Category: Post Visit

A public service message interrupted the radio today to alert listeners of a fire about 70 miles south of me. Someone unfamiliar with the area read the message. The pronunciations of the local names were so bad that by the time I recognized the place of the fire, the details of the message were lost to me. This was a Yakima station.
I think this is a problem caused by consolidation of the industry so that on-air voices are not always local. When the Ellensburg station was sold and incorporated into a multi-station system, the top-of-the-hour news was plagued by this issue, and by including news from distant places in WA State that EBRG residents barely recognize.
The telephone (land line) system has changed owners, again. When we arrived in 1989 the company was local. Then came Consolidated Communications, and now something calling itself Lightcurve, formerly Rainier Connect, out of Tacoma.

Another failure:
Prelude – context:
Back in 1963, I rode passenger trains from Pennsylvania to California. From Chicago, the train was “The San Francisco Chief”. See Wikipedia. From Flagstaff, I took a bus trip north to the Grand Canyon’s south rim. The next leg was west into CA, through the Tehachapi Loop, and north toward Bakersfield. Next: on north to Richmond, with a bus ride into San Francisco.

Modern period:
When California started its high-speed rail project in 2008, I was hoping to someday make that trip. Their plan was to spend $33 Billion on 800 miles of track. Hope is not a plan, and I have given up. 16 years later, here is a photo of the only part of the system that is near completion; 1,600 feet of elevated (over the 40 ft-wide river) track. Current estimated cost is $130 Billion. At the rate of progress, the full system would be completed in 42,000 years.
Maybe I should just ride Amtrak from Leavenworth to Everett – via an 8 mi. tunnel under Stevens Pass – and call it good.

Wednesday was Milwaukee Tool day at a local hardware/lumber store. The young rep came over from Tacoma. This time of year, she is on the road 3 or 4 times each week. She was, also, a hiker, so we had a couple of things to talk about. I bought a $12 saw blade and got $5 hot dog. In the past, lunch included a canned drink and a small bag of chips. This year both of those items were gone. High prices cause cutting costs.

I, and a couple hundred others, attended the retirement event for Ruth Harrington. 50 years of breakfasts, brunches, lunches, and so on raising funds for CWU students. Her role will be downsized and two others will carry on. This was the 3rd time this year I was in the large ballroom in the student union building. Except for the sports facilities, I think this is the largest room on campus.

Wind this week averaged about 25mph with gusts into the 40s. I worked outside only as much as I had to. Not much.
Does the wind always blow like this? No, sometimes it blows harder. Come Tuesday, single digits, maybe.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

I saw a photo of Beef Wellington and wondered about the ingredients.
One recipe starts with Duxelles, being a French word it is italicized. With Wellington being English, the plot thickens. I had to ask about the pronunciation of the first of these. I guess ‘duck sells’ comes close. The concept is to take mushrooms and other stuff, chop it up, and thicken it. I learned I needed mushrooms, shallots, garlic, fresh thyme, olive oil and also: prosciutto, puff pastry, chives, cream, brandy, green peppercorn sauce, and freshly ground black pepper. None of these do I have.
I decided a simpler concept would create something similar. Thus the photo. I expect a slight taste and texture difference. If you don’t care, you might be a redneck.

Well, this was a serious week. There was a CWU dinner of the retired folks. A new-to-campus Provost made short comments and a student was introduced and given a $1,600 award. I had met him a few weeks earlier at a university-wide (similar) function. He is of a farm-workers family in the south part of the State. His major is chemistry. I started college in summer 1961 as a chemistry major. I talked briefly with one of his professors (known to me from a Brittany connection) and the department Chair. That was Tuesday evening.

Wednesday involved a trip to the dentist for a small filling. In the first room the water/suction hoses didn’t work. We moved. The dentist and assistant are very competent – and taciturn. That is very unlike the prior dentist where the atmosphere was chatty.

Thursday was back to CWU. The sponsor, again, was the retirement association. This was a nearly 2-hour presentation by a university professor. The topic was estate planning – wills and such. Phyllis and Cameron came.
They are my “personal representatives”, so there is that. Their situation is more complicated (and out-of-date) than mine. They have the vineyard and winery and two grown sons; one lives there and helps with the operation. This was a good stimulus for us to get our affairs in order.

Friday I went over and we bottled 300 gallons of 2020 vintage Merlot. A bottle came apart just as I took it from the corker. The glass separated at the shoulder {the sloping part between neck and body}. This was not like an explosion, but perhaps a weak bottle and just enough air pressure to cause the break. Except for the mess, no harm was done. As usual, we had a lunch, and being a nice day, we went outside. My contribution was a selection of cake pieces from the grocery store bakery. Sort-of like this:

Saturday is warm – about 88°. Sunday is to cool by 10 degrees. That trend is expected to continue, so by next Saturday the high is to be about 63; uncertainty is high a week out. Word for the week is “Breezy.” Of course.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

Well not quite. May 31 was the last day of classes. Monday is listed as a “study day” but I don’t relate to that. Then finals, with commencement on June 8th – next Saturday.
On Wednesday, Geography had a party, inside because of the wind. After visiting and food, the professors did a tag-team like pronouncement of awards. Funds of nearly $25,000, from about eight donors (some deceased) are available. I came home with 8 hoagie type sandwiches and a few other things. I think each award is $1,000, to be used next school year as the student desires. {I need to check on this.} The Nancy & John pot provided four awards.

Friday was the last of the luncheons in the Ruth Harrington series for the group I’m in. Ruth has organized these for 50 years and is exiting the task. A ceremony is scheduled for the 15th in her honor – all the groups will attend, but the number is unknown to me now. Two people have agreed to co-chair the continuing series that started at $1.5 per lunch and is now $6. A member provides a meal, so the year cost is greater. All the six dollars goes to the Foundation. Over the 50 years this has totaled about $1.5 million.
Emphasis has been to support single parents and, more recently, local high school seniors enrolling at CWU.
There are two more events I will go to next week and that should do my college days until September.

At home, the normal things keep me busy. When the sun is intense, I try to work in the shade of the big shed; was brown, now blue. A current project is building a box-like enclosure to place in front of an installed animal door. The flexible plastic door is supposed to latch with magnets. In the image the metal strip is over the dog’s collar.
Even though my door is under the roof of a deck and not on the windy side of the house, it still blows open when gusts go over 25 mph. The box I’m building will have a similar door but facing differently, I hope the 2-door set-up will reduce the “open time.” Maybe by next week I will have this project done.
Why? Because starting Sunday morning Washington State is going to get wet. West of the Cascade Crest this will be significant. Here on the Naneum Fan it will likely be three days of wet, cool, and windy weather. Late Tuesday, the drizzle should end.
Thus, I’ll be working in the shed, reading, or napping.

Blooming this week, a native called Narrowfruit biscuit-root (Lomatiumbrevifolium). Apparently this is also misidentified as Nineleaf Desert Parsley, (Lomatium triternatum). It is above my pay scale to know such things.

Keeping track
on the Naneum fan.
John

I have been cleaning the brush along a fence line. I want to mow along this because the area is “ladder-fuel” for larger trees. Unfortunately my neighbor likes the natural ambiance, so her side is loaded with brush, trees, and dead/dry material. The cleaner my side is, the more resistant it is to fire coming from that direction.
Three plants are most troublesome: Sweet autumn clematis, Washington Hawthorn, and elderberry. The first is a climbing vine that smothers other plants. Elderberry is a nice plant until it grows tall and starts to die up where one needs a ladder to remove the branches. At this point a small tree develops a top as burnable as newspaper. Hawthorn is a small tree with hard wood, pretty blossoms and berries, and thorns.

The branches do not grow in a neat fashion. They go every which-a-way. The problem is getting rid of them without being impaled by the thorns. Two years ago I managed to get a thorn through the sidewall of a truck tire. The solution was a new tire. Ouch!About 10 years ago I bought a Gorilla garden cart. The tires were not tough and after 3 thorn-flats, I had the tires filled with foam. At that time the cost was $1/pound. It took 8 pounds per tire. No flats since, but I have to pull an extra 32 pounds around. I do use the cart a lot; gave the wheel barrow away.

It has been suggested that I move into a town apartment and leave the aggravations out in the country. Not seeing that just yet.
Memorial Day will have the best weather we have had for weeks. A high near 72° and light wind. Wind above 25 mph and gusting to 45 has been common in May.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan

John

On Wednesday I loaded 5-gallon buckets and headed over to the Vineyard in a quest for sand and pomace. The area was covered by water thousands of years ago and a massive amount of sand was deposited at places in the slowly draining lake.
The image below shows “Trinidad” as the local name. Look for the blue star at the upper-right. The Columbia River is at the upper-left corner. Left of the blue star are the vines with house and winery near the center. Railroad tracks are next to the grapes and the place was used as a RR stop, source of fill, and repair (?) building. Someone with the Great Northern Railway thought it was geological and physical similar to Trinidad, Colorado, thus the name.
Soon someone used the setting, terraced a few roads and made a property platt map. Back on the East Coast lots were sold. Twice. All a scam. The railroad was relocated at one time and the new work cut through the sand and into a layer of basalt. That’s just down from the vines in this image. Other than that – it is all sand. There is much fine material, apparently blown in after the water drained away. Then the area was windy, dry, and unvegetated.

One of the by-products of making wine is pomace. Stems, skins, and seeds. The seeds are called “pips” – reason unknown to me. These have unique shapes and are a focal point in archaeobotanical studies, because of these well-known differences and because they often are the only remains that are preserved. I think of the whole mess as soil amendments. In this case it is not composted. It is left in large bins after “the crush” and thrown on the ground in the spring or summer.

I loaded 8 buckets of pomace (~300 lbs.) and 10 buckets of sand {from the blue star spot} or about 800 pounds.
Then we had lunch, followed by a trip to COSTCO in East Wenatchee, about 25 miles up river.

Thursday morning I unloaded and added pomace and sand to the top of my new asparagus bed, followed by a heavy watering.

My favorite grocery store had a sale of ground beef. Large packages, about 4 pounds [limit 2], were on sale for $2.99 per pound. Sunday morning, I made a crock pot of chili, and froze the rest in one pound packages.
I still use the wood stove. Low temp during the night was 41° and the high today was 64°. I did a little work outside in the wind and cold, mostly cleaning up dead wood of a large Elderberry plant. The stems have a soft center and the larger parts will be hollow. Compared to many trees, the heating value is lower, but it dries and starts a flame easily.

And now I need to add something to the stove.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John H.

There was a cold period in December (down to -17°F) and there were cold mornings in early March. One or the other damaged buds on cherry and walnut trees. The photo below shows a cherry tree with one branch outlined in yellow.

The leaves on that branch are normal. The rest of the tree has wimpy leaves, commonly called cold weather dieback. The walnut trees do not have any standard-looking new leaves. This happened once before, about 20 years ago. I read than, but can’t find now, that the trees will survive unless this happens two years in a row.
A large plum tree seems to have some of this, but it may just be dying of old age. It was planted in the early 1980s, by the first owner. I have several dwarf plum trees (not the same type) and they are on the down-wind side of the house. They appear to be fine, have blossomed, and will soon show tiny fruit. So I hope.

Monday I went down into the Columbia Gorge, about 170 miles and 2,000 feet lower in elevation. The purpose of the trip was attending a presentation and reception for the Cascades Carnivore Project. The town is Hood River. Early settlement was on the steep slopes and the streets are narrow. There are many flowers and flowering trees. Up hill and south of town the look is similar to most other places. The gathering was held in a repurposed fruit packing facility called “The Ruins.”

Thursday the University held a gathering for scholarship recipients and donors. For the second year in a row I met a graduate for whom this was only the 2nd time she had been on the CWU campus. She and her mother came over from Moses Lake, 70 miles east of EBRG. Her degree is Law and Justice and she will take a job with the Adams County Sheriff Office.
These events are somewhat odd because often the donors, the students, and the faculty do not match. Few faculty come, except for non-teaching administrators. Many donors have died. Thus, the recipient at my table could not thank the donor(s) and did not know who they were. I introduced her to the head of the Foundation and together they were going to investigate. He was to pass her request to one of his crew.
I did talk with the President – Jim Wohlpart – for five minutes prior to the event. He came in 2021. I’ve heard two of his presentations for this event and another to the “retired” folks. First meeting, though.

Saturday I drove across the Cascades to Kathy & Fran’s place – to a barn party. There were lots of people I didn’t know – many from their church – and a few I did. Plentiful food that I mostly stayed away from.
I left early and made it a discovery trip, meaning I got lost and meandered around for half and hour in a section of WA that I knew little of. That’s what geographers do! Kathy’s thinks I should learn to use the GPS – stuff that Nancy taught for 25 years. What fun would that be? I was on tiny roads between Electron and Eatonville, WA. Lots of houses on the edge of lakes and all seem to have a boat dock. 50 miles south of Seattle.
Back to plants. I got the purple asparagus in their permanent home. See last week’s post. I was way late in getting onions in the ground so they will be almost a total loss. I also planted a dozen Astibes, again late. Percentage wise I am seeing better results than with the onions. From the web, here is what I wanted:

Maybe in three years.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan

John

Monday morning – yikes!
Good morning

The weather {rain and wind} interfered with the best laid plans. After 25 years in the ground, the asparagus production has declined to a pittance, so I ordered some. Instead of sending me pounds of lovely Purple Passion, I received things of a grotesque visage as displayed on the right side.

As of this morning, I am ready to place them in the appointed place in the garden. However, I now have a family of Yellow Bellied Marmots sharing the garden space, so I need to box the plants in a fence-protected space. Getting the space ready was a chore – rain didn’t help and the wind has been, and continues to be gale force, 40s today and near 50 on Tuesday.
My complication is I am going to Hood River today for a (6:00 to 8:30) dinner and presentation by the Cascades Carnivore Project. I need to clean up an leave here by early afternoon, with a stop in Biggs Junction for gasoline. This is a three hour drive, or a bit more, from home.

Keeping track
on the Naneum Fan

John

More on that next week after the snow and wind hit the State. It is cool, wet, and windy now.

I saw a comment about the Burma Shave signs. The person said these disappeared because of Lady Bird Johnson’s highway improvement project. I don’t know. Anyway, here is one and there are many more images on the internet.

Many plants are blossoming and/or leafing out. The walnut trees didn’t get the memo. Either the -17 degree temperature in December killed the primary buds or a recent frost did. They may yet leaf out as happened once or twice since they were planted 25 years ago. The small squirrels will miss them if they go.
Two plants with yellow blossoms are now fully in bloom. Both are natives and handle the cold. Oregon Grape is one, the other is Golden Currant [Ribes aureum]. Ribes is a false lead to be ignored. Aureum is a reference to the yellow flower. The local variety has translucent berries. Leaves are somewhat odd. New plants pop up all over the place and must not have a taste the deer like.

I have Yellow-bellied Marmots. When we moved to this area in 1989 the property was marmot free. About a mile south, there was a pile of logs with a family using that for a home. We saw them frequently on the logs or crossing the road. Their range is expanding. I think this is a result of a decrease in the coyote population. That may be related to an increase in mountain lions. Hunting the big cats with dogs was banned in 1996. Other than my casual observations, I’ve nothing on which to base my ideas.
Anyway, the marmots dig under things and leave piles of rocks and dirt – including tunneling under one of the sheds.
I (finally) made sense of another thing. Here is a photo of the remains of a container. This was undamaged when I filled it with scraps of wood years ago. About 4 years ago I noticed it had a tattered hole in its side. I wondered about it – Did I hit it with something? – but it was a small hole and I was busy with some chore. Over the last year, the hole got bigger until the contents started to spill out. This week when I walked by, the thing is collapsed. My guess: The glue-impregnated cardboard must be tasty or nutritious to the marmots. However, I have not seen the consumption in progress.

Note there is no debris – no bits, pieces, or dust. All is gone.

On the Naneum Fan
John H.

Culligan folks arrived Monday morning and changed all the filters, an annual process. I keep about twenty 28 ounce bottles filled in case the electricity or pump shuts off. The well water is safe to drink, but has no other redeeming characteristics.
As I was going into the grocery store this week, a man was carrying two large jugs of water to his car. {photo from web}
Out of curiosity I should find out how much one of these costs. I don’t intend to go that route. In the Yakima area the water is frequently unfit to drink. COSTCO sells truck loads of water in all sizes of containers. I think in some areas folks get subsidizes from the County because the suppliers can’t keep the water clean.
Anyway, I do wonder what the trade-offs are, but am too lazy to find out.

The rest of the week, we pruned – and finished Friday. We were about two weeks late because of all the interruptions of schedules. Some days only two of five of us pruned and on some days (Cameron is in Seattle) we did not prune.
In my spare time at home I watered plants and planted onions. (Again, photo from web}
They don’t look like much at this point. I was late getting them in, but planted about 65 of 6 different types. I took another hundred to Phyllis and hers are now in also.
She was busy this week gathering rocks. The water line from their well to the top storage tank ruptured and the water carved a long channel in the sandy hillside.
Son Dylan parks the front-end loader at an ancient flood deposit of small rocks, she fills the bucket, and slowly the crevasse gets filled. The rocks are on a slope that the machine is not able to maneuver to, but close enough to load by hand. All the rest of the vineyard is sand from the ice age floods.

I cut 4 trees for future firewood this week. Sunday afternoon I worked on limbing (some say ‘delimbing’) and moving them. Two fell into thick brush, so they have to be pulled out before I can work on them. Regardless, they have now begun the seasoning (drying) process. They will go from about 45% water to 11% before I burn them.

I will take the truck for servicing on Monday.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan

John

Keeping with the theme “There is Always Something” – – –

Trees are starting to leaf-out, and those that bloom have buds about to burst. I usually cut a few of the popular-type trees that have sections of straight non-limbed trunk. I don’t have to deal with leaves if I cut now. This will be stove firewood in a year or so. I have plenty for the 2024-25 winter season, so trees downed now will be ready in 2025. My chain saw was not running well when I last used it over a year ago. This week I could not get it started. Folks at Papé Machinery did a tune-up. I just cut a tree into firewood size that had blown over late last year. A neighbor says his station clocked a gust at 88 mph, and a different neighbor says that is when the tree fell over.
One of the first plants to bloom is called Bur Buttercup. The photos below show its character. The plant only get about 1.5 inches tall, has pretty yellow flowers, and a bur.

The plant is soft and touchable when it blooms. Soon the burs become dark and hard and penetrate gloves and stick to things. Especially dog’s feet. They are easily pulled when green, but there are hundreds this year.

Last year many gallon-sized sprayer gave up and I ordered a new one. When I tried to use it this week for the first time, it barely worked. After trying several things, I finally took the tube out – the part that goes down into the tank. At the end there is a small plastic screen. It was gunked up with something unrecognizable. In a review on Amazon, I said I thought it was the remains of a Silkworm. What and how – who knows? It now works. Look out Bur Buttercups.
I am now ready to plant Onions – a week later than I anticipated.

Another cute plant is Miner’s Lettuce. It is edible, but I have no intention of doing so.

All About Miner’s Lettuce

There are tiny white flowers.
Mine is a bit different when compared to the photos at the link above. It has the subspecies name of “intermontana” – interior. In the link, the plant is called “perfoliata” – Pacific coastal

At the edge my onion patch, I have a cluster of Daffodils. They seem happy. Many other plants are just starting but still are without flowers.
I need to get some of these with pink and orange colors. Their main advantage is that the local deer do not eat them.
I should mention, we are almost done with vine pruning, so my gasoline ($4.29/g) bill will go down and I will have time to catch up here at home.

Keeping track
on the Naneum Fan
John