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Cold snuck into Washington State in early March and continues. A University Professor (u. of WA) says it is the coldest early March since 1989. That March, Nancy was in EBRG and I was still in Troy. A few months later we began moving into the current house.
It looks like this coming Wednesday will be the tip-day into spring. Nighttime temps are still in the low 30s, but days are near 50 and soon to be in the 60s.
The wood stove, a Blaze King Chinook 30, is doing 97% of the heating. The hall thermostat is set on 69°. If I sleep late or am away, the heat pump comes on and the fan pushes air around and it takes only a few minutes to move warm air from the area of the stove. The compressor does add a little heat (not much) and the electric resistance heaters do not turn on.

The Blaze King stoves are manufactured in Walla Walla, about 125 miles SE of me. The photo is a promotional one from the web.
When gone for many hours, I turn the thermostat down to 65°. When I get home, I add fuel to the stove and set the fan to “circulate.” It then runs for 5 minutes, shuts off, and comes back in about 10 minutes. Running the fan also pushes air through filters. Smoke I manage to introduce while fueling the stove is soon gone.
A complication occurs when the outside temperature warms into the 60s. The stove is best run at a high temperature with the hot air and gasses going through a catalytic burner. What goes up the flu is quite clean – so says the EPA that tests these things. Operating the stove I have at such a temperature makes the house too warm. Then it is time to let it burn out, clean it up, and let the heat pump warm the house. In July and August, the system reverses and cools the air.

We have been pruning vines from 1:00 to 4:00, trying to hit a sweet spot of temperature and low wind. Some days are better than others. In a week I suspect we will switch to mornings.

When I create one of these posts, the default setting is to allow comments. I have to remember to change that. Last week I forgot. Near the end of the week I got a notice from Word Press that I should moderate the comments.
There were about 30. Half of those were in Russian or some other script. The other half were nonsense stuff by people suggesting I buy something, look at their web site, or order a wife from the Philippines. A few years ago I missed re-setting the comments box on a dozen posts. It took 2 or 3 hours to clear up the mess.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

Pruning of grapevines just started. I’ve only managed two days of 3 hours. We have completed the rows (unseen) to the left of the cat’s head and neck. The others have done 4 or 5 days, but I’ve been doing other things.
The medical checkup showed no changes since last year. Next month is a visit to the optometrist.

I’ve trimmed the lower branches of more pine trees but still have lots of clean-up to do. Half of the stuff will go to compost and the larger pieces will go to the firewood pile. Pine needles and the small branches take several years to decompose so that gets piled out of the way. The branches need about 18 months to dry to about 11% moisture.

I made several dozen cookies (chocolate chip & pecans) so I would have a snack on the drive home. Also, I have made and frozen pork ribs in serving-size packages and a couple of other meals. Altogether I think a have three weeks of evening meals without having to get serious about cooking. Microwave ovens and freezers are two of the greatest inventions since the pith of the papyrus sedge was used to make a flat surface to write on. That was about 5,000 years ago.

Weather folks claim the mountains just to my west are going to get two or three feet of snow this coming week. Me? Four to six inches. We’ll see.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

Warming up by this coming Wednesday, when I expect to start pruning vines at White Heron.

TIAS – there is always something

#1: For 8:00 am, the Ford dealer’s repair shop scheduled my truck for a partreplacement. Last week their computer system showed the part was on the shelf. It wasn’t. I was less peeved only because I had two other errands in EBRG. Truck and me are rescheduled for 9:00 on Friday. I don’t want to have to be in there again at 8.

#1-a: The truck was attended to on Friday (9am to 1 pm) and only cost me $835.83 , including $71.28 tax. WA does not have an income tax so I guess I shouldn’t complain. The problem started when the connection to the Third Brake Light (on the canopy) connection corroded and also damaged the factory installed brake & trailer hitch module. That part’s cost was a little more than half of the total, $442.22. They did not attempt to reconnect the 3rd brake light and suggested not to do so.

#2: I ordered a used book from ThriftBooks (via Walmart website). The shipping info started in Dallas on Feb. 7th. The book is well traveled.
Dallas, TX
Grand Prairie, TX
North Las Vegas, NV
Portland, OR
Seattle, WA
Spokane, WA – delivery is expected Thursday

On Wednesday, I was asked to rate the purchase by Walmart before the book arrived.

TIAS #3
Thursday – “Medicare Wellness”** visit at the Cle Elum clinic
Tues – next – “Chronic Conditions Visit”

The government claims this is a “free” visit – Medicare takes $174.70 per month from my Social Security. How is that free?

It would make sense to call these “Annual health check-up” I & II.

We have a two part medical deal.
Today it is called “Medicare Wellness” and not much is accomplished. There is a questionnaire, vital signs, and a blood draw. Draw a clock face and remember 3 words for 5 minutes. I remembered 2 from this trial and 1 from last year. Oops!
Next Tuesday the visit is called the “Chronic Conditions Visit” where the same vital signs are again taken and then the “doctor” goes over the blood test results. “Chronic” got attached to this because thyroid, blood pressure, and cholesterol are things we always have with us.
Chelse (PA-C, my doctor) and I also completed a new POLST form. You can look it up.
Use the search phrase: polst programs in your state

I guess if one had medical issues of a serious and continuing nature there would be more to this visit. For me, we’ll discuss blood pressure, cholesterol, and thyroid – – I have a pill for each.
My preferred method would be to go have the blood drawn and skip the “wellness” part – – I think that is for the Medicare agency to collect information on smoking, drinking, and a few other items so they can have data on the overall health of USA old folks.

So, I really won’t learn much until next Tuesday. My appointment is at 9:00 There is a slight chance of rain or snow, likely rain when I leave at 8 am.

That is all the stuff going on here.
Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan

John

The rest of the world is anything but cool and calm, but here on the Naneum Fan nothing happened this week. The deer wander around occasionally finding something to eat. A few years ago with deep snow and cold they would eat the buds and green needles from limbs I cut from pine. This year they have mostly ignored such things. I plan today to cut a young Black Cottonwood to see what they think of the tips and buds. (I trim some in the cold weather thinking there are fewer diseases floating around to land on the scars. And, the activity is vigorous enough that I don’t get cold. High today was 45°)
The forecast for the mountains claims snow, noonish and not much is happening. Matsaaruti (sort of a wet mist; a term from Siberia – I think) reported at Stevens Pass and graupel (snow pellets) at other places above 4,000 feet. After dark, all the passes are messy with rain, snow, and slush. Accidents expected.

I mentioned on January 28th that my retirement funds advisor at Vanguard
had been replaced. I had a discussion with the new person on Wednesday. Her name is Kelsey Ertmer – rare last name in the U.S. of A.
The past couple of years I have taken the Required Minimum Distribution (called the RMD) in January and used it to fund scholarships at CWU. Part goes for this year – called “current use” and a larger part to the endowment fund in Nancy’s and my name. I am also going to send a small amount to the Cascade Carnivore Project – If that doesn’t ring a bell, see “A Red Fox named MICA”:

A Red Fox named MICA

Monthly, I also will be taking a small amount for expenses because over the past 14 years (since Nancy retired from the University) prices of have gone up a bit over 40%. Below is a dollar in 2010 and on the right in 2024.

When we came to EBRG in 1988 a loaf of English Muffin Bread sold for 98¢. Today the same bread is $3.50. Ouch.
The price of seeds for wild birds has also exploded. Luckily, the birds are still the same size as they were 30 years ago.

The Superbowl game ended just now with the Kansas City Chiefs winning in overtime. I hope your team won. I don’t care.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan

John H

What I sent sister Peggy for her birthday: Had I really sent such things I would be much poorer. In the lower center is a blooming shamrock. {We have an Irish Grandmother.}
Having no idea how to obtain a shamrock, I just called her and wished her well.

In her honor, I went and got a haircut, so I am no longer an Albert Einstein/Bernie Sanders look-a-like.The site, Bored Panda, linked to here has interesting snow photos:

https://www.boredpanda.com/freezing-cold-winter-temperature-pics/?cexp_id=87417&cexp_var=9&_f=featured

The ice and snow one has redundancies. I found this one more interesting:

https://www.boredpanda.com/stupid-people-work/

Work on the house: {including stupid people at work}
Water (snow melt) has been dripping from the roof onto the covered patio at the back sliding door. Today is the third time we have tried to figure out what is happening. Will 3 be the charm? It has been a frustrating thing because why it drips isn’t apparent. Until the roof was put over the patio there wasn’t any notion of a problem. Something might have been going on prior to the new cover. With the new covering, there should not be dripping.

A hypothesis today is that water is running along a metal flange at the roof’s edge after flowing down a “valley” – – photo:
At noon, the roof is torn apart, problems found and so, Fix#3 is underway.

New (LED) ceiling lights are being installed in the kitchen. Adjustable colors are built-in to the lights and the wall switch can be a dimmable type. There are two types of adjustable color temperature LEDs: those that shift to the lower temperatures when you dim, referred to as “warm glow” or “warm dim,” and those that are adjustable at any intensity, which are referred to as “selectable color temperature.” Bedroom lights, also LED, will be dimmable at the wall switch; or just on/off. [Well, that didn’t happen.]

The kitchen lights will be above translucent panels (with a pattern the supplier calls Mosaic Highway ). The color temperature switch has 3 settings so one will have to be chosen with the idea that it will be semi-permanent. I’ll have to leave a note for any new resident as to how it can be changed.
The options are 3,000, 4,000, and 5,000 K {temperature}. For now the wall-switch is standard on/off. The lights are “warm glow” capable and give a golden appearance to the entire 4’x8′ opening.

Under the heading “There is always something” …
With a new light in a bedroom and a dimmer switch installed and all working fabulously . . . a few minutes later nothing in the room worked.. . . and the ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) just outside on the wall failed. An attempted reset “clicked” but that didn’t help. Flipping circuit breakers in the house panel didn’t help. But, we did know enough to stop.
Next day we requested a visit by Todd, local master electrician, who solved all the problems in the time it took him to shake his head three times and look at us in a disdainful manner.
We also determined the newly installed light was not of the dimmable type and/or the dimmer switch was incompatible. Another light – claiming to be dimmable – did not work either. For that one, the directions give a web site to learn what switches will work, so, more to do.
At this point, all the lights in the house are energy efficient light-emitting diodes {LEDs}. A small shed – where lights are rarely needed – still has screw-in fixtures (E27 type) patented in 1881 by Thomas Edison. I have bulbs.

If a parent tells you their child is an angel, remind them that so was Lucifer.

Here the “January Thaw” is not very strong, but still appreciated.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan

John