Gun Dog stake at the Irish Setter Club of the Pacific under judges Tim and Angela Schillereff and handled by Scott Azevedo. 

Must say, Santa Nella Wildlife area was definitely new grounds for us. Lots of grass, really TALL grass. The tall grass wasn’t a problem for the setters and after all it was the Irish Setter Club of The Pacific :-). But for the Brittanys, it was pretty tall. When Daisy ran the first field was really tall grass and we pretty much just watched the grass moving as she ran forward. The back fields were less tall grass and she was way out front. Two very stylish points and great bird work. Scott has bonded with her and it shows. I didn’t get any pictures of her run as I was on horseback and J.R. doesn’t like to do the photo stop :-).

A 2nd place amongst the Setters was well earned. Thank you to our judges Tim and Angela Schillereff and of course Scott and Deanna Beals-Azevedo and Linda Azevedo at Nelson Kennels.

Here is a collage at the breakaway:Deanna at the line with Daisy; the breakaway in front of (behind judge Tim Schillereff’s horse).

I sent my first note to the Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends (KV F&F) about Thursday & Saturday play dates. I also worked on the NW Geography Jobs Google Group’s list I manage for almost 800 people around the U.S., (not just the PNW).

I only got 6 hrs of sleep last night, had to get up early to see John off (he fixed his stuff and fed the animals before leaving to prune grapevines at White Heron, west of Quincy). I got up to fix breakfast and be ready to take a high dose of Amoxicillin before my dental appointment. My reason was to go to my dentist for the seating of the remaining crown, of two, on the last implant abutment. This was a second try for #18 (my 2nd Molar, left side) that 3 weeks ago did not fit properly and left me in hurtful shape (pain); yet its neighbor #19 was successful then.

However, today was not too bad except for four X-rays and the 1.5 hours in the chair. The work started a little late, but I was on the road by 11:40.

I wrote our best man, Bill Howard, who is a dentist in Ohio, about my experience and the shape of the tooth requiring flossing differently to keep clean. One has to wrap the floss around the tooth twice and then pull it out. This is what he said, “One thing that patients are seldom told is that implants are cylinder-shaped, but teeth are NOT (not even close!), so as a result food will often get trapped between implants and teeth and between adjacent implants, and this can be VERY annoying. Luckily, implants don’t decay (ever), but prolonged inflammation around implants can be dangerous. So KEEP ON FLOSSING! There are alternatives to ordinary floss, however, such as Super-Floss (or “fuzzy floss”) or Reach Floss Holders, and you may find that these are a little easier to use.” He’s absolutely correct. No one ever told me this – either my dentist or my dental surgeon. Thank goodness for friends.

Here is a crop of the last X-Ray. First, I had to make a stop at the grocery store, but then I drove home with a stopover for lunch and food pickup for my neighbors at the food bank soup kitchen. It was a nice meal, and I was hungry and ready to eat with my new tooth. We had Spanish rice, a choice of Burrito (I had ground beef – no Tofu, thank you), some tender corn niblets cooked with red peppers, cole slaw (Latin caulis “stem, stalk” + sla – “salad”, with carrots, a piece of chocolate layer cake with mocha crème filling, and milk.

I had figured I might not be in shape for my SAIL exercise class, also needed to do stuff at home, and deliver the hot food on my way. John arrived home almost at 2:00 because he needed gasoline and stopped by Super 1. Finally, about 4:15, I was completely ready for a nap. I think I stayed lying down for over an hour. I was not yet rested, but figured I had better get up.

Tuesday, Mar 14

For Mar 13 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.10. Events: 8 H, 20 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 18 min with (max = 17 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 89, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 94.3%. Pulse avg. 53.4, low 50.

John left for pruning a little late because of a missed go/no-go call. We missed a decision to prune that came in on my cell phone, which was turned off. With no reception here most of the time and a low charging capacity on my “new” phone, it is mostly turned off.

I have been taking care of issues with credit cards and bills, jobs list, and dishes started. I am doing my medical device capture and getting ready to switch to my new laptop. I finally completed one song on the new computer (using the new 2012 Songwriter software, a gift long ago from friends Sam and Marsha Scripter). I did not finish it until after 7:00 tonight. I was late getting home from town. I had several stops to pick up Jan/Feb music from last month I had left at an assisted living home, deliver some cupcakes for St. Patrick’s Day to two locations, visit with a friend at Briarwood who will be having heart surgery, (a valve replacement as I had). I checked by Bi-Mart as well as delivering some non-gluten bread to a friend.

I called Haband about loafers for John and me – responding to a promotional ad in a magazine. The magazine and the web site did not show the same information. To get the best price, I had to sign up for their rewards card (meaning they will push an e-mail ad our way about every other day). I get 30 days free but have to cancel before the time is up, or I will be changed a monthly fee.

We haven’t gotten USPS mail for 3 days. The County highway crew is repairing a bridge on Naneum Road over the High Line Canal, 3 miles south of us. I think the driver doesn’t want to take the extra 3 miles on the detour. John says not. If no mail on Monday, I’ll call the post office.

Below is worth watching. Evie is a wonderful friend and asset to our music group. She has been helping me with the music and just recently matched the words and the copy of notes from an old version I had, to fit appropriately, so we can now sing the words with the correct notes. We had just been playing it as an instrumental.

She is a talented musician and also a fantastic photographer and videographer. This is simply amazing. I know you will enjoy.

Piano and violin paired by Evie Schuetz:
Ashokan Farewell

Here is the song version with brothers performing:
Sean and Scott Holshouser

Wednesday, Mar 15

For Mar 14 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.70. Events: 1 CSR, 12 H, 16 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 3 min with (max = 15 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low was 89, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 93.7%. Pulse avg. 53.5, low 50.

John left just after 7:30 a.m. for pruning at White Heron.

This morning was a frustrating experience. Our Internet and WIFI modem kept going off and requiring a restart. I did it over a 3-hour period about 5 times. I was ready to call Cyber Police. This of course was within a short time span when I needed to make progress on our upcoming music.

I left before 11:00 to pick up Gloria to take with me to the Food Bank, AAC for SAIL, and by the bank (yep, Peggy I finally cashed the check you sent us). Then we went by Safeway for 79¢ 2-liter pop for John and to confirm my savings on buying 90 tablets of Coumadin for less than half the price at my normal pharmacy. I just picked up 90 tablets last week and paid almost $35. I can get it through GoodRX for only $15.83. So, I checked that out with the main pharmacist and he verified it. Now, I shall request my refill be passed along to them. It’s rather amazing the price difference for the same dosage of identical medicine at a different pharmacy. I would like to keep all my medicines at the same pharmacy, but when the cost is so radically different from one to another, there is no choice but to change. Further, from time to time the prices change up or down. From there, we went back to take Gloria by her mailbox. She lives in a newer subdivision with very nice houses along a ‘U’ shape.

A mail tower, called a Cluster Box Unit (CBU) by the USPS, is along the mid-point of the U. When the street and sidewalks were ice covered last month Gloria waited 3 days before going for her mail.

What a great invention!

Thursday, Mar 16

For Mar 15 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 2.70. Events: 18 H, 1 OA, 18 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 2 min with (max = 18 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low was 90, no events <88% with overall avg., 93.7%. Pulse avg. 59.2, low 50. (Oximeter off my finger most of the night, only recorded for 4 hrs).

John left just after 7:30 a.m. for pruning at White Heron.

Today we had a ton of people at Pacifica (senior living) and did pretty well. We had Maury, Manord, Gerald, Charlie, Minerva, Evie, Laina, Nancy, Amy, Haley, Rita, Dean, Anne, and Laura there – plus a large audience !!! Haley danced to Irish Washerwoman, sang to Cockles & Mussels, and danced to some others as well. She was all dressed Irish. I wish I’d taken a photo. Look below to Saturday and you can see her in her dress and hat.

Friday, Mar 17 — Happy St. Patrick’s Day

For Mar 16 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.82. Events: 7 H, 24 RERA. Time on 8 hrs 33 min with (max = 12 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 79 (spurious, when changing fingers on Oximeter), actual low was 90, zero events <88% with overall avg., 93.0%. Pulse avg. 55.4, low 51.

We are staying home to prepare for tomorrow. I received a call from Tim Van Beek (a Washington Trails contact with WA’s back country horse groups) inviting John to come to the Back Country Horsemen Rendezvous dinner at the Fairgrounds. The Rendezvous lasted F/S/S with a fancy fundraiser Saturday. Tim and several other WTA folks were going to hike in the morning and then come into EBRG. [more later]

I am pushing hard today to finish the music for an upcoming event and I need to cut John’s hair.

We called John’s cousin Ethel in PA who will be 99 on March 25. She sounded very good today, and so we told her we would call her the day after her birthday to hear how her party went. She was not planning one for this year, but was saving the happiness for her 100th next year! Some of her family had other ideas.

Still working on music while we talked. Now completed with this phase, at 10:30 pm, and emailed it off. Thank God for help from Evie in this endeavor. She’s a gem.

Saturday, Mar 18

For Mar 17 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.86. Events: 5 H, 18 RERA. Time on 5 hrs 48 min with (max = 15 L/min). Off CPAP at 4:30 a.m., but continued with my oximeter. Oximetry: SpO2 low 87 on CPAP (81 off CPAP), 1 events <88% on CPAP, 15 off CPAP), with overall avg., 92.5%. Pulse avg. 54.1, low 50.

Whoopee – Haircut accomplished, and then I was able to shower and wash my own hair. Sadly, I did not make it into any of the pictures at Briarwood yesterday, but I do have a couple to show you. Just as we walked in, I took this of John and Gloria. We had driven by her house and she followed us down to Briarwood because she had a hair appointment at 4:30, and we had to leave for the fairgrounds.John is jostling with the residents, wearing my Irish hat over his Nepalese wool hat. Gloria is my friend who was 91 in November.

John helped carry in all the stuff and left to shop for my meds and a few things at Super 1 and to fill the tank of the Crosstrek. Circle K was the cheapest place in town ($2.65); prices are all going back up again. He made it back to the group about 20 minutes into the hour of music. We visited with the group and residents after singing, only eating a tiny bit (I had some salads and he had two small pastries).

Amy and I had taken a few pictures before we started the music and then I took one of her family afterwards at the meal they served us.

Tomorrow is Lee Kiesel’s 85th birthday and our group knew that. Haley had painted a picture 3/15/17 to give to Lee as a present.

Here is a collage of the photo of the gifting with the artist by Lee’s side.Artist Haley (almost ~4) with Lee Kiesel ^ ^ ^ Lee with her gift.

Here is a close-up of the painting and the back of it.Amy’s photo of the painting; mine of the backside of the frame.

Here’s one last photo of our mascot, Haley Davison, with her family. Lee is the coordinator of all our events there, and fixes much of the meals we are offered. The rest is brought as potluck by residents.Amy in her Irish decor, Haley, and Dustin Davison, background are residents, with a bunch not showing in this picture. We had two tables of players with some residents sitting with us.

At 4:00 p.m., we said our thanks and left to meet our WTA friends at the Fairgrounds for the Back Country Horsemen Rendezvous dinner. We took a fast walk through the displays of the packers, John Wayne Trail Riders, and equipment tables. We wore our WTA shirts with the 50th Year patches. In the blog last Nov. 2016, we posted a photo of us in them, while attending the WTA Volunteer Appreciation Dinner, 11/4/16. I went to the dinner with my green shamrock jewelry still on from the Briarwood music time, and we wrapped my violin in a blanket to leave in the car, because wooden stringed instruments to not like changes in temperature.

The caterers served a great meal: meat (sirloin brisket au jus, chicken, with buttered roll, corn niblets with red pepper, mixed green salad with tomatoes and Parmesan, mashed red potatoes with peels, and for dessert, Dutch Oven baked blackberry or cherry cobbler (warm), with ice cream. John and another tablemate brought one for me. We shared the extra one. We bid adieu to everyone and other friends we met there, leaving before the auction, so we could get home to feed our horses before dark. We barely made it, thanks to the time change last Sunday.

Sunday, Mar 19

For Mar 18 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.61. Events: 5 H, 21 RERA. Time on 8 hrs 11 min with (max = 14 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 88, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 92.8%. Pulse avg. 54.4, low 50.

We were up early with a good night’s sleep, John fed the animals, cooked us a brunch midday, and I have been working on the blog and a bunch of other things.

I had left my camera in the music bag last night when I moved from John’s car to mine, so I had to retrieve it, but it was cold from all night in the car, so I did not want to take off the pictures until it warmed up. Not sure it would affect it, but cell phones should not be charged when cold, or phone calls made when too hot.

Somehow, I lost a bunch of recent birthdays and anniversary notices from the Jackie Lawson Website, but if I search “Jackie Lawson website” on the nancyb.hultquist@gmail.com account I am able to access them. I caught up through tomorrow, but am way behind my normal schedule.
I also washed a load of dishes, but now have returned to finishing the blog, now that I have the pix from yesterday off the camera.

We watched the Douglas-Tree Squirrel today. He brought a friend with him this morning, but they dined at separate stations. Here he is at the bird feeder. The bird feeder has had many Gold Finches recently, and their color is getting brighter. The birds stay away when the squirrel is there.John walked me out to the barn to see where there is some dry fire wood, which I will share tomorrow with a gal (the one who gave John his new leather wallet to replace his old torn up one). After that trip, we sat in the Crosstrek, turned on John’s cell phone, and figured how he could dial me from the car’s access to Bluetooth. I hope he tries it tomorrow instead of dialing on the phone. Then I hope he leaves it turned on, just in case there is an emergency and I have to call him. Unless it is on, while he drives, it would not interrupt the radio so he could answer on the steering wheel.
[John writes: The calling can be voice activated but has to be done precisely as it wants. “Call Nancy” will not work because the system is set for “Call Home Nancy” – then after it finds that number, you have to say “Dial.” If you don’t, it will respond with “say dial” or something. All this time there is stuff on one of the LCD screens {to touch, or not}, and there are also buttons on the left on the steering wheel. So, “she” talks with me, but she is as dumb as a stump. Have you heard auto accident rates are going up in the USA?]

Nancy finishes:
I also need to put White Heron’s phone number in his cell phone so he can dial it, once on the road, if necessary.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Mar 6

For Mar 5 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 2.66. Events: 1 CSR, 18 H, 23 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 46 min with (max = 18 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 74 (spurious, when stopped CPAP), actual low was 87, 3 events <88% with overall avg., 91.7%. Pulse avg. 56.9, low 50.

John and I got the blog published yesterday at 5 minutes to Noon. Won’t happen this week.

I wrote the to the music group, KV F&F, about Thursday’s performance at the Meadows Place to get a final chair count by Wednesday night.

I called Pend Oreille {Pond O-ray} Shores about our timeshare payment there. The maintenance fees have increased again. We need to find a buyer for it because we no longer can use it. I used to use it when traveling to conferences and went to some interesting places – Honolulu, San Francisco, San Antonio, Salt Lake City, South Lake Tahoe, Whistler, and Denver, among others.

The first two links below are the last of the presentations Nick Zentner presented this year for the community, and have not been reported here in this blog yet. I am listing all of them here.

Mount Rainier’s Osceola Mudflow
Nick 1

Lake Chelan Geology
Nick 2

Flood Basalts of the Pacific Northwest
Nick 3

Ancient Rivers of the Pacific Northwest
Nick 4

I attended a presentation by a candidate for a new job in the Geography department at CWU. I drove in my own car with John, in his truck, by a home where a woman gave us a bunch of lumber … and we have been waiting for better weather to get his truck out for pickup.This was taken later in the week. The pieces were used in her girls’ bedrooms to make sleeping lofts with storage space. Perhaps something similar to those at this Link, ←click. We did not see the setup, just the pieces on the garage floor.

Tuesday, Mar 7

For Mar 6 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.41. Events: 3 H, 19 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 23 min with (max = 18 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 89, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 91.6%. Pulse avg. 55.0, low 50.

I paid several bills today (by phone). All our medical bills early in the year have to be paid “out-of-pocket” until we reach the deductible set by the contract.

I received several corrected “.mus” files from Evie. I am storing the .mus files from her for future use, when I install 2012 version of SongWriter on my new Dell laptop. Meanwhile, she has sent me pdf files to send to the group for our April play dates.

I renewed my account with the MedicAlert Foundation for 3 years at a significant savings over the yearly fee. I wear a bracelet with access to all my medical information in their data base. I printed my receipt and stored in Medical Info as well as digitally.

I went for my haircut today, and it snowed a ton. Went on to the Jazzercise meeting and only two of us were there. I paid my required money for the month ($2.00).

On my way home, I stopped at the pharmacy for John’s upped dosage (40mg) of Lisinopril and by Bi-Mart where I check my number on Tuesday. I won a box of Cheese Nips for the last digit of my number (a 1). Those look the same as Cheez-It (manufactured by Sunshine), but maybe a tiny bit smaller and manufactured by Nabisco.

Much of the evening was taken working on music.

John fixed a small pork roast with potatoes and veggies, and we had a pear.

Wednesday, Mar 8

For Mar 7 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.98. Events: 1 CSR, 7 H, 22 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 10 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 76 (spurious, stopped CPAP), actual low was 88, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 91.4%. Pulse avg. 53.0, low 50.

I carried my Irish music in to the Food Bank and handed out copies to the audience. We had probably 7 or 8 people singing through (or before) their dinner. We play from noon to 12:30, and serving begins at noon. Some of our followers come sing with us before eating. We had the normal pasta (I skipped) and a rice dish with sweet & sour chicken, salad, and a chocolate / cherry cake. From there on to the AAC with Gloria, where we participated in SAIL exercise.

I came home and worked more on music for April, after finding Dr. Dave’s arrival (USPS) of a piece of music we needed to complete our files, “Mountain Dew.” Unfortunately, the notes were not at all like the version we had been playing for years, but are more like Willie Nelson’s version and that of Little Jimmy Dickens. Evie spent 3 hours merging our notes with those that Jimmy was singing. We’re not even going to try to make them agree with the notes we sing, but those of us playing the melody will just have to listen and play certain parts by ear. At least all the timing and chords are there, with the lyrics matched. I have been fiddling it by ear for 25 years.

I still need to add the lyrics to the version of Songwriter 2012 Evie created, after I record Charlie’s version tomorrow. Then I will match the corrections to what we have been singing. It’s only a few word differences and additions, and we only have room for 3 verses to keep the score on one page, so we’ll eliminate the one about the preacher with his wife home sick from the flu.

Thursday, Mar 9

For Mar 8 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=3.00. Events: 4 CSR, 17 H, 19 RERA. Time on 5 hrs 40 min with (max = 20 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2, actual low while off CPAP was 85, 1 event <88% with overall avg., 93.2%. Pulse avg. 54.0, low 50.

I canceled next Tuesday’s meeting of the retired geographers because of illness and weather.

Meadows Place was our location today for the second time we’ve been through our playlist of mostly Irish music. We had 10 folks there and a happily involved audience. We also have a new request from a resident there for the song, “Laura’s Theme.”

I went to a 4:00 p.m. lecture in Dean for the third and final candidate for the new position hire.

Friday, Mar 10

For Mar 9 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.77. Events: 1 CSR, 1 CA, 1 OA, 11 H, 22 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 46 min with (max = 18 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 90, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 93.4%. Pulse avg. 53.3, low 50.

I received an early phone call from Katrina Douglas, the Coordinating Director of our senior center, Ellensburg Adult Activity Center (AAC) that Olivia Estill would be there today from 10:00 to 1:00. Olivia was our AmeriCorps volunteer leader for two years at the AAC. I did not want to miss seeing her. I called my friend, Gloria Swanson, and asked if she’d like me to stop and pick her up to go along for a visit.

Olivia is on spring break from the University of Louisville (Kentucky), where she is doing graduate work toward a Master of Science degree in Exercise Physiology.Olivia with Gloria . . . . . . . . . Olivia with Nancy

We had a nice visit before others arrived and so we hugged again and went on our way for some grocery shopping, and I came back home to work on my planned endeavor today to get my new laptop working.

While in town, we shopped at Super 1, and then went to fill my car with gas. It was down toward empty.

John left early for a pruning day, expected back about 1:30. As I was leaving the house, I called Cameron Fries (the winemaker / owner), whom I knew carried his phone and would be close to John during pruning, and told him I was going to town and why. I actually made it home before he did, but at least he would have been aware of my location, if I wasn’t home.

Saturday, Mar 11

For Mar 10 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 2.37. Events: 1 CSR, 1 OA, 16 H, 18 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 10 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 79 (spurious, finger change of oximeter), actual low was 88, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 93.2%. Pulse avg. 54.5, low 47.

I stayed home today, installed SongWriter (SW) 2012 on my new laptop, and the goal was to finish the music for April. It didn’t quite happen as planned.

John did not go for his North Bend First Aid Class this weekend. Travel over the pass was risky because of the potential for freezing on the road surface and/or avalanches. {Seems not to have developed, but it did rain much of the 2 days. That would not have been fun.} Crews did do some avalanche work during the late hours.

This was a wild and frustrating day. I decided I had to begin using my new laptop (now 3 months old), but I needed to install some software I needed and did not have on the laptop I am using to create the blog.

The first thing to do was find space to set up it beside the old so I could access the web for instructions about the new Dell Inspiron-13-5378 setup and view the user manual. That meant setting up another power extension cord. The new laptop does not have a CD/DVD drive, and I had bought an external one, now residing in the new laptop’s carrier. Not all my software to install on the new one is on a CD, so I have to get creative with passing information on a USB drive. I have 3 USB slots on the new one. One is taken with the wireless mouse I have. The next most important thing was figuring out where the “on” switch was on the new machine. I had used it previously but it was not in my mind and is not obvious.

I first tried to access the Internet from my new computer, and found I no longer had a connection since we had changed modems a month ago. I have been on it before, so at first I didn’t understand what happened, except it was before we changed the modem for a different one. I called Fairpoint.

It took us a very long time on the phone with Fairpoint technical support in Ohio to get the modem working with the new computer to access the Internet. The password I was using was old and we did not have the correct new one. John was home and searched all his notes on the change. We tried many things with the fellow to no avail. Finally, John asked him if he could give him instructions to go through his computer to access the information. Lo, yes. We tried 3 codes that did not work, from various addresses printed on the back of the modem. Then he tried having John log in directly to the modem to locate the security key password. FINALLY, we found a combination that worked. Now I was able to access the Internet from the Dell, once I used that PW. I think we had gone through a total of 5 others before getting the winner. I was entering them on the new one.

The next thing I did was install SongWriter 2012 from a CD (after I figured out how to connect my external CD / DVD reader via a USB port).

Unfortunately, I had also not turned on WIFI during the change of password to get to the Internet. We need it to communicate with our printer through the Aether. Later in the afternoon, I managed to figure that out and how to turn it on. I wanted/expected to be able to print from the Dell. However, not yet.

When I tried, I realized I did not have the EPSON printer driver on the Dell. Duh! It’s new. That took another hour of our time and effort. I am so happy John was home. He located the proper package of software for our WF-3540 printer on the Epson site, then I had to download it and installed it. I could not have known how to find all needed info. We do have the original CD that came with the printer – but no CD drive on the Dell (I’d already removed it). Besides, had I used that 2012/2013 version I still would have had to download any updates from the intervening years.

I needed to print a PDF file but also had to download Adobe Acrobat and install. Did that. Progress! Okay. Now I’m set for the immediate music preparation need for the group in April. I am not able to run Word on the new machine, however, because apparently the Microsoft Office Suite had not properly been activated when installed. I will work on that as the next major project, but first I have to complete this set of music to be able to share with the work my friend Evie is doing with our SongWriter songs, to get them out to the group.

I transferred all my songwriter 2010 stuff with SW 2012 stuff to a USB drive, opened it, and edited the text on Ashokan Farewell, a recent one that Evie sent me to match notes with the lyrics. She transcribed it from a video on line. Here is a link:

Ashokan Farewell ~ Sean and Scott Holshouser

I am still a long way from making the Toshiba to Dell laptops transition, but I did have a good start today. Serious frustration is now subsiding.

In between all the excitement, I washed a load of dishes.
And, we went outside to take photographs and have John show me what he intended to do with the shed where I have been parking my car. He says a garage is the place where you store several hundred dollars worth of stuff/junk, while you park the multi-thousand dollar car in the driveway.

He worked on outside projects – including starting to clear out the other side of the 3-sided shed where I park my car, so that he can get his 2016 Crosstrek under cover. This is requiring a lot of sorting, tossing, and giveaway. Here’s one thing to go, so he demoed it so that I might put a note on line to give it away, or contact first a friend who owns and runs a gym to see if she wants it or wants to share with a client or friend. She is the one who gave John his sweatpants for loosely dressing after his Dec 1 surgery.John demoing the Tony Little Gazelle in front of the 3-sided shed.
John on the Gazelle

The video is only a few seconds. Many years ago, I bought this at a yard sale for $5, without the monitor. They now sell new for over $100 and higher, depending on the model. I have no clue which model this this is.

While outside, he also showed me boxes of old stuff (some back to 1995) of academic materials. Most of it can be recycled or some passed along to colleagues or students. John figures if I do a box a day, we might finish in a couple of years. He brought in two boxes for me to begin with that were behind the Gazelle. I’m sure I will be seeing more soon, as he tries to make room for his car. He also plans to build shelves between our two cars.

John made a pizza for lunch and froze the half we did not eat. Later, the individual pieces will make a quick lunch. Dinner was a cheeseburger, with home fries, no bun.

Sunday, Mar 12

For Mar 11 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.97. Events: x CSR, 8 H, 16 RERA. Time on 8 hrs 16 min with (max = 17 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 41 (spurious, stopped CPAP), actual low was 89, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 93.3%. Pulse avg. 54.9, low 42 (spurious), actual 51.

Daylight Saving Time sprung forward last night, but we actually still got an extra hour sleep over our normal. We were both quite tired. I was exhausted from “interfacing” with my new laptop, now calling her “Raisin Dell.” I have been too busy using the old to move, download software, and install. I still have a lot of work to transfer or reinstall the stuff I need (such as the software to record my daily parameters from the CPAP machine and coordinate it with the data from my Oximeter I wear all night. The only reason I’m on the CPAP crap is to control my SpO2 – the oxygen percentage in my blood to organs while I sleep. It needs to remain above 88, preferably 90%. Organs deteriorate without a good oxygen supply. It is a real threat if it goes below 80.

Several definitions of the acronym SpO2 exist, but this is a good combined one that satisfies my use of it: “Saturation of arterial blood with Oxygen, expressed as a percentage, as measured by Pulse Oximetry.” Further clarification, “Hemoglobin is the protein molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the body’s tissues and returns carbon dioxide from the tissues back to the lungs.” Concern for the higher percentage of oxygen in the blood is to help the heart function more efficiently. Blood oxygen levels below 80 percent may affect organ function.

The sun has been in and out today. Temperatures stayed above freezing during the night, melting snow and ice, but no problems here on the Fan. In town, the usual places have water where it ought not to be; seems not to be serious – and will continue not to be if the weather forecast is correct for the rest of the week.
Significant cold has moved to the east coast. Washington D.C.’s famous Cherry blossoms may take a hit. Some were blooming this past week. Ouch!

As I was putting the final touches before publishing the blog, we had a phone call from Jeri Conklin that our Daisy took a 2nd place, in the Open Limited Gun Dog stake for the Irish Setter Club of the Pacific’s field trial in California. There were 13 starters and only one other Brittany in the stake. She ran a wonderful forward race and had a nice clean find. The grass was 3’ high so no pictures in this blog. Her new trainer is going to finish her Master Hunter title, and the next Hunt Test is coming up, with him handling.

While I was still proofing the first entry to WordPress, John made all the ingredients for Nachos. I put mine together while he finished, and then came to check the text and check all the links while he ate his supper.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Feb 27

For Feb 26 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.25. Events: 1 CSR, 7 H, 10 RERA. Time on 5 hrs 35 min with (max = 18 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 82 (spurious, when CPAP stopped), actual low while off CPAP was 84, 14 events <88% with overall avg., 90.5%. Pulse avg. 57.1, low 53.

Last night was a big rush to replace 5-6 songs I sent to the group. I had revised them, but then sent the old versions. Evie found the mistake, so I worked on them last night, made new pdf files, and sent to Evie for a recheck. We’re exceptionally fortunate to have Evie’s help with the scores on music we play.

John fixed supper last night: slow-oven beef roast, baked potato, succotash, and a sliced apple. The photo below shows one of the fruit packing facilities in Quincy WA. Apples are being brought out of Controlled Atmosphere (CA) storage, sorted, boxed, and sent around the US and the World. This is on the way to the vineyard, where John goes.To the left of Starr Ranch is Double Diamond – they have one layer boxes of Honey Crisp apples at 10 pounds for $10. For the largest apples, you get only 9, and some of those weigh about 20 ounces.

We need to get ready to go and leave here by 10:45 this morning, first to Ellensburg for 2 appointments, and then to Yakima for 3 more (2 are at the Yakima Heart Center, one is Costco).

I spent most of my time at home working on the songs to be sent to the music group. We had 6 to correct.

Now tonight I started making the master to take for copying tomorrow, when I go to town for Jazzercise. I’ve made relatively good progress on printing all, but need to organize and write numbers on them.

Tuesday, Feb 28

For Feb 27 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.96. Events: 1 CSR, 6 H, 11 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 18 min with (max = 18 L/min). Oximetry: I overrode it before collecting. Nothing to report.

Last minute changes to the masters and I figured out the count of copies I needed to make. I made time to go to Bi-Mart, then off to copy sheet music for the March/April program for Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends, get to Jazzercise, and other Tuesday things.

I kind of lost this day from a headache all day and night.

I did manage to get the copies done for the music group and to go to Jazzercise class. We only had three people there today.

Wednesday, Mar 1

For Feb 28 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 2.22. Events: 2 CSR, 1 OA, 16 H, 18 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 40 min with (max = 20 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 88, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 92.8%. Pulse avg. 54.7, low 50.

I picked up Gloria and we attended music and lunch at the F.I.S.H. Food Bank & SAIL exercise at the AAC. Whenever we (John & Nancy) visit the Food Bank (I’m playing during lunch so am there once each week), there are goods going or coming, with mostly volunteers doing the work. This week was a “Food Bank” awareness time – big article in the local paper. They had more apples today than they could use for the registered clients so I came home with about 15 pounds of mixed varieties.

Afterwards we came home via Grocery Outlet for things both of us needed. Gloria gave me 2 dozen chocolate chip cookies she made. First thing we did when I got home was snack on a few direct from the microwave oven – warm is best. I was only home a short while, when I went back to the music building for a presentation I had heard about from Gerard Hogan (long time acquaintance from CWU Library).

I took my old camera and made some videos for the evening. The most intriguing was a trombone solo backing up a riveting video.

TROMBONE .. played by John S. Neurohr

The music is a composition, “I Was Like Wow” written in 2006 by Jacob TV, born in 1951, as Jacob Ter Veldhuis, the composer. This contains comments about the Iraqi war from more than one person in a background video during the trombone solo.

Thursday, Mar 2

For Mar 1 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 3.23. Events: 3 CSR, 18 H, 12 RERA. Time on 5 hrs 34 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 89, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 94.3%. Pulse avg. 53.9, low 50.

I got up early and stayed up because this is “music day” and I had many things to do.
My afternoon started in town at the Rehab, where I visited 2 residents and then went to give out music to those needing it and to help set up. We had a good bunch of players and did fairly well on our first time through the much-changed old music and several brand new ones for our group. Because March includes St. Patrick’s Day, we have Irish tunes included that we only play in spring.

I left there for a talk at CWU – a lecture by a candidate to fill a geography position, mostly Urban and Regional/primarily Rural Planning (Jackson County Oregon) topics in the talk, with some introduction to Agri-Business in Wisconsin. I didn’t get home until dark. Another candidate speaks this coming Monday and Thursday at 4:00 in the afternoon. I know I’m retired, but I’m still interested in the department and wish for its success.

Friday, Mar 3

For Mar 2 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.82. Events: 5 CSR, 1 CA, 15 H, 26 RERA. Time on 8 hrs 42 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 89, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 93.5.x%. Pulse avg. 55.2, low 50.

We delivered two filing cabinets – bottom/left corner of image –including a boxed one (from a Bi-Mart sale about 15 years ago) and the green one the box is leaning against.

Cari sent the “Thank you” (other photos) with 2 of her children, Kimber and Kiegen, who helped her assemble the 2-drawer Oak filing cabinet. It is behind the children and, also, to the far right of the collage. The grayish plastic filing cabinets (under orange arrow, center) will be brought here when empty. We, or someone, may think of a new use for them. Part of an old 4-drawer (in disrepair) green wood cabinet shows in the photo. Neither of us remembers where that one came from. Hope she can rehabilitate it and make it feel its got a new life. She has a friend with whom to share it.

John went with me to the National Anthem Day Party and I dressed in my flag jacket and red/white/blue pants. Those pants are navy blue with a white and red stripe down the side of each leg.

We had a carbohydrate meal (southern style macaroni & cheese with several cheeses), salads and bread. (It was a potluck; and I took 3 garlic bread loaves and another open-face pizza loaf which they heated there to save me the effort and to have it hot). Two tables of food donated by the attendees. This I took before more food arrived and before the main dish and salad were on the end of the left table. You can see that below.Erica serves Mac & Cheese, Alice serves salad, John grabs a brownie & cookie for dessert, with one of 3 tables showing behind him; some individual pizzas arrived on the main table as well as more cookies with the desserts. The plate on the right is colorful.

After lunch, we had a fun trivia game with facts and questions about the Flag, about the National Anthem, and about America. As a group, we flunked. Remedial learning was suggested.

I also took photos to share on Facebook on the Ellensburg Adult Activity Center site, and we paid the yearly dues for John because I keep dragging him to more of the events.

From there, John and I went to the Dollar Tree in Yakima for two Irish green hats for us, and from there to Stewart Subaru to pick up John’s new (used) 2016 Crosstrek Subaru, with 11067 miles, one of the dealership’s “loaners” or Customer Courtesy Cars. This one had been used by CWU administrators or coaches for much of its mileage, as part of Subaru’s “Love Promise” program. The non-working radio had been replaced with a new one, and we paid for an engine block heater. We like to have one vehicle with a block heater and the 2009 Outback (traded in) was that car. On the way home, we realized the heater was not blowing hot air, and the steering had a slight cant to the right. The probable heater failure cause is a valve that is not releasing the hot water to the right place after the engine warms up. Last Monday (Presidents’ Day), we chose the Crosstrek over the Impreza because of the higher clearance, for our snowy driveway and occasionally the roads. We test drove both, but decided the “ride” was also nicer on the Crosstrek.

About 6:00 p.m., I asked John to take my photo while I still had on my flag “costume.”I’m holding a celebratory bottle of White Heron Roussanne [<-- link, click] wine in both photos. Our Brittany is named Cedaridge Vintage Roussanne (call name Annie). The one on the right shows the resident deer watching the goings on.

Saturday, Mar 4

For Mar 3 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.32. Events: 1 CSR, 10 H, 24 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 36 min with (max = 18 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 74 spurious changing fingers on oximeter, actual low, 87, 1 events <88% with overall avg., 92.5%. Pulse avg. 55.9, low 50.

I used the sunny weather to take photos of John with his new car.John’s celebration of bringing home a 2016 Subaru Crosstrek. Subaru calls ones with a hatch for the cargo space a “5-door.” The Crosstrek is smaller than the Outback and Forester, gets slightly better mpg of gasoline, and is less pricey. The “sky blue” color is officially named Hyper Blue Pearl. Their Impreza comes in a similar color called Island Blue Pearl, but we think you would have to park them side-by-side to see the difference. I wanted to take this photo to show the snow (March 4th) and blue sky that matches the car’s fancily named color. The bucket hat’s color is similar and the jeans are – as usual – dirty.

We checked out the heater’s hot air again, and it is not working. John is leaving this afternoon to take the Crosstrek for an evaluation by the mechanics at Stewart Subaru. And, they will also look at the steering pulling to the right problem we noticed on our return trip on level roads. The Sales Manager (also a John F.) confirmed the heater was not functioning, so gave John a 2017 Impreza, with lots of fancy gizmos, to drive home. The steering issue could be one or more of many things.
If you care, click here.

For supper, we will have crock-pot (tender) pork and rice and sliced apple. Key Lime pie with strawberries is on the menu for dessert.

Sunday, Mar 5

For Mar 5 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.52. Events: 4 H, 11 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 43 min with (max = 14 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 76 (spurious, turning off CPAP), actual low was 88, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 92.4%. Pulse avg. 55.6, low 50.

During the night we got about 3 inches of snow. It is melting from the concrete, wood posts, trees, and such things, but generally just incorporating itself into the 18 inches on the ground.
Nothing on tap today, except to put out the blog, and continue with projects.

This morning I sent a sympathy letter to friends in Yakima. Father & husband (Steven Brazeau) passed across the rainbow bridge Tuesday this week at a young age, 64. Daughter Sara was one of John’s favorite students many years ago (and Nancy’s too). The family grew various fruits in Naches, Steve made wine, and we got to know them all.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Feb 20 President’s Day

For Feb 19 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 2.96. Events: 3 CSR, 1 OA, 17 H, 20 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 19 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 88, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 93.0%. Pulse avg. 53.5 , low 50.

We are going to Yakima today to visit Costco and the Subaru dealer.

I’m in the process of trying to get through electronic submission of a letter of recommendation (LOR) to the National Taiwan University through their computer application process. It is not working well. Says it accepts it, but then doesn’t record that it has. The potential student cannot submit his application until all the LORs are in the system.

We were gone a long time today, leaving in snow this morning, experiencing rain, then sun, and arriving home after the sunset (which we enjoyed on the way home – through the car window).
John was driving and I took this looking southwest, across in front of him.

Tuesday, Feb 21

For Feb 20 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.97. Events: 1 CSR, 13 H, 16 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 37 min with (max = 13 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 88, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 93.0%. Pulse avg. 52.9, low 50.

I got up in time to take my Amoxicillin at 8:30 for the dentist visit. John is such a sweetie, not only feeding the outside animals, but me too, so I didn’t have to take the antibiotics on an empty stomach. My trip to the dentist was not pleasant today.

I carried my laptop computer to town with me because of sections of time existing between events, when I could work on projects.

From the dental office, I called the AAC about lunch, made a reservation, and went after the dental appointment for tuna casserole, with fruit. I stayed there working on music in the computer room, but with my own laptop, so I had access to the Internet to check email. About 1:00, I left for the F.I.S.H. food bank to pick up some paperwork, and then made a couple other stops before returning to the AAC for Jazzercise. I nearly got hit by a guy running a stop sign from Pearl across Manitoba, on which I was traveling east. Good thing my reflexes are rapid. I did not have a stop sign, and a person across from the guy had stopped at his stop sign. Perhaps the guy thought I had a stop sign, but I didn’t. I slammed on my brakes as he pulled out in front of me. After Jazzercise I drove home, and then was suffering from pain from my dental trip. I expected my gums to ache, having not been used for many years on the left side bottom where the implant closest to the front of my mouth was covered with a crown over the abutment. No one planned for the back tooth’s crown not to fit. They are going to send it back to the lab to see if it can be reformed to fit. So, that meant another round of impressions for the bite. I will be getting a copy of the X-ray so I can show John what went wrong and why it didn’t fit.

Now I just have to hope this solution works, because the alternative is to go back to the oral surgeon and have him remove some of the bone graft in the back of my mouth. I’m certainly praying that doesn’t happen. I don’t really have any desire to go through dental gum / jaw surgery (as required for implants) ever again in my life. I’ll go without a tooth before that happens. (Yet, I doubt I will have the option to leave the abutment from the implant there, without a top). Don’t know why not. That’s what I have now. Finally my pain stopped. I haven’t had a tooth in there in awhile so I’m occasionally biting my tongue, (maybe it is my cheek), if not careful. The second-worst pain from the 2 hours at the dentist was my neck. I think it was because of tensing up, and the way I was sitting in the chair. I had some Percoset on hand, so I took one before bedtime. I still awoke during the night and in the morning with a pain in my neck. I took more Oxycodone to make it through Wednesday’s activities.

I’ll end with the good news of the day. My co-owned Brittany (with Jeri Conklin), in California, Cedaridge Kip’s Camelot Shay Tre’ JH (Daisy), has been in Los Banos, with a new trainer, Scott. She had quit retrieving, but Jeri got her over that, to be retrieving to hand, before taking her for an evaluation. She has continued retrieving to Scott and running well for him in the field. Last week, she had a good run, without birds. This week is a picture from training of her on point, with a followed retrieve to hand. We are happy she is back with the program.

Wednesday, Feb 22

For Feb 21 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=1.74. Events: 12 H, 16 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 54 min with (max = 21 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 88, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 92.3%. Pulse avg. 54.1, low 49.

I am hurting from my dental experience yesterday.

Spent most of the morning finalizing the downloaded form to accompany the letter of recommendation for Brian Scanlon to a Master’s Program in Geography at the National Taiwan University.

I also picked up my friend Gloria, took her along with me to the Food Bank, played music, she sang with us, we ate, visited folks at our table, and then we went to our SAIL exercise class. Afterwards, I stopped for canned beef bits cat food for our one furry fussy feral cat, Woody.

Thursday, Feb 23

For Feb 22 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 2.85. Events: 2 CSR, 18 H, 16 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 19 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 86, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 92.6%. Pulse avg. 53.9, low 50.

I had to redo and reissue electronically my letter to Taiwan and work on bill payments.

Our music group played at Hearthstone today to a large and happy group.

John and I went to the annual meeting and dinner for the Kittitas County Conservation District. We enjoyed a nice evening with an excellent meal of tri tip, chicken, salad, veggies, roll, and dessert to celebrate the 75th year of the Kittitas County Conservation District. Anna Lael presented an historical PowerPoint. John worked there as a volunteer for the Plant Sale and handled thousands of native trees and shrubs and I supervised interns there for years from the late 1990s. We enjoyed visiting with employees and with a “retired to farming” one John and I both worked a lot with during her sojourn there. We also visited with others (new and old acquaintances).

Friday, Feb 24

For Feb 23 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 2.85. Events: 4 CSR, 20 H, 30 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 0 min with (max = 16 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 86, 5 events <88% with overall avg., 91.9%. Pulse avg. 54.8, low 50.

I contacted the hospital and my primary care physician’s office to see if the data from my blood draw yesterday had been reported. I received my INR (1.7, a little low). My joke with the nurse, when it’s low, is that I can have a glass of wine with dinner. Alcohol raises it. I went by the hospital and filled out a form to allow me to get all my results for now and through the next year. I will have the lab results from yesterday to take with me Monday morning to the cardiologist, in case they did not make it, or for me to check myself in advance of my appointment, particularly my potassium, which can be affected by the new medication. I did not realize until alerted this morning (phone call), that I am scheduled for a device check (on my defibrillator) before seeing my cardiologist.

I went to the Scholarship luncheon for a short time and on to the AAC for Bingo. I won a pink shopping bag from Knudson’s Lumber, my 4th gift they donated that I have won. Now I will go by and thank them for it. My normal procedure is to wear the clothing (or carry the bag in this case), go by the store, and thank them for their donation to community events.

Then I left for the gym across from my bank to pick up boxes for a gal I know to use for her sister for moving. I loaded the back of my car and then dropped them off on my way home. The family is visually impaired without transportation for such needs.

I came home to work more on music.

Saturday, Feb 25

For Feb 24 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 2.55. Events: 2 CSR, 19 H, 18 RERA. Time on 8 hrs 31 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 45 spurious (stopped 3:15 a.m.), actual low, 87, 3 events <88% with overall avg., 92.9%. Pulse avg. 53.6, low 48.

This morning we saw our first red-winged blackbirds of the season in our tree and feeder (two males). Our neighbor Ken saw them over a week ago. He claims to have heard the arrival of Redwings means spring is near. We missed that tale. This is not one of my best photos, but it gives you the idea. There is both red and yellow on the male’s wings. The female doesn’t have those markings at all – and is a brown one. I should add a photo from my friend Elise in N. Jersey, who captured a picture of a pair (not usually seen together). Because we are in the final throes of this publication, I’ll just refer you to the web [Link; scroll down to Adult Female – click] to see how a female is marked.Today, I went to the senior violin recital for Laina Brown at noon. She has been playing with our group at assisted-living homes. She is a student at CWU and the teacher of our other latest joining violinist, Evie Scheutz. Below is the invitation she handed everyone in the group when we played two weeks ago at the Meadows Place here in town. At the end of our group’s playing, she performed a solo of a complicated piece of music that will be in part of her recital (it is the second song below, captured on video). Listen for the “harmonics” (a very high pitched octave above the string it’s played on by barely touching the string). The residents and we were excited by her sharing her talents.Laina’s invitation and her performance program today. Dr. Duane Funderburk was her pianist. I’m in the process of contacting him to find out if he is kin to the Geography professor at Central almost 50 years ago, Dr. Robert S. Funderburk.

Feb 25, 2017 Senior Recital CWU, These links are to two songs she played from memory (rather than reading the music on a stand), and this occurred in the middle of her performance.

Laina Brown #1

Laina’s 2nd Song

At the end of her senior recital, here she is with her hubby, Matt.Matt and Laina Brown, 2-25-17

I came home to a note from Jeri about Daisy’s run today: “ Was doing great, nice forward run and then she ran up a hill to a pile of rocks, jumped on the rocks, a covey flushed in her face, and the temptation got to her 🙂 – she chased off the rocks, Scott called “Whoa”, she skidded to a stop, and watched the rest fly away. So oh well, it was fun to watch while it lasted. She is really looking good.”
She has two more trials this season, one a Brittany trial and the other a GWP one. She will be competing in Open Gun Dog and Open Limited Gun Dog. We have our fingers crossed.

We enjoyed an hour-long conversation with John’s sister, Peggy Hultquist, in Parma. She called us on her cell phone.

Sunday, Feb 26

For Feb 25 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 5.10. Events: 1 CSR, 24 H, 6 RERA. Time on 4 hrs 42 min with (max = 16 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 74 spurious, actual low, 88, 3 events <88% with overall avg., 92.3%. Pulse avg. 54.5, low 47. Awoke to snow and birds at the feeder, and the Ringneck Rooster has appeared, too. Birds are mostly Finches, with a Junco occasionally. A few weeks ago the Juncos came (first), but seemed to have moved on.

Little birds in the snow

Whoopee! I finished emailing the music for March and April out to the group, so that those who can print their own will, and save me the Xeroxing costs. Now, however, I have to organize the master copy to take Tuesday for copying. We are adding 7 songs that have to be added to the existing copies of the music from last year. If anyone wants scores of our songs that I have produced, and you are not already on my distribution list, just let me know, and I will forward on email to you. Much of this playlist is Irish.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Feb 13

For Feb 12 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 4.42. Events: 7 CSR, 1 CA, 33 H, 14 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 42 min with (max = 23 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 87, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 93,2%. Pulse avg. 51.8, low 50.

I need to fix the card to send to Dr. Sharma. I’m going to put Charlie’s picture playing guitar in our group, mine with violin at Veteran’s Day by flag at AAC, and mine with Ted Leber and Santa Claus at the AAC, with a thank you for performing our open heart surgeries and wishing him well on recovery from his own.

I went by the Food Bank to register for a PIN to put in my hours volunteering and then to SAIL exercise. I stopped off for ice cream at Grocery Outlet and back by Gloria Swanson’s house to pick up some chocolate chip cookies she made for us from the chocolate chips we gave her. I was excited because we can take them tomorrow to the Emeriti Geographers’ meeting. It meant she saved us the effort of making cookies tonight, to be ready to leave at 8:20 in the morning.

Wow, again, another license tab due for the Ford 2003 truck, and it will cost $106. Whatever happened to the state legislature’s decision to keep it at $45 (after our statewide vote)? At least we don’t live in South Puget Sound where people are being shell (sticker)-shocked by the tab prices in a county where they place the cost on the value of the car. One man with a Tesla paid $500 last year and $1500 this. This was voted in to support a transit system.

Tuesday, Feb 14

For Feb 13 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 3.65. Events: 4 CSR, 27 H, 18 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 24 min with (max = 18 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 89, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 93.2%. Pulse avg. 52.0, low 50.

EMERITI Geography prof’s meeting. We had a nice group with several folks there. We filled the two hours without a speaker. Lots of information to share. John and I drove in separate cars, so he could return home to deal with all the snow and ice problems. The temperature when we left was 19 and when we got to town, it was 9. That’s the problem of living “down in the valley” where the cold air drains. The area was in fog and the frozen fog on the trees was actually quite pretty on the drive in, but my camera was not in the front seat, or I would have taken a photo at the stop sign, where I entered the Kittitas highway. The sun was barely peeking through the fog, and the ice on the trees was striking. Farther down the road, the willows were spectacular. At least the roadways were mostly cleared of ice and compact snow.

After the meeting at Hearthstone (where two of our Geographers live with their wives), I stopped by Bi-Mart to check our number, but we didn’t win anything.

I continued to the AAC for a special lunch (turkey meatloaf, veggies, mashed potatoes, peaches, and milk). A lovely large Valentine’s Day cake was brought in for us by a representative of Pacifica Senior Living, Lise McGowan. We actually had a piece of cake prior to the meal. That’s a great way to start dinner with dessert. After dinner, we had a presentation by the Barbershop Quartet choir.

Here is the best song of their performance of several songs:

Let Me Call You Sweetheart

On the Community Connect Kittitas County Facebook site, I put a help request for volunteer help with ice removal for a woman I met at the Senior Center today (at my lunch table) who walks a couple of blocks there daily, using her walker, because she has no car. She could not open her gate all the way to get through with her walker and has had to disassemble it to put through in pieces. The gate is blocked by ice from opening far enough to let her push through. Her walkway is snow-covered and icy too, but she is more concerned about getting the gate opened wide enough. I tried calling CWU’s Center for Leadership and Community Engagement, after reading (in the Daily Record newspaper) about the snow and ice removal project they did last Saturday. It was the only one this year. See below for the awesome response to my request and the final results.

I carried my laptop with me to the AAC because I needed to stay there until 2:00 for Jazzercise. It worked well, and I got a lot accomplished on our music for the next 2 months, using space in the computer room at the center. There is one counter edge where there is no desktop computer setup. They have WIFI available so I could use my own computer to check email as well. The music software is on my laptop and I cannot access it from the public computers at the center – hence my need to take it.

We only had 3 people at Jazzercise, but we got a good workout.

Wednesday, Feb 15

For Feb 14 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.84. Events: 1 CSR, 10 H, 2 OA, 18 RERA. Time on x hrs 32 min with (max = 22 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 85, 8 events <88% with overall avg., 92.2%. Pulse avg. 52.5, low 47.

Below is the culmination collage of the photos I took over 3 days of the icy & snow-covered walkway to the house, and the frozen partially-open gate. The people who helped were Laci Harrison, who went by a little after the first photos were taken and put down a lot of rock salt. The rock salt was donated by Grace Mackenzie. Meanwhile, Eric Jackson, my former student, went by with a shovel. He managed to remove some ice and get the gate opened a little more so that she could get through. He went back a day later to complete the walkway and put in drain in to get rid of the melted ice and opened the gate even farther. Upper left shows gate & walkway before and after, on 2/15 and 2/16. Lower left shows the gate entrance only, on the same 2 days. Right photo shows the whole picture on Friday, 2/17 with cleared walkway, cleared stairs, opened gate, and drain to the street.

We went to town for the last in the series of Nick Zentner’s downtown lectures, this one was on Mt. Rainier issues from past and future prospects.

Nick Zentner Mt Rainier’s Osceola Mudflow Intro

Nick Zentner Mt Rainier’s Osceola Mudflow-Visuals

My videos were taken from the very close-to-the-stage front row, and the follow-up professional one from the back of the room will appear in a couple of weeks. When all four are out there, I will provide the links. They will be put on CWU’s website via YouTube, and accessible there.

Thursday, Feb 16

For Feb 15 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 4.79. Events: 4 CSR, 23 H, 12 RERA. Time on 4 hrs 48 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 84 (off CPAP), 5 events <88% with overall avg., 91.6%. Pulse avg. 53.5, low 50.

John left a little before 8:00 a.m. for White Heron Cellars and his first day of wine grapevine pruning in their Mariposa vineyard. Their work was in overcast, at first, and then the sun came out. Three fellows (Tom, Mark, & John) volunteered help pruning for 3 hours alongside the Vigneron, Cameron Fries. First time for pruning in snow. John thinks they are 3 to 4 weeks early.

I finalized the videos I took last night and sent to a few folks.

Mostly, I worked a lot more on music and plans for the number of chairs today. Three people originally planning to come are unable, so I had to recall in the number of chairs we need brought to the dining room at Pacifica Senior Living home.

It has started raining again. I hope the driveway is not too sloppy for me to maneuver out. I left a little earlier than normal, to be sure I got out the drive, and also to get to Pacifica to meet the new activities director, Terri, to explain what we need for our group. We ended up with 4 guitars, 1 harmonica, 1 violin, 1 flute, 1 singer, 1 tambourine, and 1 dancer (the ~4 year old).

I also need to write a letter of recommendation for a Masters program in Geography at a school in Taiwan. He has learned Mandarin Chinese, married a gal from S. Korea, and wants to continue his love of geography. He is my former student at CWU, Brian Scanlon, who also received a B.S. in Economics, and a B.A. in Public Policy.

John made it home before 2:00 and cleaned the ice off our back patio. I wish I had a before and after photo of that. He is moving snow from several places, as it softens, so places dry out instead of getting muddy. Some snow blew in, and some water ran into where I park the Forester. That is now cleaned out and starting to dry out. The drive slopes down into that space – another design feature failure. When spring has sprung, John wants to clean the entire place out and spread a ton or several tons of gravel there and bring it up a few inches. Then he will park his car on the other side of the 3-sided building.

Friday, Feb 17

For Feb 16 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.14 Events: 4H, 10 RERA. Time on 4 hrs 24 min with (max = 23 L/min). I neglected to run Oximetry on my report of SpO2 Review, and once it is recorded, the previous night’s erased.

I called about my Delta Dental Insurance issues with getting on their site for checking my payments and their coverage. Next week, I’m going to have the crowns put on the implants, so I’ll be able to chew on the left side of my mouth. I haven’t been able to use it for over six months. Unfortunately, my dental reimbursement costs are limited to $1,750/yr and I will almost have reached that in the first 2 months of this year. That means we will have to pay for our cleanings or any other things that may happen this year. Oh, well, I based my decision upon the desire to have the whole job completed so I could continue life with a full set of teeth.

We left for town to drop off some party bread by Briarwood for use there tomorrow to feed us little sandwiches, to eat with soup, or to give away. They made a plate of open chicken salad sandwiches you can see below in the collage. John and I were on our way to the Health Forum at the Ellensburg Adult Activity Center, with speaker, Tim Roth, nurse from the Kittitas County Public Health Department. I have known Tim for at least 15 years through music in the community with The Connections. His talk was very well presented, and I took a video of his presentation on my old camera. He was the one who administered my Shingles shot a couple of weeks ago.

Tim Roth talks to us old folks – 24 minutes

He was the speaker during a healthy lunch (Vegetable Enchiladas with sour cream and guacamole, Spanish rice, cilantro on the side, salad with iceberg lettuce and red cabbage) served to us by Lauren, and fixed there by Erica, Megan, Alice, and Lauren.

Below is a collage of some of the pictures I took. You can see the remainder of them next week, after the holiday Monday, by looking at facebook.com for “Ellensburg Adult Activity Center.”Here we are at the forum. Tim Roth, is at the lower right with Pat married to Richard, who is in another picture I took, middle bottom photo is Kathy Grapes, Ada Perry (mom of one of my students from long ago, whose 90th birthday party Gloria & I attended with Sandra), Sandra Zech, and Dee Grapes, top middle is the meal we were served, and top right is John with Carla Kaatz. I taught for years with her husband Marty. He has passed across the rainbow bridge. We are planning to celebrate her 90th birthday in an April party that her family is holding in her honor.

On our way home, I took the 3rd day photo of all the work on the lady’s walkway and gate that was iced up. It’s explained and shown in a collage above on Wednesday.

I had a request from Evelyn to lower the keys on a few of the songs we do at the Food Bank. I’m working on that, along with the music for March and April for the Fiddlers & Friends.

Saturday, Feb 18

For Feb 17 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 2.76. Events: 6 CSR, 20 H, 17 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 15 min with (max = 17 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 82, 19 events <88% with overall avg., 92.4%. Pulse avg. 52.6, low 50.

Today at Briarwood was our monthly play date. I picked up Gloria and took her along. She gave me a dozen+ of her great chocolate chip cookies for John and me to enjoy. We had a lovely time with many folks in attendance from Briarwood, and much great food we enjoyed – soup, salads, sandwiches, and desserts.
We had 3 guitars, a violin, a harmonica, a tambourine, and a singer, plus a “choir” of many in the audience singing along on the 22 songs of the day.

Here’s a collage of the offerings and cooks below:Deidra & Lee (Lee is the main organizer of our events each month, and usually makes the soup, salads, and desserts). This month she had help on making the soup from Jo Ellen (middle). The right shot is the main buffet, and the desserts were on the counter with the soup in front of the gals on the left. Several different things are prepared and donated by the residents who come to enjoy our music and the meal. The timing of this interferes with both lunch and supper of a normal schedule. John comes along about twice each year, but the rest of the times he has to adjust meals at home to accommodate my eating at Briarwood at 3 PM.

Sunday, Feb 19

For Feb 18 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.66. Events: 1 CSR, 1 CA, 11 H, 12 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 14 min with (max = 23 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 85 (may have been spurious when battery charge quit working), the only 1 event <88% with overall avg., 93.3%. Pulse avg. 53.5, low 50.

John is checking the snow between the house and the shed, which fills up the space between the two buildings, when it slides off the metal roof (another poor planning issue of our home).

Deer now know where the dry cat food has been on the front entrance, so to keep them away we had a wooden pallet leaned there. That worked for a day or two. They learned to move the pallet – shown on left, below. Left is from > a week ago. Then missing are the 5-gallon bucket filled with gravel on this side and snow shovel and push broom to keep the deer from reaching under and eating the cat food. Right is the new framed structure, but still needs another piece or two, on the sides. With the bucket of gravel and shovel gone, they still could reach in and mess with the container. Not as much food was missing as previously has been. We want only the four cats and not the deer or the dog to be able to get in there. John is waiting for a nice day to hunt for a board, cut it, and nail pieces in place.

John has been moving ice and snow a little each day, feeding livestock, birds, and starting trucks. The newer truck has more gizmos that drain the battery, so he has it on a trickle charger now. The sun has come out and it quit snowing. Interesting weather. Sort of normal for here. Other places are getting less-normal stuff. Some you know about, but look what the National Weather Services reported today for our friends in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.Actual temperature was about 40°F.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Feb 6

For Feb 5 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 2.02. Events: 2 CSR, 4 H, 15 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 57 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 87, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 92.1%. Pulse avg. 55.5, low 51.

Last night late, I sent the photos to AAC from Friday. John sent me a note to Nick Zentner about the fossil bowl in Clarkia that I need to coordinate with Bill Rember, a geologist and friend from Idaho. He now lives near Fernwood, ID and Emerald Creek on a fossil site of his own. He gives educational tours.

We received at least 8″ of snow overnight, and John started shoveling before 8:00 a.m. on the paths front and back. He worked for 2 hours, came back in for breakfast, and went back outside. Our wonderful neighbor, Allen Aronica, arrived to clear our driveway. I am sure we would not have been able to get out (either of the trucks would), but the cars are lower. We were fortunate nothing was planned and calling us out. At a cousin’s, Allen got his tractor bogged in an off-road hole and had to bring a tracked backhoe to get himself out. He then did a few more driveways and packed for a trip to Arizona.

My car was parked out of the shed because of all the melted snow in my parking space. We did not want the ice to freeze on my tires, but that meant with all the snow overnight, John had a big cleaning job.John early cleaning snow from my rig, about 9:00 a.m.

Forester being de-snowed

This below is my rig being moved back at 11:45, and Allen leaving with the second swipe of cleaning the driveway.

Back to its lair

GOOD NEWS. I had a robot call from Super 1 pharmacy that my prescription was in. I called the pharmacy and asked if it was the Entresto and it was. So, I asked the co-pay cost – if it was the $40 Group Health was going to charge me. I asked if they had run my co-pay from Novartis and they said they did not have the card, but only the one for the free 30-day supply they had sent in. I had given them all numbers for both the free month and the continuing, over a month ago, but I guess it was not loaded in the system, so I called Boston for the proper numbers needed to obtain it.
The pharmacy assistant was going to call me back either way. She ran it and my co-pay is only $10/month for a very expensive drug. I am so happy I went through all the paperwork to apply, got help from my cardiologist’s office (who had to FAX 17 pages of medical information on me to qualify). It is almost a month since I was put on this new drug (Jan 12) and the paperwork trail started. What an awesome feeling. I am writing my cardiologist’s nurse, Colleen, right now to give her the good news and encourage others who might need the drug to go through the process to save the $400-500 / month cost. The only condition is that a person must have a supplemental “commercial” insurance provider (such as I do, with Group Health). Medicare is my primary, and that will not work, nor will it work for people on Medicaid. The pharmaceutical company making the drug is the one offering the co-pay reduction. Did I say – I am quite happy. The previous drug I was on was a generic and still cost me over $70 in cash through GoodRx. It was more than double the cost by going through my regular pharmacy with the formulary used for the co-pay (that was for Telemisartan/ Micardis). Doctors, nurses, and technology = good. System = nuts.

I worked more on our music and finished a draft copy of Johnny Cash’s “Forty Shades of Green” to send to Evie for review. It’s to add to the playlist of Irish songs for March and April.

John’s got a lot of snow moved but is looking for a snowblower sale at the end of this season. We at leftovers for lunch and put a chunk of beef in the Crockpot.

Medical news: Dr. Paul M. Schmitt has been our doctor since 1988. He’s been wanting to retire but the rural community clinic is not high priority for many doctors. Now a new doctor is coming and Paul hopes to stop seeing patients early in May. John will have one last visit on May 1.
The new guy:Our new primary care physician, Dr. Norman Wood, D.O. That is a different form of a Medical Doctor, which appears on the web to be similar, but without specialization, rather being concerned with the whole body’s skeleton and relationships to organs, nerves, muscles, the whole picture merged with attitude and activities of the person (my translation). If you search on Doctor of Osteopathy, you can find a lot of information. Here is part of the introduction we received from the Clinic (now a unit of the local hospital).

Dr Wood has an interesting and varied background. He received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and worked in law enforcement for over ten years, including six years as a special agent for the U.S. Customs Service. He then returned to school to study Medicine at Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, he became the 15th member of his family to become a physician. His oldest son, Matthew, is the 16th.

We are confident that Dr Wood will be a wonderful addition to our team. He has practiced primary care medicine since 1995 and enjoys taking care of entire families. He owned four medical clinics in Maryland and West Virginia before moving to Washington in 2013. Since moving to Washington, he has worked with the Veteran’s Administration and in urgent care.

Outside of his medical career, Dr Wood is an avid bow hunter and enjoys fishing for trout.

In early 2017, Dr Wood will work closely with Dr Schmitt as Dr Schmitt transitions into retirement after 40 years of practicing medicine!

Tuesday, Feb 7

For Feb 6 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.74. Events: 1 CA, 14 H, 3 PP, 25 RERA. Time on 8 hrs 37 min with (max = 21 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low was 89, no events <88% with overall avg., 93.2%. Pulse avg. 53.8.x, low 47.

Jazzercise went well today, with 5 of us there.

I went to my 3:30 appointment for a Shingles shot at 507 Nanum St at the Kittitas County Public Health Dept.

Report on the Shingles Shot, $23 for administrative costs. I was seen by Tim Roth (who will be the speaker next Friday 2/17, at the Ellensburg Adult Activity Center (AAC) at the Health Forum). He has been my friend for a long time, through music at assisted living homes and later when he was a nurse at Royal Vista. It was neat that he was the nurse (the only one to do injections there) to administer my shot. I started with filling in the form asking for my name, location, phone numbers, primary care doctor, and I answered some questions about my medical records. I asked what the $23 administrative costs charge covered. The gals at the front check-in desk said it was for processing the papers with the state, and to cover the time of the medical nurse to interview and administer the shot. He spent 15 minutes with me going over the meaning of the shot, the cause of Shingles, the expectations of the shot, and went through questions of medications I should not be taking to have the shot. He asked my allergies or reactions to any injections, or meds, and a number of other questions about my medical history. He mentioned about its being a Herpes-related virus, about possible reactions to the shot, and what to expect and what not to do and what to do to exercise the arm after the shot. It is not given in the muscle and it is a live vaccine, so that is why the allergy questions are asked. One with a weakened immune system, say from chemo or radiation, should not have the injection. Or, not if a person has been on a prolonged use of steroids, or is allergic to gelatin, or to the antibiotic, Neomycin. The latter two are included in the injection.

Wednesday, Feb 8

For Feb 7 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.17. Events: 2 CSR, 9 H, 12 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 41 min with (max = 20 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 86, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 92.5%. Pulse avg. 57.8, low 49.

I braved the snow and drove to pick up Gloria, and we went to the Food Bank for music and the SAIL exercise class.

I came home tonight, and decided not to go back for tonight’s Nick Zentner lecture. The weather forecast was for nasty stuff – but wrong in the real world. People were in the ditch on my way home. I traveled 20 mph and was stressed (normally, I am okay driving in snow). This all over town was scary, with ice beneath the snow pack and no visibility. I could not get my defrosters to keep up on the front or back windshields.
We are supposed to get a foot of snow (that changed to 2-3″) tonight, and it is coming down hard at 4:00 p.m. I hope I can get out of my driveway tomorrow.

Tonight before we ate dinner (just about 7:00 p.m.), got a call from our neighbor that she had high-centered her car on the deep snow trying to get into her garage. John worked on it for about an hour, but will wait until morning to see about it. She doesn’t have to be to school until 2:00 p.m. so we have a little bit of time.

Thursday, Feb 9

For Feb 8 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.27. Events: 8H, 17 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 19 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 87, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 92.6%. Pulse avg. 55.0, low 50.

John and another neighbor got the next-door neighbor’s car out. Neighbor Ron brought an old tractor-like thing with a rear blade and got the snow out of the driveway. The car, a newer Honda, has nothing to hook on to for pulling – apparently Hondas are not supposed to be used in snow country. By turning the front tires to the side, they got in behind the tire and found a rod or brace made of steel. The rest of the car seemed to be plastic. As the car moved out of the ice holes (she had spun the tires, all 4, hard) John filled those with gravel. Problem solved.

I’m going to town for music at the Meadows Place. I made it there and cleaned the ice off my wipers. The trip in was still a little sketchy with no pavement showing until I reached the Kittitas Highway. All the roads had been shoveled but the view of the edge was not visible, so one had to slow way down when approaching coming traffic.

On my way out, my trip through the ditches across our driveway hit on the ice in the dead cat space and knocked out a chunk of ice. When I got to town, I kicked out the rest I could. On my return trip, I saw what had come out and veered some to the right, but too much, and did not come far enough forward to miss a pile of snow. Sadly, I stopped and added more work to John’s activities to clean up to allow the car to go forward into the parking shed. I am so sorry after all the shoveling he had done for the neighbor last night and this morning.

Friday, Feb 10

For Feb 9 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.93. Events: 2 CSR, 7 H, 17 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 31 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 85 10 events <88% with overall avg., 91.1%. Pulse avg. 55.1, low 50.

I left this morning about 9:15 to drive to the Early Childhood Learning Center, on the CWU campus (in Brooklane Village) to meet two others (Evelyn and Bob, friends from the Food Bank group) to present for 15 minutes to the preschool class of her 5-year old granddaughter. There were 8 children there, a teacher and two assistants. Classes are limited to 15, throughout the day, and they have 50 total students. I got there ahead of the others and asked the receptionist a bunch of questions.

Once we were in the classroom, we each described our musical instruments. Evelyn plays a banjo, I the violin, and Bob had his traveling (smaller) guitar and his harmonica. We visited and met each of the kids and learned their first name. We sang two songs at the start. The first one, several of the kids knew and sang along with us, “You are My Sunshine.” The second one they didn’t know, but we played it, as Bob likes to play the harmonica for it. He starts off and we only play our instruments until the second time through, when we sing the words. Then we did the “Alphabet Song” with all the letters to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and then we did the actual song (Twinkle, Twinkle). The kids knew that one. After that, Evelyn handed a bag of “shakers” to the teacher, who distributed them to the children. We wanted them to keep time to the music, and they did a good job.

The first song we did sang with them (and they did the gestures as well), was

If you’re happy and you know it 
Clap your hands. Clap, Clap. 
If you’re happy and you know it 
Clap your hands. Clap, Clap.
If you’re happy and you know it 
and you really want to show it 
If you’re happy and you know it 
Clap your hands. Clap, Clap.

Other verses include stomp your feet and shout Hooray! Finally, the last verse has all included. They had much fun with that one.

Finally, we sang, “Old McDonald Had a Farm” and had them keep time to the music again. They did well. We tried to have all the kids pick an animal, and managed to get a few different ones, Cow, Horse, Chicken, Kitty, Pig, Sheep, even a Fox for one little girl named Audrey. I asked her what sound a Fox made, and she sniffed – so that’s what we all did. We had 3 wanting Pig, but we only did it twice. Finally, we ended with Dog.

They all stood up to say thank you and goodbye, and we went on our way. We all had a good time.

Ocean’s dad was there and took a video, but had my old camera in his hand and snapped a few pictures. I forgot to set the focus for him, so they are not in good focus, but you can get the idea.Evelyn and I listening to the children introducing themselves.

Bob, Evelyn, and I playing Oh! Susanna. I was wearing my Washington Old Time fiddlers hat.

It was sleeting when we came out, but the fog had cleared. When I left home the skies were blue, sun was shining, and everything was melting. I drove a little over 4 miles and ran into thick fog, so much that I had to turn on my headlights. I was in thick fog for the rest of my trip.

After we left the school, I needed gasoline and stopped. It was still sleeting. I remembered to use my Discover card, which is giving a 5% rebate on gasoline purchases for Jan-Mar. Our CITI Visa card gives 4% year-round. So my per gallon reduction was $.12/gal, making my cost $2.30/gal. We had only paid $2.29 I think the last time at Costco, where we get 4% off.

I left there for the feed store, where I got 50# of Critter 14 for the deer. They seem to be in need of food with all the ice and snow covering everything. We have given them two deer blocks they are also working on, when they are not checking the horse hay for seed heads.

From there I went to the Food Bank. Neither of the other two musicians could go, but I have friends from the horse club we were members of for 20 years, who always cook on Fridays there, so I went alone. I saw the director, Brooke, on my way in, and she was so appreciative I had come by. I set myself up and played for 20 minutes, until one of the regulars (Michael) came in for his meal, said to me, but it is not Wednesday, and I said I know, but I was in town with my fiddle, so I thought I would come by. He came over and stood behind me and sang with me the last song, “Your Cheating Heart.” We had fun. I put my violin away and went to be served. It was a great casserole with sausage, noodles, toasted breadcrumbs, all in a neat cream sauce, a serving of buttery corn niblets, a nice mixed green salad with red & yellow peppers, a sugarcoated cherry-filled piece of cake, and milk for a drink.

While there, I got a couple of donuts for us and some cake. Starbucks donates their day old stuff. The Food Bank encourages people to come in any time during the day for coffee and treats.

I came home to work on music for our group for the next two months. It has to be ready to go in 2 weeks.

Saturday, Feb 11

For Feb 10 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 3.17. Events: 5 CSR, 28 H, 1 OA, 17 RERA. Time on 9 hrs 9 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 87, 1 event <88% with overall avg., 92.7%. Pulse avg. 54.4, low 50.

For music lovers:
From my friend and flute player, Amy Davison, in our music group, if you have access to Facebook, check this out. The Devil Went down to Georgia, a guy, a guitar, and a washing machine.

Devil went down

For dog lovers: one more video of from my friend and dog lover, Rich Kim, of a blind dog whose “seeing eyes” companion is another dog. This will cheer you up, if you have access to Facebook.

Seeing Dogs

I worked more on meds and bills, and music. John started the trucks, let them warm and charge some, and worked more in the yard with snow and ice and icicle removal. This is the first year in about 5 that we’ve had big icicles. Like Goldilock’s porridge, the weather cannot be too hot nor too cold.

He had to feed the horses and cats before we left for the Grange for a Scholarship Fundraiser dinner. Every cent for the ticket entry ($15 each) and any extra donations once there, go to fund the student scholarships. One faithful long-time Grange member covers the cost of all the food. Three students received awards last year, and they sent greetings by video from their respective universities.

We were supposed to be at the Swauk Teanaway Grange, (on Ballard Road, Cle Elum) for the doors to open at 5:30. We got there at 5:15, and the parking lot was already filled, so we had to park on the Ballard Hill Road below. It was an uphill walking trip, but John was kind enough to go get the car and come up to pick me up at the end. I was extremely grateful. While I had on my boots, I did not want to risk falling on the ice.

The meal — a big effort by Jim & Patti Gylling — offered colored pasta, hot veggies (Carrots, Broccoli, and Cauliflower), ravioli, spaghetti sauce, sausage purchased at the local Owens Meats, a quality shop in Cle Elum, garlic bread with cheese, a salad with greens (spinach & beet greens, olives, tomatoes, carrots), and pie for dessert w/ whipped cream. The moon was full and bright on the drive home. We had good roads for much of the trip, except the last 5 miles or so off Hwy 97. John drove us up and back. It is about a 45-minute trip and a little over 25 miles one-way.
All people connected with education in any way were asked to fill out a pink index card with the years, location, and what they did (taught, assisted, drove bus). After dinner each was asked to stand to be honored for their service to education, and the descriptions on the pink cards were read by Claire Lucke, the leader of our Grange. I was the one with the longest record of teaching, 41 years: 22 at CWU, 15 at U of Idaho, 2 at U Iowa, 2 at Georgia State U. I left out my teaching at the Univ. of Cincinnati, where I taught computer programming. I also taught math and English in a downtown Atlanta Business School in my first year of college, where I was taking Gregg shorthand. The courses I mostly taught in 4 states were geography and GIS. John was recognized for his teaching as well in PA, ID, GA, and WA. He started teaching high school math and earth science in 1964/65.Claire’s introduction (pink cards in her hand for later). Part of the crowd being served. John and I are at the far end of the middle table. After dinner, we watched a very nice presentation on the big screen, made by Jim Gylling – including videos of and by each of the three specifically to be shown at the fundraiser dinner. He and his wife, Patti, had put on the dinner and program again this year. Last year, their son was one of three recipients of a $1,000 scholarship. Travis reported about his studies in the Department of Aviation at the Univ. of North Dakota, even taking us up in a Cessna and a Piper (I think).  Going through all his books and equipment was instructive. They reported via video from their respective universities – Holly at the Univ. of Idaho studying civil engineering (and enjoying mathematics classes, such as Differential Equations), and Kimberly at Creighton University, a private school in Omaha, NB, majoring in English and related topics (philosophy, ethics, ?). They all did a fantastic job of thanking the Grange members.  

Here we are after dinner:Many people had left and we were visiting and waiting for the parking lot to clear so John could retrieve the car and pick me up. We visited with Joy Rucker and her mom, Babs Ballard.This was the scene at 5:15 p.m. when we arrived from the east on Ballard Hill. People were coming out of the parking lot to park on the road. We stopped uphill from the driveway. I got out and John parked the car close to the edge. Then we walked down the snow-covered road, up the driveway, and to the front door (right of the steeple, back ~ 3/4 of the building. There is a parking lot in front and behind the building, with a smaller one at the entrance (left above).

Below you can see the setting in good weather.Note the car on the far right – that is about where we parked in the snow and walked.

Sunday, Feb 12

For Feb 11 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=2.83. Events: 2 CSR, 1 CA, 1 OA, 16 H, 16 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 57 min with (max = 19 L/min). Ended 5:00 a.m., back without anything (Oximeter either) until 9:00. Oximetry: SpO2 low 88, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 92.7%. Pulse avg. 52.4, low 47.

John has done the morning feedings and is cooking brunch now.
Ham, fried potatoes, and a cheese/mushroom omelet. I need to fix the card to send to Dr. Sharma. I am going to put Charlie’s picture playing guitar in our group, mine with violin at Veteran’s Day by flag at AAC, and mine with Ted Leber and Santa Claus at the AAC, with a thank you for performing our open-heart surgeries and wish him well on his recovery (from open-heart surgery). I have been alternating with blog work and washing dishes. John’s been outside some today, feeding animals and moving (not much) snow.

The grape vine pruners are e-mailing back and forth about that, but the nasty weather is not giving up. John thinks it will be another week before he starts. Others may try to get a few hours in, but even that seems unlikely.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, Jan 30

For Jan 29 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.91. Events: 5 H, 14 RERA. Time on 5 hrs 28 min with (max = 15 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 82, 13 events <88% with overall avg., 91.7%. Pulse avg. 53.9, low 50.

I finished letters for Elaine Glenn for nomination of her for CWU’s Distinguished Non-tenure Track Teaching Award. She is quite deserving and I certainly hope the process works in her favor. I created one and provided a copy of one with updates for Morris Uebelacker from 2013.

Today, I spent a lot of time working on the jobs list, birthdays, and things we have not been able do without an Internet connection. We still are limping along hoping to get a new modem installed this week.

Front yard activity of the day. John saw our Rascal in the Mountain Ash tree above the bird feeder. No chance he’d be able to capture one, but to get him out, John went to the front door and called him in. He came and was rewarded with cheese bits.

Cruel Clever Cat:

Sally, having swallowed cheese,
Directs down holes the scented breeze,
Enticing thus with baited breath
Nice mice to an untimely death.

{Geoffrey Taylor}

He has not returned, so that’s a good thing. We keep the cats around and appreciate them for their mousing prowess.

Tuesday, Jan 31

For Jan 30 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI 3.16. Events: 1 CSR, 18 H, 2 OA, 2 PP, 12 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 20 min with (max = 23 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 81, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 91.8%. Pulse avg. 53.6, low 50.

I succeeded yesterday in charging my old smaller camera (Casio Exilim) so I could videotape with a lot less bandwidth. Today, I took all the old pictures from the 16 Gig SD card, so it is ready to use. I will be able to store movies in a small enough bandwidth to pass them through wetransfer.com as an emailed file, and even send them to YouTube, which I cannot do with 30 minutes recorded on my Nikon camera (those are almost 4 gigs). I took a movie of the bird feeder today, and a couple of pictures, just to be sure it was working properly. One photo caught one of the deer jumping the fence to eat sunflower seeds from beneath the bird feeder. Most animals, including the pheasant, just walk in the open front gate (during wintertime). Pheasant shares with the quail and deer inside and outside the fence. Right photo shows a doe jumping over the fence. The deer are also raiding our plate of feline hard food at the front door. John now has put 5-gallon buckets all around the entrances to keep the deer out, but allow the cats in. We have 4 feral cats eating our dry food.

Today I went by the bread room for things for friends, on my way to Jazzercise. I stopped off at Safeway for two more dozen eggs on the last day of the lower excellent price as last week. Five people showed up for exercise. On my way home, I picked up two meds for under $10. Nice. One is for my heart and for 3 months is only $5. Why does the other heart medication have to cost over $400 (yet I still do not know what my co-pay will be).

I expected to find out today what my cost was going to be, but Novartis left a message we received late afternoon, by sending a letter to say they had tried several times to reach me by phone, but it was too late to call them on EST. We never had a call from Boston or from Novartis registered on our Caller ID, or a message left last week at all.

I spent some time tonight helping report a stolen identity of a former student (on Facebook). A former student, now in Texas, had done the same favor for me when my ID was stolen several years ago. Knowledge comes from someone requesting you to be their “friend.” If you are already a friend, then you know it is bogus. The stealer will say hello, how are you, and proceed to tell you about how they came into a bunch of money, and saw your name on the list of awardees.

Wednesday, Feb 1

For Jan 31 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.93. Events: 2 CSR, 7 H, 7 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 33 min with (max = 20 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 87, 1 events <88% with overall avg., 91.8%. Pulse avg. 52.9, low 50.

I made an early call to Novartis in Boston. I will have to call again for a clarification because after calling the Pharmacy at Group Health with questions about my cost of the co-pay, I received conflicting comments.

I left to pick up Gloria, give her some chocolate chips from our Costco-bulk package, go to the food bank, and play music. Once there we checked the bread room and found something for her and I picked up 6 packages of hamburger rolls to take to the Senior Center for them to use with the hamburgers they are fixing for the Friday potluck. We went there after lunch to SAIL exercise class.

I heard that my heart surgeon, Dr. Sharma, also had to have open-heart surgery (and a double bypass). I called his office in Yakima and found out where to send cards. I am going to make a special card with pictures of three of us who had surgery on our hearts by him, and get it in the mail.

I called in my prescription refill request to my Pharmacy here in Ellensburg, for a month of Entresto, because I will run out of my free 30-day supply on Feb 12, and they have to order a supply ahead. I am the only person in Ellensburg going through that pharmacy for the new heart drug.

Tonight is Nick Zentner’s talk at the city library on Ancient Rivers of the Pacific Northwest. Actually the rivers are the same ones – they just keep moving around. They existed on an ancient landscape that continues to change.

I took my old camera and sadly, I did not have an extra battery, or my newer camera so I missed the last 15-20 minutes of an excellent talk. At least it was being recorded from the back of the room, and will be available in a couple of weeks on the CWU site via YouTube.

Ancient PNW Rivers – chalk board

Part 2: 12 min. of visuals

I came home and ordered an additional SP50 battery while they are still available. I think I have had this camera since the turn of the century, or at least since 2004.

Thursday, Feb 2

For Feb 1 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 1.66. Events: 11 H, 20 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 39 min with (max = 16 L/min). Oximetry: None to report. I exhausted the oximeter’s battery, but charged it all night, so it is ready for tonight.

Rich Lange, Fairpoint technician brought and installed a new modem and fixed our reception and speed “in” (download) to 5K and “out” (upload) to 1K. We were previously half that. I hope this finally gives us the Internet service and WIFI we have been paying for and suffering through outages.

Today was a Fiddlers & Friends play date at the Rehab Center. We had a full room (too much so probably for fire safety rules), of audience mostly in wheelchairs, and a good number of our group there to entertain. Sadly, our lead fiddler was sick and had to stay home. We had our tambourine lady, banjo man, three guitar guys, a resident (previously our accordionist), harmonica fellow, fiddler, and flute playing gal with her daughter dancing and drawing a color crayon picture for a favorite resident who loves her and calls her by name (Haley), when she arrives. His name is Mac. He had a stroke and can no longer read, but he knows all the words, sings along, and applauds our songs. In fact, today, he met me at the front door and opened it to welcome me. His wife comes down for every one of our performances from Cle Elum and helps me by handing out and picking up the song sheets. People are in such bad shape there (it is an acute care center), that only 4 or 5 can sing along with the booklet of lyrics. We gave a good presentation. I was able to visit with my old roommate from there (in 2010). Her name is Mae, and she is 95. I also visited with a friend I knew through the Kittitas Valley Trail Riders club. She used to follow our group to events around town, and has continued, while now at the Rehab facility. She loved our Johnny Cash song, “I’ll Walk the Line,” because her husband sang it to her early in their relationship (he has since passed on).

On my way home I stopped by the bread room and picked up some angel food cake loaves to go with the pound of pound cake we are taking to the Super Bowl party at the senior center tomorrow (topped with our own strawberries from the freezer). They were also giving away small apples and I was asked to take some. I brought home 14# (they have to weigh for their records). We have eaten or given away all the Gala and HoneyCrisp apples we previously had from picking across the valley, and gave away most of the recent Fuji apples given to us.

I turned around and drove back to town with John to the Science II building on the CWU campus for an IAF lecture. I took my old camera with a newly charged battery, and managed to record all 1 hr and ten minutes !! Here it is below:First People of the Americas (as revealed by their skeletal remains) by James Chatters [left most above – red shirt, with Nick Zentner, CWU Geologist.] [CWU Anthropology Prof. Steve Hackenberger, right, waiting to introduce Jim]

BONES

You can look up James Chatters on Wikipedia, if you do not recall knowing of him regarding his research on Kennewick man. This evening he used research from several places of North & Central America.

Friday, Feb 3

For Feb 2 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 3.53. Events: 4 CSR, 12 H, 2 OA, 7 RERA. Time on 3 hrs 58 min with (max = 16 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 79, 19 events <88% with overall avg., 92.7%. Pulse avg. 53.9, low 47.

I contacted the Kittitas County Public Health Department and am scheduled for Tuesday, 1/7, at 3:30 for a Shingles Shot for $23 to cover paper processing costs. Cash or check, or there’s an extra fee to use a credit card.
Here you can read the full press release about a free (considering the pharmacy price is over $200) shot that only costs $23:
Free Shingles Vaccine

John and I went to a Super Bowl party today at the Senior Center. It was just a normal first Friday of the month potluck, but people were supposed to wear sports-related clothes. I wore my Seattle Seahawks baseball cap, and the colors, white, blue, green, and yellow. John (seen later) wore his Phillies jacket, red, white, and blue. His was the only special thing insofar as others frequently wear hats or something with the Seattle teams logos. If Nancy had had anything with Atlanta on it, she would have worn it.

We took our potluck offering, a large platter of sliced pound cake and angel food cake with a pound and a half of our own homegrown (and frozen) strawberries. It was a success. The pound cake is around the bowl of strawberries, and the angel food cake surrounds the edges. We carried 4 bags of strawberries, in 8-ounce bags. We only brought 1 bag home, and perhaps only 1/4 of all the cake. I was the photographer, because the staff and volunteers were busy cooking and serving. Therefore, I did not get in any of the pictures, but if you want to see all the photos I took, check on Facebook next week for the page for “Ellensburg Adult Activity Center”. The AmeriCorps gals will post the pictures I took.

Saturday, Feb 4

For Feb 3 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 2.62. Events: 1 CSR, 1 CA, 15 H, 1 OA, 3 PP, 20 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 15 min with (max = 22 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 87, 1 event <88% with overall avg., 93.0%. Pulse avg. 54.8%, low 49.

I went to a neat birthday party at the Hoffman’s home for Noella Wyatt’s 64th. The theme was cats with a Crazy Cat Lady cake. We were served lasagna, salad, and bread with the culminating large piece of cake. The decoration chocolates went home with the birthday gal. Each of the participants took home some lasagna and a large piece of cake. Our servings were large because John was included.Noella Wyatt with cake, photo left by Nancy Hoffman, and ones on right by me of the cake. Note from the back of the sofa, the litter of chocolate cats, and others all over, and under the cake. Notice the very clever scratching marks on the sofa’s right side, middle lower right photo. Even the sofa is edible.

Sunday, Feb 5

For Feb 4 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=1.10. Events: 1 CSR, 9 H, 20 RERA. Time on 8 hrs 13 min with (max = 17 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 87, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 92.1%. Pulse avg. 55.5, low 51.

We awoke to snow, but only a little over an inch. It is still snowing, and John has finished the morning chores. About 2:00 p.m., he went back out to feed the horses, it started snowing harder, and now at almost 6:00 p.m., it is snowing hard with bigger flakes. At this rate, our total is going to be over the 1 to 3 inches that was forecast for today. During the night they first thought another 2 to 4 inches; now saying 3 to 5. Are we not blessed? I am glad my dental appointment was canceled, as I will be able to stay home.

I need to get this over to John for his editing and putting into WordPress for publishing. Then I need to get to work on finishing cropping all the photos I took Friday to email them to the AAC to have awaiting them when they arrive at 8:00 a.m. (or sooner).
I fixed cat food today for 3 cats, and await Sue to come to the front door for her dinner. She might stay at a neighbor’s barn and catch a mouse.
I must begin work on Johnny Cash’s “Forty Shades of Green” to add to the playlist for Irish songs for our group’s playlist for March and April.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan