Category: Weekly report by day

Taylor Bridge is 17 miles west of us, on Highway 10.

Monday, July 4

For July 3 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 7 hrs 25 min with AHI=0.27. Events: 0 CSR, 2 H, 13 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 15 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 down for a couple minutes to 87%.

Day of work around the place… mostly picking cherries (John) and sorting (Nancy). Work on the computer (Nancy) and a few household tasks. Late afternoon I was not feeling well and went to sleep for 1.5 hours. I think I pushed exercising my left shoulder too much.

Tuesday, July 5

For July 4 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 36 min with AHI=0.91. Events: 3 CSR, 6 H, 12 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 18 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 never below 88, mostly in the 90s. Pulse mostly 50s and 60s.

Nancy took an early morning trip to town, and John stayed to pick cherries, feed horses, and cats. I was going for a Physical Therapy appointment changed so I could go with John this afternoon to Cle Elum to the doctor about his medical issues. I was there for an 8:45 appointment, and left a little after 9:45. I received moist heat to start (10 minutes), and then a new physical therapist, Mandie, worked on my left shoulder for 30 minutes or so, and then I did some exercises, with her advising and leading. At the end, she set me up with ice for the cool down (15 min). On my way home I went to Bi-Mart and bought an ace bandage ($4.99) to tie on an ice pack for doing the same at home after exercise. I needed to go to Bi-Mart today, anyway, to check their “win this” numbers {match with one’s membership #}. I called Rite Aid, where often medical supplies are cheaper, and they wanted $8.99.

I also talked with my pharmacist, and found out the difference between my Oxycodone (5mg) received last week, and that which I was taking for the Oral Surgery (5 mg of Oxycodone with 325mg of Acetaminophen), called Percoset. She said it would be okay to take the pills I had with one Acetaminophen. From there I went by Grocery Outlet to pick up some more tomatoes, and Almond Breeze milk on sale (but also nearing its use by date).

John and I had leftovers from yesterday’s breakfast, for lunch with a bunch of cherries added to the plate. He probably picked another 6 boxes of cherries today, weighing 4-5 pounds each.

Folks from Ellensburg came out to pick up (borrow) a very large cooler and a 5-gallon drink dispenser for their family reunion this July 15-18. We visited until John had to get ready for going to the doctor.

We left just after 3:00 to get there by 4:15. (it’s in Cle Elum). While there I checked with my Coumadin adviser, Lacey, and we discussed my INR of 3.1 and my need to check again in 2 weeks, on the 19th. We were there in plenty of time, but they were running late. That’s common when an appointment is near the end of the day. We didn’t get out of the building until after the front desk personnel had left for the day. I imagine it was close to 6:00. John met with a PA about his hernia and ear wax. She was very attentive, understanding, and informative. She made recommendations, and then removed wax from his right ear. We had been softening it up with drops, but the left ear needs the same treatment so we can go back for a 15-minute appointment to have that removed from the other ear. We need to start working on that. He came home and ordered a wide elastic belt to see if pressure in the right spot (just below belt level and left of center) can keep the intestine from escaping through the abdominal wall. For many years it was happy living in there but last November it developed a desire for freedom.

We stopped for a few minutes on the way home to take photos of the area where the fire was last weekend, on Hwy 10 starting at noon, July 2, Saturday. I had a request from a neighbor in the line of the old Taylor Bridge fire a few years ago asking about access to the first responder county emergency scanner. This fire began at the bridge, by a blowout in a tire on a boat trailer being pulled, that created sparks, igniting the fire. District #7 Fire Dept a little over 5 miles away in Cle Elum responded, and worked with 3 helicopters grabbing water from the Yakima River to help douse the flames, which were approaching 3 houses. The fire was stopped at 45 acres.

I received an email from friends who have moved to Hayward Hill, about 9 miles away, a spot in the path of the Taylor Bridge fire in 2012, started at the same location. They wanted to know the location of the scanner I listened to during the fires in 2012 and 2014. They were away from home, and so I listened for a couple hours and reported to them by cell phone until they could return home and get it on their own computer to listen.

The first set of photos was posted on the Facebook page of #7 Fire District in Cle Elum, the day it happened.
This collage above was on their site. Right is along Hwy 10, firefighters, and in the rear on the hill is the middle house on Hart Road. See it below in the right photo and ones to follow.
<- before from the Daily Record 7/2 . . . . . . after by Nancy 7/5/16 ->
The Yakima River is visible in both before and after photos above and is from where the helicopters scooped the water dropped on the fire.

These are some other pix I took on the way home.
Note the house in all three; in the line of fire. It is also seen in the first two collages. That house is on Hart Rd. Look on Google Earth if you want its situation. I have tried below with 3 snips from Google Earth. There are 3 images kluged together. Left (and separated) is the location along Hwy 10, Taylor Road connecting to Hart Rd, and the Taylor Bridge, then the middle shows the Yakima River and the 3 houses on the hill. The right snip has two images merging Hart Road with Durango, and showing the houses on both roads that were evacuated July 2.

A follow-up story is interesting. These are taken the same day July 2 as the fire. This orphaned elk thinks she’s a horse and came from the old Taylor Bridge fire. The locals call her Buttons. She was getting very friendly with the firefighters.

Ironically, this was ironically just sent to me by my friend in New Jersey.

See this link.

Wednesday, July 6

For July 5 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 45 min with AHI=1.04. Events: 4 CSR, 7 H, 15 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 13 L/min). Oximetry: okay all night.

At 6:00 a.m. this morning, I grabbed these photos of the doe and her two fawns, and took some video too. I saw them from my back room window and ran to get my camera.

John went out early to pick cherries. He kept bringing in boxes, most mixed 1/2 with Bing and Royal Anne/Rainier. He brought in one flat with sticky ones, which he’s going to wash before leaving Friday morning and taking to the crew at Icicle Creek. He will be driving up with Bill Weir (who lives in Ellensburg).

I left just before 11:00, with 4 pounds for Gloria Swanson and her sister Shirley to have (they had some last week too), and this week they will share with Shirley’s son and daughter who are up Saturday for a visit and lunch. They are living in Ecuador but back working in Toppenish for a few weeks, and visiting family on the west side and here.

John kept picking after I left. When I returned he was sitting on wood pallets in the back of our ’80 Chev PU farm truck. He used it to access a very large branch, and was sitting there picking in the shade of the large Walnut tree next to the Rainier tree.

I had picked up Gloria and Shirley and gone to the Food Bank, where we played music for 1/2 hour with a bunch of players/singers leading the crowd, which was smaller today, but very good at participating, enjoying, and applauding. That always makes us happy. We had singers (Lowell, also sometimes playing a recorder), Peggy, Brooke, Richard, Bob (guitar), Kyle (baritone ukulele), Evelyn (banjo), Evie (violin), Nancy (violin), Reta and Yvonne, singers.

Our meal presented today was good. Choice of two pastas — I had the white sauce and it had steak and red peppers, a large green mixed salad with all sorts of things. I chose Bleu Cheese dressing and garlic bread. We had red/white/blue frosted cake for dessert. We had three drink choices: iced tea, milk, and chocolate milk. All this is free as thanks for entertaining the guests for the day.
We left there, stopped off at the bank for me, and went on to SAIL exercise class at the AAC. Fifteen participants were present. One of the largest groups recently. One fellow normally goes to the 8:00 a.m. class.

We came on home. I called a neighbor who raises pigs and we invited her over within the next hour to take away some cherries for them to cull out the bruised for the pigs. She stayed about 20 minutes eating and picking the rest of the cherries from the branches John had in the back of the PU. I sat in a chair to pick into my own box, John, Krista, picked. We exchanged stories. Then we dumped my box into theirs and she went away with 10 dozen empty egg cartons, and probably 10 pounds of cherries.

In the video below, at the 2:10 mark the right side fawn picks up a branch with cherries on it. The deer eat all the leaves and some of the cherries they find. July 6th.

Fawns get an easy meal at the Cherry Tree

Thursday, July 7

For July 6 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 7 hrs 28 min with AHI=0.27. Events: 1 CSR, 2 H, 21 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 14 L/min). Oximetry: all right.

John and I went part-way out the driveway into a native plants area looking for Mariposa Lilies. Only 4 are in bloom this morning, with more coming. He’d sent me this link on Tuesday night to remind me they were back (it is a July occurrence).
Info on Mariposa Lilies

Until several years ago the horses could get to this spot. Now they cannot. However, we disturbed a lot of the ground where the lilies had been in the past by putting in a new drive to the barns and to have an access driveway to the west side (back) of our house.

Mariposa photo combo has John’s and my photography combined.
The left photo has an unopened flower while the opened on there shows the green stripe on the outside of the petal.

John went with me to run errands while I set up and played music with 11 people at the Rehab. He got himself some colas at Safeway. Went by the Goodwill looking for a rain jacket because they’re expecting rain at the work site tomorrow at Icicle Creek, and he came out with some real buys for me and for him. He found a Carhartt Coverall (~$100) for $10. It is only slightly used. I had one given at our Buy Nothing clothing share, but it had a broken zipper that needed to be replaced. We had his worn out pair with a good zipper, but the cost was probably going to be much over $10 to take out the one and replace in the other. He found a set of three screwdrivers, 2 normal slot ones (horizontal, jokingly called a ‘minus’) and a Phillips head (jokingly called a ‘plus’). He found me a “Soothing Body Wrap” – a piece of cloth containing something such as flax seed or rice that can be heated or cooled and used as a compress. I think this contains some sort of artificial chemical to mimic the other grains. I put it on tonight after leaving it in the freezer for 3 hours. It works perfectly. What a good buy that was!!! On the web it’s $15. He paid $4.

After John picked me up at the Rehab, we visited Bi-Mart looking through their 25% off garden chemicals, a rain jacket, and to return the ace bandage I bought yesterday, after realizing John had ordered 10 of them in a package that arrives tomorrow in the mail. While there, we found a rain suit he bought, a Frogg Toggs, Ultra Lite Rain Suit 2 with a jacket and pants for $18.99. Ever since we fed the cats and horses, it has been raining, so that was a good purchase for his trip to the mountains tomorrow to work on trail (probably in the rain).

Friday, July 8

For July 7 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 38 min with AHI=0.91. Events: 0 CSR, 6 H, 13 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 21 L/min). Oximetry: Never turned on until 3:40 in the morning, and then up with John and feeding cats. Back for an hour. Night was weird awaking at 2:00 a.m. with people chasing John and me with guns. ?? wonder what caused that nightmare.

I drove by Charlie’s and Helga’s to leave something for Arina and pick up Acetaminophen from Helga to tide me over until we get to Costco. This week a Costco tractor/trailer driver managed to tip off an interstate from the top level to the one below. The trailer split open and spread items all over the road and beyond (John’s addition).

I was on my way to Canyon View Physical Therapy, stopped off at a yard sale, buying some very interesting food tongs for 50¢. They are black plastic and have a closure/opener that is unique (pull out the end of the handle). I went to PT with a cute stuffed animal appropriate for Natalie’s PT business – a little monkey with a stick he pulls above his head to shinny up on. I told her I had a gift of a mascot for her place. This represents one of the overhead exercises I do to gain a range of motion above my head. She liked it, but said when her 5 yr. old daughter saw it, she would likely want it.

John’s first-aid things (via Amazon) in a multi-item package arrived today with an extra item – a hockey puck-sized thing of turtle food. Their robotic picker must have gotten a stray electron or some such. We have neither a turtle or a hockey stick so the item is of no use.

Saturday, July 9

For July 8 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 31 min with AHI=0.15. Events: 1 H, 2 PP, 13 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 7 L/min). Oximetry: okay.

Had some English muffin bread; only two pieces left. Ate lunch.
Got another call from the 963 number and recorded it on my camera.

May need to grab another wink. My eyes are hurting. I waited until 5:00 and got a little rest before John called.

Changed my CPAP filter, finally.

Washed and dried clothes washed for John, mostly, with blankets.

John called, being late getting home, and arrived just before 7:00 p.m. He took Annie for her evening walk and came back to say we should go in town for our anniversary dinner, and fill up his car with gasoline. He rode with Bill on Friday and Saturday but will go alone Sunday to Icicle Creek (~160 miles, round trip). We went to the Palace Cafe, in business since 1892. We receive a free meal (choice of Chicken Fried Steak or Chicken Alfredo) for our birthdays and for our anniversary to be used in the month of occurrence. We got there and had a CWU student as waitress. Beth is in a Physical Education/Sports degree program but with her looks and personality might make a better living moving up in the world of high end waitressing.

Returning home we still had some chores to do and John had some prep to do for his early morning departure. His stuff got spread around some because he was riding in Bill’s truck.

Sunday, July 10

For July 9 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 25 min with AHI=0.00. Events: 2 CSR, 1 PP, 0 H, 12 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 19 L/min). Oximetry: okay.

I was extremely tired and slept in until after 9:00 a.m., after not being able to get back to sleep when John left at 6:30. I was up with him to send him off and feed one of the kitties (Sue).

Been working on returning the wrongly delivered Amazon purchase filing a return and printing the UPS delivery slips to attach inside and outside the package to return an Aquatic Turtle Banquet Block Food & Calcium Supplement Treat, Giant Zoo Med Turtle Feed Pellet that came via Amazon. I first tried giving it away on the Buy Nothing site, but no one has a pet turtle.

I also have been working on getting ready to meet a former CWU Geography student and her husband coming from Boise Thursday, on their way to the west side for a wedding. They entertained me long ago for an AAG (Assoc. of American Geographers) conference in San Francisco, when they lived in San Leandro. They’ll join us for lunch, and then come hear us play music, possibly joining on an accordion, or perhaps a bass fiddle.
Washed dishes and fed another cat (Woody). Only one not back is Lemon. He’ll be back for a large supper.

I called Dee Eberhart and wished him a Happy 92nd Birthday!! Dee (WWII vet in Europe) retired from CWU as I arrived and is the patriarch of the orchard from which we glean about 1,000 pounds of apples each fall.

Need to work on the blog, but first eat leftovers from last night, and do my shoulder exercises.

Crazy things (telephone calls and emails) happened this afternoon to alter my schedule significantly.

John made it home, calling me from WA’s (Pseudo) Bavarian village of Leavenworth, a little over an hour away, at 5:00 p.m.

He was exhausted and went to bed early. He and the Crew Leader, Alan, did 3 days; Bill 2, and others just one each. He did post a short note yesterday, so check that out: “We’ll be a day late, again.”

I tried to stay up to finish the blog, yet after putting in a lot of time and information, I decided to leave things out to put in for next week. I still didn’t hit the hay until 12:30 a.m.
Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Sunday, June 26

Celebrations, Crew Work, Consultations, Cherries

For June 25 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 5 hrs 24 min with AHI=1.30. Events: 0 CSR, 7 H, 9 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 22 L/min). Oximetry: both SpO2 and pulse good.

John left at 5:40 a.m. for Mt. Rainier. We’ll add some photos from his day on the trail below my trip to town for the baby shower report.

I slept a couple more hours, and then fed all three outside cats (Woody, Sue, and Lemon), and one inside (Rascal).

Around 10:45 a.m., I took off for town with my gifts for the baby shower, including three things: a gift bag full, a plastic container full, and a stationary baby seat for the floor.

I don’t remember when we started eating, but it was after playing several games and drinking tea and lemonade. Games included guessing the prices of baby necessities from the grocery, baby stuff (from her baby registry requests) in brown paper bags, and guessing the gestation period for a number of different animals. We all decided a few of the larger ones (such as an elephant) was way too long. All through this everyone was visiting. Another game was measuring a piece of yarn string to come the closest to the number of inches around Jess’s middle. After all that fun, we ate a fantastic meal including a large variety of veggies and fruits, meat, sweets (cupcakes, chocolates, almond-poppy Bundt cake), and chilled dishes of various sorts. I loved the fresh cut figs, as I have not had one in over 50 years. We had a fig tree in our backyard, where I grew up in Atlanta, GA. I’m sure I left something out of the food fare explanation. I forgot to take my camera, so I have no pix except those sent to me at my request (by Jess’s sister Julie). Collage below.
Left: Nancy with Kathy & Lynn Swedberg. Middle: Grandmother, Lorene Swedberg in pink sitting in walker, Jess Swedberg middle behind her. Right: Jess with her yarn to measure her circumference.

After lunch, we opened gifts. I have pictured my contributions below (pix taken before I left home).
On the left in the collage above is one large gift bag with blankets and an animal towel, and clothes in the bottom. The left top is a skeleton suit with pants and shirt and little shoes and kitty stocking socks. The right is a plastic container full of clothes from newborn “onesies” to rubber diaper pants, bibs, the Monkey blanket, some baby safety swabs, and various clothing to 9, 18, and 24 months. All this stuff came freely to me from the Buy Nothing site (except for driving all over the area to pick it up).
The collage above is from the web to describe my third gift wrapped in a garbage bag, with the overhead thing disconnected. I had checked this out in advance with Jess to be sure someone else in the family was not providing one (as was the case with a car seat).

John’s trip was to the White River (east) area of Mt. Rainier. The park is divided into 4 sections for trail maintenance. This is on the Owyhigh Lakes Trail.
The main project was building a turnpike, replacing a buried one, and creating a new part over the wet spot on the trail. John is the one with the orange hat (Assistant Crew Leader), and the yellow hat is for a trail worker for the Mt. Rainier National Park. Note the black plastic culvert.
Three shots: Andi with John; middle called the long view with green hats (volunteer workers) up front, and John way in the rear; right with the crew sitting on the almost finished project. “Almost” because it still needs about 100 buckets of mineral soil to fill in over the rocks and between the logs.

Monday, June 27

For June 26 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 8 hrs 36 min with AHI=0.47. Events: 0 CSR, 4 H, 17 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 20 L/min). Oximetry: Excellent all night.

We did morning chores and left for an appointment at the vet to get Annie taken care of. She was not feeling well for the past couple days. I intended to take my clippers along because she needed to be completely shaven to access and treat the injuries, ticks, and cheat grass, but I forgot my container with the clippers and the instructions and we were 12 miles away, having driven the truck & canopy with a large kennel in the back for Annie. The Doc gave her a tranquilizer and we stayed with her awhile. After 20 minutes, she settled nicely, and they walked her back to the surgery room, where she was anesthetized for the procedures. We used to help with such things but now they kick us out.

We left for lunch and received a phone call on my cell phone from the assistant because the Dr. wanted to report in, and she knew we were going to lunch, intending to come back. That was a nice touch saving us time and travel distance. At the time of the call, the doctor and the assistant had worked on one side of her. They said they needed to keep her overnight to give her an injection for the infections they found. She was running a fever of 104° (normal for a dog is ~102°). They cleaned an abscess on her neck (apparently from running into barbed wire), cleaned cheatgrass from both ears that had been embedded for a while and were infected. She said they had taken off several ticks, and that they had trimmed the one side and done her toenails. They were going to complete the shaving, but give her injections for the infection, and wanted to keep her overnight. When that is the case, for best results, they do not wish to send the animal home. They also found a rash on her tummy apparently from the infection in her system.

Here is the after shot, at home the next morning, worn out from her overnight at the vet.
Wiped out from a night of little sleep, we imagine. All trimmed to the toenails. Cheatgrass also was removed from between the toes. She had an amazing amount of thick hair removed from her entire body. It is cool this week but she will likely be more comfortable when summer heat arrives.

Tuesday, June 28

For June 27 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 9 min with AHI=0.16. Events: 0 CSR, 1 H, 11 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 12 L/min). Oximetry: Just fine, all night.

We left to pick up Annie. She is looking good all trimmed up and doctored. She had a lot wrong. Final bill was $243, which included anesthesia, grooming all hair off to access the doctoring of the abscess, several other abrasions, exposing ticks to take off, (meds for a month, one NexGard chewable pill costing $26.00). I figured I could find more for a lesser price on line, and we’re working on that. I paid for overnight boarding because they gave injections they wanted to check in the morning when she was out from being under. They gave her one 500mg Amoxicillin and enough for twice daily ($15) for a week. I had some of that at home, but went ahead and took theirs and paid for it. As mentioned, the vet removed several pieces of cheat grass from both ears. Annie had a rash (little red spots caused by her infection) and the abscess on her cheek. They put on a diaper rash cream, and we bought some today at Bi-Mart to continue the application.

I have been arranging for the celebration we are playing music for early, in honor of the Fourth of July, at the Ellensburg Adult Activity Center (the Senior Center). We have provided the entertainment for well over a dozen years, at 3 different locations in town (starting at a park south of town), near the Yakima River.

We went back in (John drove me so I could take a Percoset) for my hour’s PT evaluation assessment after 5 weeks of treatment. Medicare requires these updates. I have to show improvement to be able to continue. I am scheduled Thursday to visit my family physician, to approve the sessions twice weekly for another 6 weeks. I managed to improve in my numbers for range of motion and strength of resistance. The Physical Therapist will complete the report and FAX to my doctor’s office tomorrow. I will go by and receive a printout of the angles measured and the complete report.

I removed all data from Oximeter and CPAP for last night and recorded. It was a good night, with the lowest AHI in awhile.

Thinking music, I went back in tonight and stopped at the bread room with 2 minutes to closing, drove on down to Super 1 for my prescription pickup (got 2 of 3), and picked up 1/2 dozen donuts marked down – nice Boston Crème in the middle of chocolate frosting over the doughnut. I went on to the Rehab, visited with a few people, and realized it was the wrong night of the month. Oh me oh my. I gave my apologies to the staff and left to fill up my gasoline tank before the prices go up for the 4th weekend. I paid $2.519/gallon and came on home. WA gas tax goes up 4.9¢ per gallon on July first, and next year again. Roads and bridges need repaired. Costs have gone up, so over 3 years the tax increase will be 11.7 cents. There is a need for a replacement bridge to span the Columbia River between Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR. Money for that will come from another way – if they can decide when and how to build it. After if falls down?

Wednesday, June 29

For June 28 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 22 min with AHI=0.31. Events: 0 CSR, 2 H, 12 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 11 L/min). Oximetry: both readings good all night.

John started by picking strawberries and now is running Annie. She was anxious to go, and hope it will not expose her to any potential problems (i.e., cheatgrass). She’s had her antibiotics.

I am getting ready to leave just before 11:00.

I stopped to pick up two sisters to take with me to the Food Bank and to SAIL exercise. We enjoyed our day together and picked up some bread for them at the bread room. Shirley was all excited to find roasted garlic bread, and they got nice sourdough and French bread loaves. For lunch, we had a nice white sauce pasta chicken dish without a lot of garlic, making me happy. The meal included bread, salad, dessert and drink. From there we went to SAIL exercise. Once done, I needed to go pick up the medicine not refilled yesterday, and we dropped by a house for me to leave a bag of toddler clothes for our mascot Haley (see below) to try on.

Thursday, June 30

For June 29 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 7 hrs with AHI=0.00. Events: 0 CSR, 0 H, 25 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 15 L/min). Wow… first time in many months I had a perfect reading of ZERO. Oximetry: both fine all night.

We drove 45 minutes to the 9:45 appointment with my family physician, Dr. Schmitt, in Cle Elum. He gave an okay on progress from PT and paperwork to continue. He noticed a change in what he noted of my range of motion from my previous time in his office about 6 weeks ago.

After taking the Percoset, I left with John driving me to my PT session appointment. While I had my appointment, he bought a weed sprayer to replace one with a broken air-pump handle. The new one has a filter and the old one did not. That’s the up side of old things breaking. John picked cherries.

Friday, July 1

For June 30 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 4 hrs 56 min with AHI=0.00. Events: 0 CSR, 0 H, 11 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 10 L/min). ZERO again. Oximetry: OK.

I slept in an hour, and then for another hour cleaned many dishes, fed the cats, and gave Annie her medicine. More cherry picking for John. We made it to the AAC by 11:00, with two large boxes of cherries and all the music stuff needed.
John had packed cherries of different types (Rainier, Queen Anne, and Bing) with stem on, into two large flat boxes probably close to 5-7 pounds each. The kitchen crew was willing to wash only those that would be eaten today, and will dispense the remaining to people in bags to take home and refrigerate (they’ll last for at least a week), and we told them NOT to wash them until they were ready to eat them.

We stayed around at the end and John helped “hang up” the chairs on stands and put away tables. We received many compliments for our music, and the group sounded good with a responsive audience. I am sorry I don’t have videos of any of the music, but John took his camera. I will post a few collages below.

COLLAGES at the AAC Fourth of July celebration early.
Top shows Nancy’s introduction of the program to the audience (of over 60 people) who had the lyrics to sing along to 13 songs. A dozen of us performed for over a half hour, ending with everyone standing, saluting the flag, and singing our National Anthem, acapella. This is a moving experience every year.
Singing audience, part of Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends, Nancy with our mascot, Haley in her Sailor suit.
Another collage of the day.
Final collage shows Sailor Haley smelling the flowers outside the Ellensburg Adult Activity Center on her way inside, where she danced and visited with the audience.

John is out working in the yard, and thankfully the wind has lessened – not 40 mph gusts as yesterday. The winds today have been in the 30s, with a high gust of 35 mph.

Tonight, our friends Helga and Charlie Firkins are bringing their visitor (for the next 5 weeks) to pick cherries from our trees. John will cut branches from the trees and the rest of us can pick while sitting. We did this with their visitor 9 years ago. The visitors are part of the Children of Chernobyl program held in Ellensburg. There are usually 6 teenagers brought over to participate in a week of business classes at CWU and to get free medical visits, and treatment, as needed. A different group comes each summer and this has gone on for a number of years sponsored by local community members. Charlie and Helga have hosted from 1 to 3 girls in past years, since 2000. Our music group always shares fun times with them.

Deer Greeting Firkins Cherry-Picking Visit

Cherry pickers
Cherry deliverer

Saturday, July 2

For July 1 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 4 hrs 45 min with AHI=2.31. Events: 0 CSR, 11 H, 9 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 23 L/min). Oximetry: Battery ran out; no report.

John was up and out of here by 5:25 a.m. and saw the fawns and mom in the orchard eating cherries when he went to start his car, load boots, and lunch. They were dining on cherries from our picking yesterday. John only had to drive to Ellensburg to carpool (in a truck, does that mean it was truckpool?), with another WTA volunteer, Bill Weir. Bill and John shared one previous trip, and plan for more to come. I appreciate knowing he is not driving the whole 236 (round trip) miles to Mt. Rainier and back alone. The last one they visited together was not as far, being just west of Yakima. We don’t have pictures of the trip but below is the view from the work site – yellow dot on the lower right.
That’s dirty ice in the lower left (Emmons Glacier) with Mt. Rainier (14,411 ft.) on the upper right. The center peak (rock & snow) is Little Tahoma, 11,138 feet. John was at just over 5,000′.

I helped with a few things but was still very tired and went back to sleep for 3 hrs. Guess I needed it. I had not slept well the night before, and yesterday was another busy day.

Now I began this morning with chores on and off the computer, have closed up the house at 70° outside, gone out, and fed one of the ferals, Lemon. Washing dishes, processing photos and videos for the blog, planning to package raspberries for the freezer, and take cherries off a few branches John cut last night late – and put in the fridge. He washed a few and took a little sandwich bag full for his trail work lunch and snacks.

Sunday, July 3

For July 2 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 7 hrs 9 min with AHI=0.70. Events: 0 CSR, 5 H, 10 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 23 L/min). Oximetry: Nothing unusual all night.

We awoke with nicer temperatures, but found a very windy day with 41 mph gusts highest thus far, probably occurring during the time we were out with our new (southern edge through one other property) neighbor. John has picked cherries by the multiple pounds for neighbors unable to get out, for us, has worn out his picking-hand (left), and is now at rest.

I have been sorting and packing as he brings them in, and trying to continue taking the movies and pictures off my camera.

Our new neighbor down-ditch from us, who shares our irrigation water, drove up with her son in his truck, to carry away a bunch of limbs from two different trees for their visiting relatives to sit on their porch and pick.

Sherri Fought & Son Derek Limbing Royal Anne Cherries, 7-3-16

This video link above shows dropping the first large limb from a Royal Anne Cherry tree. John cut it off while Sherri steadied the ladder, and Derek grabbed the limb to carry to the back of his truck. During the time they were here, we were getting winds 26 mph + with gusts during that hour of 36 mph (measured 5 miles south of us at the airport). Just before 3:00 this afternoon, we had 43 mph gusts.

Neighbors arriving.
Neighbors leaving. (short box truck)

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

From the Saturday before, June 18—pictures by Laura Norsen on the Jack Creek work trip John made last weekend.

We did not have any photos to share, until John found this Jack Creek trip report on the WTA web site, and I followed Andy and Laura Norsen’s tinypines.com site to get to their blog to see more photos (including one of the crew of which John was the ACL (Asst’ Crew Leader—Orange hat). Green hats are the volunteers that do the bulk of the work. John is also a volunteer, and he is a hard worker too.

Trip report

From there I located more photos taken by Laura and Andy Norsen who were on the Saturday Jack Creek Trail crew. I made collages of some of their photos, with explanation below.
This collage begins with their photo from Hwy 2 to the trail-head, where the crew had to put up all day with rain and muddy conditions. The middle is one glimpse is along Jack Creek; the bridge is about 500 yards from the parking area. The right photo was a glimpse of sun as they were leaving the work site on the way to the trail-head. Thanks to them for the use of their excellent photos.
Left is the Chatter Creek Forest Service station stock barn (horse & Mule) that has been unused for many years. Districts no longer have the money or crews to maintain pack animals. The right photo is of rock repositioning – out of the trail and, later, set as an anchor & visual cue at the corner of a drain crossing or other trail structure.

Monday, June 20

For June 19 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 54 min with AHI=0.14. Events: 1 H, 13 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 22 L/min). Oximetry: Great all night.

We stayed home, I think, to work on projects. I guess I didn’t write down anything for today.

The only thing I have to show for the day are pictures taken around our place. First, our little resident buck in velvet who comes right in the front gate, if we neglect to close it.
This is the little buck. Left photo is in front of our door, through a dirty window. He came through the open front gate to eat sweet weeds. In the middle, he is leaving, I have stepped outside the front door, and he is heading to the open gate. Right he leaves through the front gate. He and another have been coming in to eat leaves and Mt. Ash berries all their lives. Right now we have a lot of Mock Orange blooming. Deer eat this too.

First, the mock orange.
This is Yarrow up on the east of our property near the road, under and around the cottonwood trees. John lets it survive around the edges (only because there are other more important things to keep under control). The plant has a strong, some say, sweet scent. Others say it stinks.

Tuesday, June 21

For June 20 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 7 hrs 4 min with AHI=1.13. Events: 1 CSR, 8 H, 11 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 21 L/min). Oximetry: no battery; OK, only for 1.5 hrs.

I helped a friend down the road a mile get on the Buy Nothing list I’m on, after she saw what all I obtained to give at the shower we both attended Saturday night. She is actually going to be the recipient of the car seat I mentioned getting last week (freely given). She was my student several years ago. Raychel Ann Parks. She’s having a baby girl sometime near my birthday, the first of September.
This is the car seat I wrote about earlier. The image on the left was with the note offering it on line, and the two others are taken in the back of my Subaru.

John picked strawberries this morning, and I sorted the best out for two neighbors. We will clean and put up the rest after dinner.

I went to a very painful PT session, came home, and went back to The Connections, but my left arm hurt too much to think of playing my violin. I just sang along, and drove by Super 1 on the way in to buy a dozen nice large donuts mostly with chocolate on top. The package is $3 off (they were in the counter today, and not bought). They do this every evening, starting about 6:00 p.m.

After singing with the group, I went through Kittitas to pick up another bag of baby clothes. These primarily clothes for a girl, and I will share them with the person who managed to get on the buy nothing list later. Her baby shower party is July 30, and is a dinner for couples, so John knows her and the grandparents, and he will attend. Any non-pink items I will give this Sunday to another former neighbor for her shower for a new baby boy. John will be all day at Mt. Rainier on the part of the Wonderland Trail near White River.

When I got home, I was hurting so badly that I took a real painkiller (Oxycodone) left over from my oral surgery. I seldom do that, but I think it allowed me to get a good night’s sleep.

Wednesday, June 22

For June 21 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 7 hrs 52 min with AHI=0.38. Events: 1 CSR, 3 H, 16 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 18 L/min). Oximetry: Very good all night and for another 2 hours off the CPAP.

I slept in a little while and then John and I cleaned and froze raspberries, strawberries, and, also, chicken for use in chicken casseroles.

I left for the Food Bank to pick up two women (sisters) to go with me. Normally, just Gloria goes with me, but her sister Shirley came up for a visit from California. We had a nice singing session, and then ate a good lunch. On to SAIL class at the senior center, where people also know Shirley from past visits. From there, home. I was still rather sore from the day’s workout before, and did not feel up to doing exercises. I am falling behind. It is important that I keep stretching the ligaments, muscles, etc., to improve my range of motion.

We visited a couple of neighbors giving away strawberries and cherries. We gave another gift, a poster from the Western Art Association in 1989, to our Native American neighbor a mile up the road—Allen Aronica, whom we met in 1989. Nice visit and he gave some Alaskan salmon to us for our return trip. His son caught it.
A collage of Nancy and Allen (6-22-16) with him in his native dress (date unknown) from a few years ago. [Added later: The photo with me and the War Bonnet was taken about 3 years ago down at Frank Beard’s. Believe it was around Rodeo time. Allen]

The poster is from this group:

Western Art Association

I was waiting to give it to him when the snow was not on the ground. His birthday came and went, so this was a good opportunity. He was very happy with it. I received it from a woman who gave it on the old BNE group. I spoke up for it for my friend, and told her when it was delivered I would send a photo to her. I need to do that now that I made the collage above.

Thursday, June 23

For June 22 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 46 min with AHI=0.89. Events: 0 CSR, 6 H, 12 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 16 L/min). Oximetry: Good all night long and also the 2 hours off the CPAP while the oximeter still gathered pulse and SpO2 values.

John picked raspberries, strawberries, and a few not-quite-ripe cherries, and directed irrigation ditch water four times, south of us, for 3 adjacent neighbors.

John dropped me off to play music at Hearthstone and went to shop at Bi-Mart. He had given me a ride so he would have his car in town to get gasoline to be ready for his trip this Sunday. We had a good crowd of 10 musicians, and more in the audience. We enjoyed having a great group of folks, who sang well and appreciated our being there. I was given more music books by our leaving Activities Director, who often joined our group (with her guitar or ukulele), when we were there playing. She is taking a job in Walla Walla.

From there we went to the KVC hospital to have my INR tested (2.6) via a blood draw. I go back in two weeks to be sure the toenail compound is interacting with the blood thinner. Then we went by Safeway for a few things we needed that were on sale and to pick up my Micardis medication. It was $67.85 (through GoodRX paying cash) for 90 tablets. That’s the one I moved from my usual pharmacy because my insurance jumped the price of my co-pay to that much for a 30-day supply (1/2 the number of tablets). I take 1.5 tablets/day. While at Safeway we got John some colas, me some canned tuna fish, some Bush’s baked beans, and some BBQ sauce. Figuring out their promotions, pricing, and register lines is a big pain – but sometimes the price is the lowest.

From there we went to another store up the street for Sharp Cheddar cheese and some frozen hash brown potato patties. Sadly, they had raised the price on the cheese, but it was still less than buying at Safeway. We lucked out and got a $3.00 off coupon on our receipt for our next $25 purchase. We probably only have a month to use it.

On to the gasoline station to fill John’s car for his trip to Mt. Rainier this Sunday. Sadly, the price of gas went up a couple of cents from yesterday, and sadder yet, Friday, when we were not in town, the price went down 3 cents/gallon. Go figure. My car is in need of gasoline, so I may get some Sunday when I’m in there.

Friday, June 24

For June 23 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 33 min with AHI=0.76. Events: 1 CSR, 5 H, 6 RERA. Small, acceptable amt of major mask leakage. Oximetry: Perfect on and off CPAP all night long. Even after the CPAP was off, the SpO2 continued higher than some already high reading while on.

I awoke in pain just before 6 a.m. and went back to get more rest following a succession of nightmares.

John did morning chores and is now picking strawberries.

I have been dealing with a mistaken billing on a May 3 physician’s visit about my shoulder to get a referral for Physical Therapy, rather than get a Cortisone shot that wouldn’t have lasted but a week, if that long. I think the bill is straightened out now after talking to three people – billing at the local hospital, billing at my doctor’s office in Cle Elum, and a customer rep at Group Health. Group Health had not paid their portion after Medicare (primary) and GH (secondary). The original coding was incorrectly sent only to the secondary. Undoing these mistakes (frequent) is necessary except for the very rich or a member of congress. I still wonder what happens when some people just receive a bill and pay it without questioning if it was wrongly sent. I know that at the beginning of the year, I have to meet deductible figures both for Medicare and Group Health, and Group Health will not cover any of the secondary payments leftover until the Medicare deductible is reached. That seems like double jeopardy to me, but there’s nothing that can be done. For example, they don’t carry over and pay when the deductible is met. Something is wrong with that philosophy. At least the Medicare deductible is lower than the Group Health. But:

Seattle’s Group Health Cooperative will be acquired by Kaiser Permanente, a California-based health-care giant. No immediate changes in local care or coverage are planned, officials said.

Yea, right!

My PT appointment was cancelled today. I’m staying home and will cut John’s hair – long overdue. It took me nearly an hour because of having to stop 3 times to cool the clippers. We shall NOT wait as long next time. I needed to work in exercises but my arm was still hurting. I waited until after I finished the haircut. I skipped going to the SAIL exercise class because I dislike going 24 miles to town round-trip, for only one activity.

John came in and has been doing strawberries after a lot of yard work today. Plum trees need watered, gardens weeded and watered, and other stuff.

He fixed an interesting supper of baked beans, barley, mushrooms, ground beef, and tomatoes, with grated sharp cheddar cheese on top.

Saturday, June 25

For June 24 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 5 min with AHI=1.32. Events: 1 CSR, 8 H, 18 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 15 L/min). Oximetry: Really good all night with and without the CPAP, total time 8 hrs 10 min.

We need to get the blog out today, because John leaves at the crack of dawn for Mt. Rainier tomorrow.

At the suggestion of my pharmacist in Ellensburg, Leslie, I made an early morning call to Cavallini’s Pharmacy in Cle Elum, to the pharmacist, Dave Arnold, with questions about my compound for my toenails. He advised that I soak the toenails to get them soft and get rid of the build-up of the DMSO / anti-fungal / antibiotic liquid put on twice daily. DMSO hastens the entry of the compound through the nail. I will try it for a week and see if it takes away the build-up and helps. I need to report back to him to tell him the results.

John has been out doing chores, the most recent of which was mowing about the edges where weeds and brush encroach. Photos below are from behind the house and Jay’s folly (aka, semi-permanent pond), above the creek bank. Left image he is moving an old post while keeping the mower running with the other hand. This is one of the places we see deer – because it is slowly being cleared of brush and all burnable stuff. And it is right out back. I got photos of the fawns this year and a large buck a few years ago. John saw the fawns yesterday, not near the house though.
I need to take off the CPAP and oximetry information from last night, finish proofing this for John to enter into WordPress, and get busy preparing my gifts to take to my second baby shower tomorrow (this one for a boy). I’m doing a similar gift of gently used baby stuff as for the one last week.

Now before we have lunch and I pass this along to John, he is out picking strawberries. Pick, then water. He brought in some Rainier cherries his last trip and we enjoyed a dozen each. Unless something else comes up, we will pick cherries on Monday. They are nearly ripe and the Magpies have taken some.

He came in for lunch and was going to fix leftovers from last night but we will have that for dinner too, and I decided not to join him with it until supper. I fixed a patriotic light lunch with two yogurts (blueberry and strawberry) spooned over a bowl of strawberries. We have about 7 pounds to work on today. We are freezing most of them and saving some to eat on our dessert.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, June 6

For June 5 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 5 hrs 30 min with AHI=1.64. Events: 1 CSR, 9 H, 18 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 18 L/min). Oximetry: excellent.

I started early (6:00 a.m.) finishing blog for John to edit and put on WordPress. He slept in until the Magpies made so much racket.

We did not finish it and publish until after Noon, and I had a 1:00 appt for a haircut at my neighbor’s 1/2 mile away. It was posted without the normal final proofing, once it’s entered into WordPress.

It is 97° outside. John has been going out every so often to water the strawberries. I’ve been slowly cleaning the ones he picked earlier and brought in.

Tonight John made a chicken/red pepper/mushroom/cashew/shell noodle creation for dinner.

Leftover from last Saturday’s Award Geography End of the Year party was this photo taken on the Bowen’s camera of me with the two winners of our distinguished service award.

Tricia Snyder, Nancy, and Jessie Martin, both graduate students in the Resource Management program.

Tuesday, June 7

For June 6 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 5 hrs 56 min with AHI=1.01. Events: 0 CSR, 6 H, 11 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 15 L/min). Oximetry: okay all night.

My physical therapy exercises painfully completed. Today is hot and sunny again and, again John sprayed a mist on the strawberries – actually twice. He had watered the ground before the big heat so these sprayings are to lower the temperature and increase the humidity.

I went by Joanie’s and Ken’s to pick up my bag and blouses. Joanie had kindly removed an extra button from one shirt and sewed onto another for me. She plays mandolin or viola with our group, and has been sewing new elastic in my pants for some time. I surely appreciate her help. She has taken up clothes (vests) that were too big for me; no charge for anything. It’s nice having my own seamstress.

Joanie’s hubby, Ken, kindly hand sewed a fix in the Costco grocery bag handle. It was given to me, and I don’t recall its being cut then, but I know I wouldn’t have cut it with anything I was carrying in it. Another of life’s mysteries. Left photo shows the cut strap. Ken put a “backing” piece on and did lots of cross stitching. Better than new.

From there, I went to AAC jazzercise, getting there ahead of time in order to write my check for my fee for an upcoming field trip to Tillicum Village on Blake Island, across the Puget Sound from Seattle. That doesn’t happen until July 20th, but all tickets have to be purchased in advance (this week). It’s a big planning effort, but happily, enough people signed up to take the trip to make it a go. It’s a little pricier than most of their day trips, but there are lots of associated costs of transportation, admittance fees, and the luncheon buffet (Salmon Bake Native American style, venison stew, and steamed clams appetizer) is included. We will be on a cruise ship to the island for 45 minutes from Seattle. More discussion to follow with pictures after I make the trip. The area is a national park honoring the British Columbian Kwakiutl tribe’s culture.

From there I went a long block south, parked in the shade of two old spruce trees, and went inside the 3-story building for a painful manipulation at PT. I returned home via Kittitas with paperbacks to deliver. They are destined for inmates of the King County Jail. They only are allowed paperbacks, and a gal that lives in Kittitas works over there three days a week as a psychiatrist counselor. She donates the paperbacks. Hard back books are not allowed. Three of the books I had picked up earlier and John filled another box with paperbacks, largely fiction, from our house. We will go through all our old magazines eventually too. If there are too many, we can take them to the donation stacks in the City Library, at the entrance to the building.

Wednesday, June 8

For June 7 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 21 min with AHI=0.94. Events: 1 CSR,6 H, 24 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 14 L/min). Oximetry: just fine throughout the night.

I was hurting too much to do more than 5 minutes of exercise, but managed to get a small workout on my shoulder, and then also play fiddle at the Food Bank and then afterwards in SAIL exercise class. I had picked up Gloria and we went to the food bank together, ate, and then drove back by the Creative Kids preschool to drop off my donation of a clown shirt for their upcoming circus event and parade. It is a cute short-sleeved sweatshirt.

Gloria and I left SAIL 15 minutes early to take her to the hospital respiratory/cardio department, for her to be fitted with a 24-hour Holter heart monitor. That went well.

John was gone all day to take his 2009 Subaru outback for its 90,000-mile work. In this case, the service cycle begins to repeat and this is the same as 30,000. We expected multiple hundreds, but it was “only” $343.33. The 60,000 mi. one is more extensive and costly. Besides paying for all the checks on systems, we had three windshield wipers at $6 each to replace. Our oil change and lube and filter was prepaid, and worth about $100. It took a lot longer than planned as he got there at 1:00 but called me from Costco at 4:30 and made it home about 6:00. He thinks they had a couple of disruptions – a lady with a car just fixed came right back because they had missed something. John had a newspaper and 2 books to read, so he hardly noticed.

Thursday, June 9

For June 8 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 2 hrs 10 min with AHI=5.10. I am not sure why it recorded such a high AHI, and I do not know why I took the mask off. I awoke at 3:00 and the machine was turned off, mask off. Events: 1 CSR, 11 H, 5 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 13 L/min). Oximetry: actually very good all night. It ran, while the CPAP did not for 2 extra hours, but then I slept another 2 without either. The extra time compiled to 4 hr 3m and the AHI went down to 2.72, although still not representing the entire night for CPAP.

Worked on the July music.

John drove me to town in the truck (’cause it needs to run once in awhile) so he could get 3 bags of horse feed and go by a couple of places. He found a nice pair of slippers at Goodwill and a fantastic book on Prehospital Emergency Care, with many color pictures. Quite a large book (1268 pages). I looked it up on Amazon. We have the 8th edition. The 10th is available for $32, but that is to RENT. The 9th and 10th editions are available new for over $100. Washington Trails wants the leaders to have some first aid training.

Friday, June 10

For June 9 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 7 hrs 29 min with AHI=1.87. Events: 1 CSR, 14 H, 16 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 21 L/min). Oximetry: was fine all night.

This was another crazy day. I went to my 11:00 PT appointment, met someone in the parking lot early, to receive a nice pair of Nike sandals and a leather wallet. Nicest padded flip flops I have ever worn. Now to get my toenails cured and willing to be seen in public. I have an incentive now, as well as encouragement for the medication to dry after applying daily, before putting a sock on.

Both of these were free from the Buy Nothing East Ellensburg /Kittitas site.

On to a heavy-duty exercise manipulation following a nice 10-minute moist heating pad application. I now have new exercises to add to my routine, including rolling the back of my shoulder muscle (not sure which muscle, have to ask) on a tennis ball. I know the location, and it hurts to show me I’m in the correct place.

The wonderful thing about my visit was it was a two-week check on measurement angles of my range of motion in four directions. I am happy to say all of them showed improvement, two more than the other two.

Below is a collage of the two new exercises along with my measurements indicating the GOOD increase in the angle of my rotation.

Late afternoon, John raised the blinds on the patio door, and saw a little fawn. He called me from the kitchen and I grabbed my camera. As we watched, we saw his mom standing in the back, and he walked over to her. They left. All the photos are taken through the woven wire fence with 2″ x 4″ spacings. The middle photo gives a good perspective of visual size sense from the door.

The left image has a purple line that is 5 spaces up, or 20 inches. The ears poke above that line about 2 inches. The antlers on the bucks are growing and still in velvet. The adults will stand on their hind legs to get leaves and cherries.

Saturday, June 11

For June 10 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 5 hrs 58 min with AHI=2.51 Events: 3 CSR, 15 H, 15 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 10 L/min). Oximetry: all night was fine.

This morning was busy dealing with neighborhood irrigation issues. As snow melt and/or spring rains decrease the available water is less and adjustments are needed. Our landscape trees were heavily watered so far and the Strawberries are fruiting and John is using well water on them. That’s because they could have been the source of the Giardia he suffered from last August. We are sure it came from the creek water, but it might not have been from the berries. Precaution seems a good strategy anyhow.

I left for town about 11:00 to run errands and get to the party in the park, Fun & Friends of the Buy Nothing Ellensburg site – this one combining all the subgroups we split into so it was nice to be able to meet up with people from the past, and now no longer in my group.
Below is a collage of all of us moved to a table in the sun because we were freezing inside the shelter, using that table. [Hot and sunny went away.] All the food remained on the table in the right of the photo. That one shows some of our shared menu items. One gal brought two foot long sub sandwiches cut up to share, I took 3 containers of the best strawberries in the west, picked fresh this morning by John, and cleaned by me. I had them packed in a cooler with ice and only put out one bowl at a time. It was interesting to hear people’s responses and amazement at the taste and even ripeness of the berries, almost as if they had never ever before eaten strawberries directly from the garden. They were all beautiful specimens. I didn’t make it home with any berries!! Probably took 3+ lbs. Also brought was a large container of very good homemade potato salad, packed in a bowl of ice. After the photo was taken, another person added a homemade bowl of Cole slaw to the shared table, and a package of Oreos with peanut butter/chocolate filling.

This set of blouses had not been spoken for in my new Buy Nothing subgroup, when I offered them, so I managed to take them today and find a person (new to me) from another group, who wanted them.

While there, I picked up from another person a black long sleeve soft spandex blouse. As well, a woman delivered 3 hats I had “won” on the current new buy nothing site from her. She lives way out in the pocket, probably a 1/2 hr from my house. I was happy not to have to drive out there. The flames one is for John, white one for me (a bucket hat, too big for me, but probably too feminine for him), and a happy face high funny hat again too big, but I will use a safety pin to make it fit, and use it to cheer residents when we play, “You are My Sunshine.” I may be able to talk Joanie into making a seam in it. Here is a collage of the hats:

Sunday, June 12

For June 11 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 51 min with AHI=1.47. Events: 1 CSR, 10 H, 12 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 15 L/min). Oximetry: good all night.

Our temperature was cool at 45°. John left at 5:50 a.m. to make the trip to Mt Rainier’s work party on the Wonderland trail at White River. There was snow in the Cascades above 5,000 feet with more coming in the next 48 hours. John’s route via Chinook Pass (5,430′) had no snow but did have a little remaining cloudiness. The crew moved large rocks for a wall and many buckets of gravelly-sand from the White River (water free areas) for the tread. The White River area campgrounds are not yet open. Still there are hikers, climbers, and viewing from the road.

Two cats came to the cable table early (as he was leaving), so I fed them, and continued by following one (Lemon) to the back haymow where he prefers to eat. He was purring at me and came right down on the stacked hay beneath the mow to receive his vittles. He sadly has rhinotracheitis, or at least the symptoms, with bad conjunctivitis. There is nothing we can do to get an antibiotic into him to treat the condition. He is not one that we caught and had neutered and vaccinated.

Been working on projects trying to get energy to do exercises. I have done a few but they were quite painful (as expected). No pain, no gain.

I fixed a nice tuna melt for my lunch treat, and entered my new PT dates on the calendar. Once I finish the blog draft, I’ll fill my medicine dispenser for the week. Also, early morning I fed the cats and cleaned the kitchen counters and dishes. John called from near town to see if he needed to go into EBRG for any reason. Nope. When home he took care of the horses and picked a pound of Strawberries. Now we’ve eaten supper and await dessert.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Monday, May 30

For May 29 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 4 hrs 55 min with AHI=3.05. Events: 6 CSR, 14 H, 12 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 13 L/min).
Changed back to the old mask and it did not seem to affect the high AHI. Oximetry was OK and that is really the only reason I am on the CPAP machine.

Morning came with sunshine and no winds. Three cats were on the front porch awaiting food. One is a new stray, and we do not know the gender. It appears to have 3 colors, so possibly is a female, yet our Mackerel tabby male, Rascal, also has 3 colors.

With no notes, I don’t remember what we did all day before afternoon arrived.

Around 4:00 Anne and Glenn Engels arrived for some pallets for “raised” garden beds. At 5:00, they left with four. She hadn’t decided on a design and, thus, we await the completion of whatever.

My upper body is aching–shoulders and upper arms, from attempts at physical therapy exercises.

Nice casserole for supper. John’s the best chef in the west (probably the world). [John: I cook. I don’t chef.]
Spun wheels all day doing chores and finishing few. We did get out the blog, so I guess that is significant.

During WTA’s recent training days, Anna Roth (orange hat – assistant crew leader) visited the various and widely spread work sites. She took photos, a few of which are below. These are from 12 miles east of North Bend, WA on a trail called the CCC trail. Link

A: Gear ready for carrying. Saw teeth are covered to protect them – and the person doing the carrying.
B:Rick found a log, Doug’s got the saw – now with handles. Someone said something funny. Directive #2 of WTA is to have fun.
C: Safety is Directive #1. John, with a small saw, is cutting stubs of limbs off the log. When the cut piece drops these broken limbs can dig into the ground, break and fly off, or if the log rolls they can catch on something and change its direction of motion. None of these are good.
D: The “D” is on the left arm of our chief sawyer for the day. He is explaining the technique of “under bucking” a log that will pinch in on the top (note the notch). Knowing the log has “top bind” that will stop the saw, the majority of the cut will be finished from the underside, and the cut will open and allow free movement of the saw in the kerf. Thus, we are under-bucking. [Below the sign-out for this post, John has a bit about the term bucking.]

Tuesday, May 31

For May 30 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 10 min with AHI=1.14. Events: 0 CSR, 7 H, 19 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 13 L/min).
Oximetry: just fine.

At 1:00, I had a physical therapist appointment and got worked over pretty well. My friend Joanie says PT stands for Physical Torture. I totally agree. I know – no pain, no gain, but it is going to be a long trip to avoid the shoulder surgery and fix the adhesions. I will try hard. (It has been very difficult; I am writing this parenthetical comment late in the week). I went to Jazzercise directly from there, and I probably will not do that again. On future Tuesdays, I am going to PT after Jazzercise, so maybe I will be warmed up, or maybe that will not work either. I only have two Jazzercise days in June and then our teacher is gone for a month on a trip to Europe. Today’s was a wait-listed appointment, so I didn’t have a choice in the timing, as it was the only thing available this week, and I’m supposed to go be manipulated twice a week for 45-minute sessions. The first 10 minutes of my time was spent on a recumbent bicycle that pulled my arms up and out and back as I pushed the pedals. The left arm support was set different from the right. I think I averaged 32 steps, but did not understand the gauges, what they were measuring, and what my goal, if any, was.

2:00 Jazzercise. While doing Jazzercise (only two of us there), a gal who lives in Kittitas near a house we almost bought in 1989 (and I’m glad we didn’t), brought a load of baby things to me for my growing gently used clothing, blankets, etc. for baby showers I have to attend. (One couple asked for gently used baby stuff). Majority of this received today consists from newborn socks to hats, little shoes and boots, dresses, bibs, with blankets and changing or smaller ones for burp pads (I guess). Most of these are for baby girls. I have another bunch meant for boys. So, now I have to figure how to present it – wrapped, bagged, boxed or what. I was also given some gift bags, but I have more things than will fit even in a very large gift bag. I am leaning toward using a large plastic container with a lid. We’ve checked for a few of these items on the web and discovered that cats, dogs, and horses are cheaper to keep and care for than kids. Later in the week, at a Geography party, we saw a baby tent – on Amazon they are $90.

I drove to Kittitas to pick up some other things; one a package of little boy’s shoes for a gal on the Buy Nothing site who is my neighbor. We both are 10 miles away from the source. I went to another place but she forgot it was Tuesday, the planned day of pickup, so I will go again Thursday, when I also have to meet another person to whom I need to deliver some stuff, and to pick up from another. I picked up two hooded bath towels (on the hood, one has a cat and the other has a dog). What will they think of next? Here’s a photo for those of you who have no clue (as I). These seem to cost from $10 to $20.

Wednesday, June 1

For May 31 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 5 hrs 42 min with AHI=1.05. Events: 0 CSR, 6 H, 12 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 16 L/min).
Oximetry: Looks okay, except for jags when changing fingers on Oximeter.

I left before 11:00 to pick up Gloria, and on my way, I stopped around the corner from her house to call my foot doctor’s assistant in Yakima about the medication that was ordered from a lab in Texas for me March 15 but never delivered. I have called the doctor’s office a couple of times, to no avail. I was supposed to receive it and start application of the cream daily for 3 months to kill a bacteria and fungus determined by a DNA test on a piece of my toenail.

This morning, I reached Brittany, Dr. Cardon’s medical assistant, who gave me a phone number to call tomorrow morning to give my permission to receive the shipment and to verify my address. Why did this procedure take so long? The medical assistant claims the lab is supposed to call me for the information, but I was never called, and no message was left for me to call their number.

I picked up Gloria and we went to the Food Bank for music.

I intended to drop off a seed packet at the courthouse for a friend from Thorp, but she was not at work today because of being ill.

After we finished at the food bank, we went to SAIL exercise. We only had a few people there today, maybe 7. From there we went to the hospital for me to get blood drawn for my INR. It was back to normal. I imagine all my asparagus (high in Vitamin K) eating a couple weeks ago, lowered it. The garden still yields and John took some for lunch on a WTA trip.

John worked on outside projects all day. We both took 1.5 hr naps this afternoon. I was still wiped out from yesterday’s PT.
John has been harvesting strawberries daily. At the moment we can eat all he gets but the crop is about ready to expand exponentially as serious sunshine and warmth approach. This link is worth checking. Too bad all these strawberries are being wasted in Arlington, WA.

pickers needed

Thursday, June 2

For June 1 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on was only 2 hrs 59 min with AHI=1.00. Events: 0 CSR, 3 H, 4 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 17 L/min). I looked at the clock when I awoke, thought it was 4:00 but it was 1:45! Needed to go to the bathroom, so unhooked my CPAP, and when I realized the actual time, I did not set it back up again. I was in pain all night and morning. I waited until 5:54 to take Tylenol. Oximetry: all right for the short time it was on.

This morning, I phoned a pharmacist (Rob) at the lab in Texas, named Trinity Pharmacy (844 213 5670). I must have the answer before noon tomorrow, or I will cancel until I hear from Cardiologist Kim about the possible conflict with my medications. After finding my cardiologist is not in the office today or tomorrow, but is with his critical patient in the ICU, I put the request on hold until I hear next week from him. He is also the ICU’s hospitalist the entire week.

The Texas lab, using DNA analysis, creates the compound produced to eradicate the specific bacteria and fungus on my toenails. I have to apply it daily for 3 months.

I need to know before I pay $65 for it if it conflicts with my meds and heart situation. The Compound required for me will be made of an Antifungal, Traconazole and an Antibiotic, Vancomycin that are put into DMSO for making it a liquid to apply as fingernail polish.

My insurance does not cover the cost of compounds, and this bottle lasts for only 2 months. I am required by Dr. Cardon to apply daily for 3 months. While it’s similar to a nail polish, it is supposed to be applied to the skin (½ in. or so) near the cuticle as well as the nail, and I was warned it would stain the area, brown.

It was to have been shipped FedEx from Trinity Pharmaceutical Labs in Texas. This was diagnosed March 15 but now I just found out, the Dr.’s office has not been communicating with the correct FAX number. [John: Why is a medical facility still using facsimile technology, or FAX? The idea was first used in 1843 and the modern version in 1924.]

Turns out medical assistant, Brittany, at Cascade Foot and Ankle there in Yakima must have called after my call to her, yesterday, to check, because they only received the FAX request after my phone call to her. Again, why this never happened with my other three previous inquiries is beyond me.

John took me to the Rehab for music, went to fill his car with gas for tomorrow’s trip to Mt. Rainier and do some shopping. Besides his time, we surely do donate a lot of gasoline costs and Subaru wear and tear. Too bad that is not a tax-deductible expense. But he gets to muck around in the White River and do things that would get the average visitor arrested.

We had 7 people providing music at the nursing facility, and John came back to help me out with my stuff. We managed to make it to three stops in Kittitas, with John driving. I delivered a bag of clothes to a thrift shop, unexpectedly met a friend and her children out front, picked up baby things from two different people, so it was a successful trip.

Friday, June 3

For Jun 2 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 41 min with AHI=0.00. Events: 1 CSR, 0 H, 12 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 7 L/min).
Oximetry: excellent.

My haircut at 11:00 today was cancelled for emergency medical reasons, unfortunately after I had showered, cleaned my hair, and dressed for the trip.

John spent the day at the base of Mt. Rainier. On his way over he saw a beautiful view of the mountain with an interesting cloud, but he didn’t have his camera. He tried using the camera on his cell phone, but it did not get the whole scene in the frame. We looked at it when he got home. The next day, posted on Facebook, I saw a photo taken today of the mountain with the lenticular cloud. The photographer, my friend, has just moved from Ellensburg to rural Puyallup, WA. I captured it for John to see and got her permission to publish it here. John’s view was from the East, looking west, and the cloud was bigger and mushroom shaped. Tendrils of cloud were streaming down the outer edge.

The picture below is from Google Earth, centered on the White River, but with North to the right. Coordinates: 46.901042, -121.642552 Zoom in and out to see where this is – about 6.5 miles from the peak and 57 miles from home, but twice that far by road. There is an S (south), an M (middle), and on the right side an N (north). These mark log bridges for hikers on the Wonderland Trail. About every 3 to 5 years the logs get moved or smashed by the river, or the water channels move and leave a dry place under the log – and a new channel with no crossing.

The logs are usually 50 to 60 feet long and weigh 2,000 pounds. These all have posts and hand rails. The image below (from the web) is similar to what one will find on many trails. The log and railings are (when available) de-barked Yellow Cedar because it is slow to deteriorate compared to other trees, such as a Fir. Now for the truth: John spent all but an hour of his work time in the nearby forest (shady), and not more than 200 feet from the parking area.

Saturday, June 4

For June 3 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 5 hrs 11 min with AHI=3.28. Events: 3 CSR, 17 H, 12 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 16 L/min).
Oximetry: surprisingly fine.

John’s off Saturday to Cowiche Canyon getting to Ellensburg to ride with a co-worker, leaving at 7:30a.m. Bill Weir is an Orange Hat too (Assistant Crew Leader).

Lisa Black (right) was the crew leader; John, as one of the assistant crew leaders, explained the use of the McLeod tool – a large rake & hoe.

Betsy Bloomfield, one of my former students at CWU in the 1990s in the Resource Management graduate program is now the Executive Director of the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy. She was along on the work party as well. Ed Stover was along for the WTA trip, and he took most of the pictures shown, but then Lisa grabbed a photo of Ed with Betsy and Becky. The flowering shrub in the center photo is a Mock Orange native Mock Orange, Philadelphus lewisii.

John made it home in time to get cleaned up a little for going to the End of the Year Geography Awards and Potluck about 10 miles from our home.

We carried a frosted cake, cookies, and donut holes for the dessert table, not recalling they had invested in a cake for the graduating students last year. Again, this year was a beautiful half-chocolate and half-white cake with the initials of all the graduating geography majors and minors and resource management folks.

The graduates are from several undergraduate (BA, BS) degree programs and an MS in the graduate Cultural and Environmental Resource Management program.

John and I donate money for two student scholarships each year to honor “distinguished service” to the department, university, and community.

Here is a video I took of this year’s presentation of our award.

Hultquist Geography Award for Distinguished Service 2016
https://youtu.be/mMW6xu_1Y-A

Sunday, May 29

For May 28 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 5 hrs 52 min with AHI=1.54. Events: 2 CSR, 9 H, 13 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 13 L/min).
Oximetry: good all night.

John did a bunch of early morning watering before the temperature went up. Now at 3:00 p.m. it is 98. He has been napping and I have been working on various projects, not the least of which is putting in medications for the week, alternately working on the blog, uploading videos from yesterday’s party, cleaning strawberries and dishes, working on the job announcement s list I manage, trying to do shoulder-breaking exercises every 3 hours for my shoulder’s adhesive capsulitis, amid the painfulness. I haven’t succeeded well today. It is still 98 outside but thankfully only 77 in our house.
We just celebrated with a piece of leftover cake from yesterday’s party. John got a nice nap, but I slept in a little this morning.

We intend to go grocery shopping later when it cools down.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Crosscut saw bucking

If you have a better idea about the term “bucking” – let us know.
The term for cutting a log into pieces is “bucking.”
Searching for the source (etymology) of this usage has turned up a gaggle of misdirections, or so I think. However, here’s my best guess.
There is a word in Dutch that can mean trestle, namely bok.
Look at the photo, below, and focus on the thing that holds the piece of tree trunk, let’s call it a sawhorse.

That structure looks a lot like a trestle, thus, bok (Dutch), and thus buck (in English). Heating homes or other buildings in eastern North America (think Maine to Pennsylvania) during the settlement period involved the felling and cutting (across the trunk or grain) of a gazillion logs. Cutting a log laying on the ground is awkward and tiring, not to mention the issue of the teeth of the saw getting dulled by hitting soil or rocks.

Putting the log up on something is a really smart thought. A leap of linguistic imagination could swiftly lead from bok to boking, and then, bucking. Consider a man saying to his sons, “Boys, let’s go out and lift logs onto the trestle and cut them logs across into lengths suitable for the fireplace.” Probably that is not what the old man would say. But, he might say, “Boys, let’s go buck some logs.”
Works for me. Dry Side John, June 2016.
[sawhorse is found in American usage in 1778; bok in the sense here from 1817. Both were likely used much earlier.]

Our flower of the week, here on the Naneum Fan, is Wild Onion. This variety is called “Taper-Tip Onion”: Link

Because of unexpected visitors on Sunday we needed to put a short note up to warn the thousands of readers of the delay. If you are reading the version of this on the web, at rocknponderosa.com you may go to the bottom, but if you are using an emailed version, you will need to use the link here …A short note
… to see a picture closely looking down on these pretty little flowers. This is a very good year for these, as there are hundreds of them between the house and the road.

John has consented to show some of the trail work from last week:

Here are photos showing projects on a trail 25 miles east of Mt. Rainier at a place called the Goat Creek trail in WA’s William O. Douglas Wilderness.
Purple dots locate the trail on a side hill. Photo is from up-trail looking back down. Note the green dot locating a break in the trail caused by toppling of trees, lower right. On the upper side are downed trees and the one with the small yellow dot is in the way of widening the trail in that direction. We decided to get rid of all the logs on that side hill.
We cut the log about where the yellow dot is in the first photo. Being “Wilderness” means using an ax or a crosscut saw. Above, Susan takes a turn at the cutting. Note the small green dot on the saw tip – blurred from movement. John is off to the right and taps the orange wedges to spread the kerf (cut) as the cutting proceeds.
Above, Susan strikes a pose. John is 97% hidden behind her.
In the photo below, the cut section has been removed, as have all the rest of the logs on the side just above the newly dug and smoothed trail. Compare with the first photo of the sequence. Note the other logs where the crew is standing in the first image, but now they have all been moved below the trail. Below is a “before & after” look at another trail issue.

The view is looking down-trail. The small standing tree is at the edge of the trail. To its left, the broken trunk (when it had limbs) blocked the trail.
Technically this is classed as a horse-okay-trail. On the right, Susan and John finish the smoothing of the tread. Lisa Black, our Blue-Hat Crew Leader took the photos. Others are here:
Goat Creek Trail photos

Monday, May 23

For May 22 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 5 hrs 39 min with AHI=1.06. Events: 2 CSR, 6 H, 9 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 10 L/min). Oximetry: looks great all night.

We left just before 8:00 a.m. for a 9:00 a.m. appointment at the Yakima Heart Center. I drove and we filled up my rig at $2.299/gal, while the price in Ellensburg, remained 20 cents higher. It was an okay appointment, my blood pressure was nice, causing the cardiologist to comment favorably. Then labs were explained and another appointment made to check up again in a few weeks on my creatinine levels. That is a blood test measuring the level of waste product in my blood and urine. I was instructed to drink more water throughout the day.

From there we went to Costco and bought almost $200 worth of stuff for us and $37 worth for our neighbor.

I have been working tonight on paperwork to take to the Canyon View Physical Therapy for an evaluation by the owner to see if they can help my shoulder problem. I’d like to have better use of the shoulder – without surgery.

Tuesday, May 24

For May 23 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 5 hrs 50 min with AHI=2.57. Events: 8 CSR, 15 H, 17 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 7 L/min). Oximetry: Rather consistent and okay throughout the time.

I sent out a message to my music group (KV F&F) about Hearthstone, about the Briarwood Jam Session planned for the future, and our special annual event on July 1 celebration the Fourth of July, held at the Senior Center. We have played for that event for over a dozen years, at 3 different locations in town.

I went to town for an 11:00 a.m. consultation / evaluation with Natalie Joyce, Physical Therapist, and owner of Canyon View Physical Therapy in Ellensburg. I was very pleased with her knowledge, consideration, testing, and concerned professional explanation. She decided I was a candidate for their help, and sent me home with “practiced” exercises I need to do 5 times per day. She approved me for 2 times a week, coming into the center for 45-minute sessions. One of the tools used was a walking cane, plastic. I went by Hospice Friends in town on my way home, and borrowed an old smooth wooden walking cane to use in place of a broom. The physical therapist gave me a rubber piece to use around a door handle for one of the exercises. She demonstrated each exercise and then gave me a diagram (see below) of the five exercises I’m responsible for doing at home. She does not expect this to be an easy task, and she will evaluate my progress to see how we are doing on getting my range of motion back. These exercises are recommended for me for treating adhesive capsulitis (commonly called a “Frozen Shoulder”). I plan to give it my serious attention.

I’ll break them down and say what I remember to guide me (and a friend’s friend back in New Jersey) through them.

The overall plan is to do these 5 exercises five times a day, after all three meals, and 2 snacks. (We are not regular with meals.) I think it is better to consider my waking hours and do them at 3-hour intervals, if I am where I can.

The first three are done in a prone position. I do them in my recliner.

Exercise One: Shoulder Flexion

Firstly, the “wand” in the PT room used was a fancy walking cane. HOWEVER, note the directions. I am to grab my wrist and lift, and do NOT use the cane (or wand). I have found that using my right arm to lift the left makes the right one hurt, so I have pushed it and raised with the muscles in my left arm to the point to count after reaching the stretch.

Secondly, the diagram of the man lying on his back is wrong, or at least I feel is misleading. There is no way I can do that movement to raise anything over my head with both arms, so my instructions were to use my right hand to grasp my left wrist and lift my arm as high as I can, and hold for 10 seconds. I have since adjusted that procedure (as mentioned above).

Exercise Two: Shoulder External/Internal Rotation

Exercise Three: Flexion on Counter
(standing without rolling chair need), or I can alternately do this at home in my recliner leaning forward with both arms. When away from home, I will use a counter or table.
Reach forward with thumbs up. You can use both arms or assist the left with the right.

Exercise Four – Scapular Retraction: Bilateral

Anchor a rubber strap to a doorknob. Grab each end. Sit in a chair or you might stand if the height angle is right. As directed, pull arms back. I don’t have handles on my strap, (as pictured), so I think I will use glove to lessen the pressure on my fingers and hands. At home I have stood next to the patio door, locked it, and pulled backwards while standing.

Exercise Five: Circular Movement, Clockwise and Counterclockwise

Stand for this and lean over with left arm dangling. This diagram is misleading. I find it is better to face the table and lean left and right to cause the circular rotation, keeping my right hand above my knee, and moving my body from side to side. The goal is to move the left arm without using the arm itself (i.e., “Don’t stir the pot.”) It will be turned by your body motion to move clockwise and then counterclockwise in a circular pattern. I also can stand, lean forward, and get the required movement by swaying my body from left to right leg, without a table in front of me.

I made appointments for the next 6 weeks. I came home and checked my schedule and also canceled and reset my appointment with personal doctor Paul Schmitt until I have completed a couple of weeks and had my progress evaluated by the therapist. The paperwork has to be reevaluated for Medicare to continue paying for the sessions, if the need is still there and progress has been made. Later, I was called as an appointment for next week (Tuesday) was possible because of a cancellation and I was on the wait list.

Wednesday, May 25

For May 24 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 4 hrs 12 min with AHI=1.90. Events: 2 CSR, 8 H, 6 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 9 L/min). Oximetry: Okay throughout the night, and after the CPAP was off.

I called my Pharmacist to ask if Aleve (Naproxen Sodium) would conflict with my assorted meds, as Ibuprofen does. Yes, it is in the same drug class. Therefore, I cannot take it. She suggested using Aspercream with Lidocaine, and I will check with my physician (Dr. Paul).

I did my exercises this morning (half of them) — 2 sets of 10 I only did on the first three, did all on the 4th, and I did all the 20 in both directions of the last one. I was hurting, and did a few more at the Food Bank and at my SAIL exercise class, but I’m supposed to be doing over 20 minutes of them 5 times a day. Where does one find the time and the energy? I’m still hurting from yesterday. I picked up Gloria and took her along with me to the two events for the day. We rushed her home because she had her own physical therapy session at 3:30.

On my way with Gloria, to the Food Bank Soup Kitchen for music, I picked up some shirts for John from a gal in town. Turns out we have mutual friends where John prunes wine grapes. Small world. Wow, a bunch of nice dress shirts and sporty tops. We just went through the box. Maybe we can toss a few of his worn out shirts.

Thursday, May 26

For May 25 CPAP Reported figures. Time on 4 hrs 39 min with AHI=2.15. Events: 3 CSR, 10 H15 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 15 L/min). Oximetry: okay all night.

Permission granted by Dr. (Paul) Schmitt to use Aspercream with Lidocaine for shoulder pain exacerbated from the exercising.

John held Myst for the farrier to trim her feet. My part in this was writing the check to pay for the work. After the trimming, John went down to switch the water from west-side to east-side of the ditch on the neighbor’s land. Later he will remove the “dam” and let it go to the next neighbor south. She is the new owner there and hasn’t got the hang of this water thing, yet.

We will have brunch and I will be taking off in an hour for playing music at Hearthstone while John goes shopping for a less expensive pellet-feed for the horses. He succeeded in finding one at a different place. There are only 3 stores in town for buying such items.

At our music gig, we had a nice turnout of audience and fair amount of players. Two violins, flute, tambourine, and 4 guitars. We were joined by the Activities Director there, only to hear she was moving on. Luckily, we will play there one more time before she leaves. She has been a member of our group every time we play there (monthly), and also at events held at the Senior Center, to which she brings residents of the facility where she works.

Friday, May 27

For May 26 CPAP Reported figures. Time on 8 hrs 9 min with AHI=1.35 Events: 2 CSR, 11 H, 11 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 16 L/min). Oximetry: Just fine all night long.

Today was an interesting day on the road. I drove John’s car so I could fill it with gasoline for his trip tomorrow across Stevens Pass. I first went for that chore, followed by going downtown across from our bank to the off campus location for a CWU administrative office. We only had about half our usual crowd, probably because of people leaving early for the Memorial Day weekend. We had a lovely luncheon, with a special Macaroni and Cheese casserole, an Asian salad, some fresh strawberries, and a tasty lemon dessert.

From there I drove to Kittitas on my way home (about 6 miles out of the normal return route). Reason was to pick up some items from people on the new Buy Nothing East Ellensburg/Kittitas/Vantage list, of which I am now a member. First, I picked up 2 monkey blankets for upcoming baby showers. These were freely given (and they are not inexpensive). [John wants to know why baby events are called showers.] Nancy here, I think it is because you’re expected to shower the parents with gifts for the new baby.
Second stop was to deliver some used stuff to a woman at her shop on Main Street, but she was closed for the long weekend. Then I went a couple blocks north and picked up two large bags of baby clothes, blankets, towels, and a nursing cover. On to the next place on my way home to pick up a folding lawn chair. I broke one of ours last year so this is a freely given replacement.

Saturday, May 28

For May 27 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 7 hrs 7 min with AHI=3.37. Events: 5 CSR, 24 H, 11 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 9 L/min). I had the new mask on again that is almost impossible to set up from the top of my head connection to the pressure tube. I think my positioning is hampered and causing a partial obstruction to the airway. I will experiment more tonight. Oximetry: Okay all night.

John was off at 5:30 a.m. for a WTA work party at Barclay Lake, near Baring, WA, on the other side of Stevens Pass. This is his second trip over there this season. This is about 25 miles from the Puget Sound town of Monroe (~20,000 folks). While he was well on his way home there was an accident on the road (Highway 2) that would have delayed him several hours. [The old road nearby has a bridge collapse that prevents a detour along this stretch.] Link: Wreck on Hwy 2

He’s been without his cell phone all this week, but the results of a search for it at the last minute before leaving this morning resulted in his finding it under the front passenger seat of the Forester that I drive. He was riding there Monday when I drove us to the doctor. Also, and awesomely, in the same place, he found his Nepalese wool hat wrapped around the older missing phone we have since replaced. Hmmmmmm. In that old phone’s carrying case was a thin Casio calculator that we like to have when we go to the grocery stores (especially Costco) to compare ounce prices. In addition, this old phone will take photos and one can remove them from the phone by a USB cable. Our new phones have a camera but do not allow one to remove them. They force you to pay for TEXT messaging to send the photos to an email address. We refuse to do that. Yet, now I can just keep the phone for emergencies when I do not have my big camera along. Maybe I can teach John to take photos on it, and he can pack it in his backpack for trail work days. He thinks not, because he has a 9 year old Nikon D40X that actually takes great photos, but is large and heavy compared to phones, yet images easily download to his computer.

John made it home about 5:00, but as he stepped out of the car, both legs cramped. He stood holding onto the car door and car to stretch his legs, and then turned around in the other direction for over five minutes to stretch muscles until he was able to walk again. He says they did too much fast hiking. The day was rainy and cold so he did not drink until after he was off the trail and on the way home. Maybe a bit of dehydration? They got several serious trail issues taken care of, no one was injured, and they had a lot of fun in the mud. WTAers consider that a great day! [John remembers from high school that basketball players got cramps so he doesn’t blame this on his old legs.]
He did the night feedings and lay down to nap for an hour. Then we had supper.

Sunday, May 29

For May 28 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 5 hrs 35 min with AHI=4.30. Events: 5 CSR, 24x H, 10 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 12 L/min). Oximetry: Fine throughout the night.

Fortunately, John awoke without pain in either leg. He went out, did a few chores, and brought back a large handful of beautiful strawberries from our “newer” garden. They get more sun there and are doing nicely. This is the first harvest of the year. My job was to clean and cut them. He added sugar, and then we had them for brunch on top of a simple pancake. I had my leftover egg/mushroom/ham fried from last night’s dinner, and we had pears from a can.

We tackled a bunch of projects in and outside the house, and then were surprised by an unannounced visit from a couple in Everett we have never met. She was the daughter of the folks who built the house (1981), which we have lived in since 1989. She’s in her fifties, and she had not been here since 1982. She remembered a few trees in the orchard when they were smaller. Recognized the house and the old red barn, and the little shed where I park my car. We walked them around the orchard and to the barn, out to the pasture and the side of the house, which has the old pump house converted to a place for feeding and watering the feral cats in the winter (it has a heater in the bottom). We about froze with 35 mph winds and temperatures of 62. Wonder what the wind chill was. Neither of us had on a coat, gloves, or scarf, and we were out for over an hour. The experience was very rewarding and nostalgic for Barb and her husband, Ed, whose company made the aluminum framed windows in our home. About 15 years ago, a niece of Barb’s, came by, we did the tour, and she gave us a little family history. Barb took photos, and is hopefully going to scan some old photos of the house when it was new. Sadly, her dad died shortly after it was finished and her mother died about a year after we moved here. There was another owner for about 3 years. John took a photo of them in front of the house.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

We had a visitor this afternoon and did not complete the weekly stuff.
The visitor was the daughter of the couple that owned this property and had the house built in the early 1980s. Before that they came and camped on weekends. We did a walk-a-bout and took pictures.

We’ll do the regular thing Monday.
Cheers

Sunday, May 15

For May 14 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 4 hrs 54 min with AHI=6.13. Events: 7 CSR, 29 H, 9 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 18 L/min).
Oximetry: all over the chart. Weird. But I felt fine, so no repercussions, I guess.

John left at 6:00 a.m. on a cold rainy day, for his last day of WTA Crew Leader College, but found the weather on the “wet” side is actually drier and better! That’s good because today he was out in the woods working on the Advanced Crosscut Sawyer learning session. I’m a bit concerned about the fog he will have to drive through near the summit. {Counter-clockwise spinning storms are passing to our south. Westward moving moist air is moving up-slope on the east side (normally dry-side) of the Cascades.}

I cannot believe how tired I was. I slept in until almost 10:00 a.m., highly unusual for me. Maybe it was related to interrupted sleep of the high AHI reported above for last night by the CPAP machine’s SD card (I read every day and graph the data from the night before).

I worked today backing up my activity on the Buy Nothing Ellensburg site because that Facebook site is being closed soon, after being split (sprouted is the term) into 3 smaller groups: North Ellensburg/Thorp, South Ellensburg, and East Ellensburg/Kittitas/Vantage (the new group I’ll join because of our house location).

I also (at John’s request) cleaned the left side of the hallway of boxes of various things, plastic bags of clean clothes and linens, and uncovered a closet door, with horizontal shelves, which I cleaned up a couple of shelves on to make room for some organization of more things. One thing I found on the top shelf was a stack of jigsaw picture puzzles and a few board games. I took the time to offer the puzzles and one board game to the new BNEE group. I mention some results after the puzzle collage below.

The 3 puzzles on the left I managed to re-home with minimum effort with people meeting me at the places I was in town this week. The two on the right have the largest number of pieces, and I will leave those on the free table at the Senior Center to be done with them.

I also repackaged packages of stick-on ribbons we bought in an after Christmas sale years ago. I believe I need to offer them on the Buy Nothing site, or start sticking them on every give away. Bags of music for our group audiences I organized into a box and recycled some we have no longer any use for from previous play dates over the years. Finally, I organized the clothes too large for me now into bags to give away. I put some towels on one of the shelves I uncovered in the closet. That’s handy to the bathroom off that hallway.

Monday, May 16

For May 15 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 40 min with AHI=2.70. Events: 9 CSR, 18 H, 14 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 10 L/min).
Oximetry: looks good, except for an hour when the pulse decreased to the lower 30s a couple of times.

Awoke before 7:00, stayed up, washed dishes, and fed one cat before John got out of bed.

I finally got a note sent off to my friend Lynne whose photo exhibit I visiting last week in Ellensburg. She does gorgeous work and has traveled all over the world. One photo taken in Croatia grabbed my attention because of my grandmother’s area where she grew up in present-day Slovenia, near Croatia. I told Lynne and sent her my 2012 story of the Wilkins family, I had put into our annual greetings for that year, when I returned from our reunion in Guyton, GA. She was happy to hear my story, and mentioned they rode the train through that area of Slovenia, when they were there.

Now at 4:30, John went to Safeway, and I am going to take a short power nap.

We are extremely frustrated with our computer going off and on its Internet connection. There are too many fragile parts between the main “pipes” of the internet and our rural location. The signal goes away and then comes back on its own. This might happen a dozen times in a day, or it might not happen for 3 or 4 months. The provider thinks the issues are in our house. No surprise there.

Tuesday, May 17

For May 16 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 46 min with AHI=0.89. Events: 1 CSR, 5 H, 13 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 9 L/min).
Oximetry: chart was very smooth, with high SpO2 all night.

I worked on chores, and then left for Jazzercise.

Wednesday, May 18 Anniversary of Mount St. Helens Eruption in 1980.

For May 17 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 5 hrs 16 min with AHI=1.90. Events: 8 CSR, 9 H, 9 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 17 L/min).
Oximetry:

John invited me to put on my boots early morning and take a trip through the yard to see wildflowers and our domesticated iris. We have much wild iris (a nuisance) in the pasture that is difficult to get rid of. Neither the horses or the deer will touch it. Lots of water in the spring and then not much after is good for it and not for other things, such as grass.

First, are the pretty little bunched purple flowers, officially known as, Phacelia linearis.

These are next to our new driveway to access the back of our property with a turn-around for a fire truck in case of wildfire from the west of our property. Actually, it helps protect all our buidings because it acts as a loop fire-break. Someday it will get a gravel surface.

Also, from the old cottonwood trees, we have had the seed pods falling and blowing around the yard. I didn’t have my camera when John I returned from town recently and found it white all the way down the driveway on the dark gravel. It looked like it had snowed. The town streets were filled as well with yellow snow from the flowering trees around town (locust or maple ?)

Another interesting plant John tries to reduce is a “Fiddler” plant. Its head looks similar to the neck of a fiddle. [John says: That is why it is called “fiddleneck.”] Looking on line, I found Fiddlehead Fern, but I don’t think our shrub-steppe area is wet enough for ferns, and they are not closely related. Many web photos have linked the names “fern” and “fiddleneck” with this non-fern plant.
Like a curled lock of hair.

Above is a collage with three on the left from our walk. The second in is an enlargement of the 3rd from the left. The one on the right is from the web, where it is wrongly called a fern. However, it has a less hairy appearance than those here, but red dots in the throat of the flower, so I include it. There is an “intermedia” version, so there is more to this plant than we have time to figure out.

Next is a collage of our domesticated Iris we start from rhizomes provided by Celia Winingham, who has cut my hair since I arrived in Ellensburg in 1988.

Iris out near our old barn, on the way to our newer pole barn. Missing in this photo are the salmon (bronze) colored ones and the more recently blooming yellow ones.

I mentioned a board game I found in our hall closet, and I was able to meet Joanna while in town (at SAIL exercise) to transfer it. She introduced me to her cute 7.5 month old baby and later sent me a photo of her son playing the game. She wanted to teach him because she grew up playing the game, and no longer had it. It’s for ages 8 to Adult. Results seen below:

Thursday, May 19

For May 18 CPAP Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 46 min with AHI=1.77. Events: 2 CSR, 12 H, 17 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 15 L/min).

Today, I rushed to town for a special event at Central Washington University (CWU), a presentation in S.O.U.R.C.E. by Trinity Turner. Here’s the history on this. She’s the daughter of a friend I have known since the early 1990s from the WOTFA workshop at Kittitas where we were in an Intermediate Fiddling class taught by Roberta (Bobbie) Pearce from Nampa, ID. Trinity came to Central and joined the Geography Department where I taught for so many years. Her talk was on using GIS for making “Story Maps” to represent spatial temporal information.

From there, I went to KVH for blood draw with my paperwork and get INR while there. It was low (probably from enjoying our fresh asparagus. They had taken my Dr.’s name off the list as retired (he doesn’t retire until the end of the year, and he was in that very hospital working all week). I called the main office in Cle Elum and talked to Laura (staff member I have known there the longest), and she was grateful to hear, agreed with all my observations, and will report it.

At 1:20 I showed at Brookdale, Senior Living Solutions, for our usual third Thursday of the month’s music. We had a good turn-out and got to meet our new fiddler, Evie Scheutz. She enjoyed meeting our crew, and playing with us. She is happy to be a member of the group. I knew she was practicing for a competition, so I asked if she would place her tunes for us. She did and got applause from us and the audience, and in addition, we “backed her up.” She was quite nervous, but I’m sure it was a positive experience to give her a little exposure to a strange group before the Saturday competition.

John and I went to town to hear Megan Walsh and Dusty Pilkington give a presentation on the importance of fire in our ecosystem at the local chapter of the Kittitas Audubon Society, of which we are members.

The Daily Record link for tonight’s talk is here: News Link

Here is one from back in December of 2015 about hers and Dusty’s work: News Link #2

Friday, May 20

For May 19 CPAP Reported figures. Time on 5 hrs 57 min with AHI=1.51. Events: 8 CSR, 9 H, 16 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 8 L/min).
Oximetry: very nice SpO2 and pulse graph, but only for 2.4 hrs, when it ran out of charged battery. My bad for not recharging it.

I carry a 3-ring binder along to all our KV Fiddlers & Friends performances at assisted living homes. Yesterday, I was in a hurry to leave, and left behind one of the binders that two guitarists share. While there, I took Lenna, a resident, a 650-piece jigsaw puzzle you saw in the photo above.

I went on to the AAC after buying a bunch of canned cat food at less than half price. That’s always a treat to the pocketbook and appreciated by the cats for sure. I caught the end of good talk on bicycles for the elderly: trikes and 4 wheelers. The free lunch was the best part. Baked potato with various toppings and salad.

I sent out the invite to the Emeriti for June 4 End Of Year Geography party, at which the Geography Club provides the burgers, hotdogs, and beverages, and participants bring potluck appetizers, salads, sides, or dessert.

John left early for a WTA day on the trail. John and 3 first-time volunteers cut a tree that came down on a trail-turn on a steep hillside. Once the tree was cut and the sections removed, they rebuilt the turn.

The whole crew, below, worked on 4 different projects. A different tree crashed into the railing so the left end had to be reconstructed. The still intact but crooked part is solid and serviceable.

Saturday, May 21

For May 20 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 5 hrs 31 min with AHI=2.17. Events: 2 CSR, 10 H, 11 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 9 L/min).
Oximetry:

John left at 6:00 a.m., to fill up with gasoline for a WTA trail maintenance work day being held at Goat Creek Trail, near Chinook Pass, WA (just east of Mt. Rainier National Park).

I got 1.5 hrs more sleep and have been tackling chores. John fed Lemon before he left, and I fed the two girls out front after he was gone. They both (mother and daughter, Woody) came onto the cable table in the front yard, and mom, Sue, jumped down and ran toward me to be fed on the concrete in front of the garage, inside the fence, where we have been feeding her to keep away the skunk. She more often eats out back up in the “cat’s mow.”

Here’s a photo of Woody, up her favorite tree, a Black Walnut.

Evie Scheutz (our new fiddler with the Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends) has been only playing the fiddle for 2 years, taught by a CWU student. She is the epitome of what a fiddler should be doing. She puts in 4-6 hours practicing every day. She entered her first competition in Union Gap, WA today (Play the Gap), and won 4th place in the Old Time (music) Adult group. The link below happened today at the Union Gap .
EVIE AT PLAY THE GAP

This was her award.

Sunday, May 22

For May 21 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 50 min with AHI=0.59. Events: 5 CSR, 4 H, 17 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 9 L/min). Oximetry was good throughout.

I’ve been tackling chores all day, while John went to his WTA trip today (3rd day this weekend). Today and yesterday were to the Goat Creek Trail in the Mt. Rainier area off Highway 410. Today he put 182.6 miles on his Subaru, leaving at 6:38 a.m. and returning at 4:38, a nice 10 hr day. Yesterday’s trip was a little longer (185) because he detoured through Ellensburg for gasoline.

My chores included working on this blog (still need to put the finishing touches on so John can enter it), washing dishes and clothes, doing various types of paperwork, gathering information for my upcoming doctor and physical therapist appointments, feeding cats, and planning for future visitors.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan

Sunday, May 8 Happy Mother’s Day!

For May 7 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 5 hrs 35 min with AHI=0.00. Events: 2 CSR, 0 H, 11 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 13 L/min). Oximetry: very smooth, with high SpO2 all night.

John will go to the WTA trail as on Sat. last. He can leave a little later today than yesterday, because all the people except him are staying over in the campground, the tools are already up the hill, and there is no need for a discussion about the use and safe use of maintenance tools.

He was kind to help me slice some Jarlsberg cheese to take to lunch today at Swedbergs across the street, where I am going to celebrate Mother’s Day with our neighbors, two sons, daughter-in-law, granddaughter, and great grandson. I created a special card for the occasion, and am carrying along a few other sweet tummy treats.

I slept in another hour after John left. The wind is blowing hard. 45 mph gusts as John was leaving, and continued until the hour before 10:00 when it went to 48 mph. It was there for 2 hours, and then between 1:53 and 2:53 at the airport they measured 52 mph. WHOA. John made it home at 4:38 p.m.

I’m continuing to file and toss papers and restarted my Seagate weekly backup at 5:13 Sunday, but I do not know how to make it not copy everything. Something is not right.

Monday, May 9

For May 8 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 7 min with AHI=1.14. Events: 6 CSR, 7 H, 14 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 7 L/min). Oximetry: all good all night.

I spent a ton of time and still am not done with Dashboard back up on my Seagate Drive. I finally late afternoon made it through a process for technical support. I started early in the morning by re-registering my Seagate Disk Drive. Then for a couple hours, it refused to recognize my Serial Number, saying it was not in the system. Finally, I guess the 14th time is a charm, it let me on to write my questions and they will provide an email tomorrow to one of my gmail accounts. John is using our joint account to register his, and they would not let me use that address for mine.

Spent even more time worrying with arranging for the CWU retireds meeting in the morning. Now we have changed rooms, so there can be a PowerPoint shown. I fixed chocolate chip cookies from the frozen dough John pulled out of the freezer last night. I have 33 cookies for the meeting and we are expecting nine members, plus the speaker.

I sent out an organizational announcement for the Meadows Place, an assisted living home behind the Rehab where we play music on the second Thursday of the month. I need to request attendance of musicians, so I can give a count of how many arm-less chairs we need to have set up. It’s a weekly chore I have to manage.

Tuesday, May 10

For May 9 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 8 hrs 5 min with AHI=2.10. Events: 6 CSR, 17 H, 16 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 6 L/min). Oximetry was okay for the time it was on. Don’t know why it was off the rest of the night, after a 4:00 a.m. potty break. It stopped after 16 minutes, guess the charge died ??

We left at 8:00 a.m. so we had time to stop at Complete Computer Services to give them my laptop to figure out what happened. I guess the last thing I did last night was to shut it down through the system advanced options. The restart did not work, and I didn’t like any of the other options available. Ryan, the “windows” man, turned it on, had to wait awhile, but it came up fine. Now I think I should have tried before I left this morning. Oh well, he didn’t charge me for the service and that made me very happy.

In rushing out with that and the stuff we were taking along, I left the cookies behind at the front door. We realized it once we got there, and I was going to drive back home. Discussion ensued. Our main grocery store was just 1 mile away so I drove John to Super 1, where he went inside for the goodies, and I called and talked to the young man with whom I left my computer. John went in and found the cost of the amount of cookies I made for the group would have been over $18 – so instead, he bought apple and blueberry mini-strudels. It was fine and “only” $8.00. We were thanked today for 22 months of taking goodies with a $35 gift card from Jim & Lillian Brooks. Perkins is the place. We’ll use that for something special coming up this summer. I came home and froze the cookies I made for today to take next month.

Our meeting went well. The speaker explained his travels and research in Argentina. He was investigating oil drilling and production and why they are spending more money and getting less output. He spent time in an oil boom town, very small and remote. The place looked windblown and dusty, and long time residents were poor folks having a hard time coping. He received many compliments and questions from us old folks.

We managed to leave by 10:45 for our eye exams with Dr. Davis. We both had good reports, and neither of us paid the $44 for refraction. I don’t need the numbers as I have implanted lenses. John’s glasses are fine. So we just needed the medical exam that is covered by insurance. Our eyes, vision, and pressure are fine, and the back of the retina is all right too. The clinic uses

OptoMap ~~Have a look.

The cloudiness in John’s eyes is holding at 2+, that being less than the average for men his age. While I was there, I got a call from Ryan that I could come pick up my computer. On the way home, we did. Got home with not much time to spare, but I grabbed a bite for lunch, changed clothes and went on back in for Jazzercise class. On my way there I picked up some alpine boots, but when I got home, I found they would not fit, so I found another home to share them with, with someone less than 7 miles from our house on Naneum.

On my way home, I stopped by for mothballs at the Dollar Store (to attempt a send off of the skunk), and from there, I went around the block to view a friend’s photo exhibit in the Gard Vintners. Lynne Harrison is her name. Wonderful work.

I got home a little before 4, rested only a short while, and took off again for town, to play music with The Connections at Hearthstone, where I started the day!! We had a nice turn-out and participation from an appreciative audience. I was happy to get home for dinner.

Wednesday, May 11

For May 10 CPAP. Reported figures. Reported figures. Time on 6 hrs 20 min with AHI=1.26. Events: 5 CSR, 8 H, 15 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 8 L/min). Oximetry: excellent all night.

On my way from picking up Gloria, my Wednesday traveling buddy, we stopped a few blocks west of her and picked up an aluminum tripod and small commemorative creamer from the Spokane Expo ’74 (year we moved to Troy, Idaho) from a person on the BNE group. We went on to the food bank and met a woman there to give me a box of goodies – jars for the mothballs to reside, in order to out-skunk Pepé Le Pew.

Gloria was with me at the Food Bank, joining the singing and dining. Today, in addition to pasta, they served a lobster bisque. I had a large cup of it, rather than the pasta, because the large amount of garlic in it disrupts my tummy. I also took along a small helping of my own made tuna fish / egg salad to replace the pasta. They had a nice salad with the iceberg lettuce I can eat, and blue cheese dressing, with a brownie for dessert. We drove by the Kittitas Medical Supply place for my 3-month refills of CPAP supplies, on to SAIL exercise, and back afterwards to a nearby building to pick up my medical entry paperwork for my Physical Therapy evaluation. That’s to be in 2 weeks. On the way home we stopped by the bread room to partake of some things. We have always been encouraged to take things, but they have changed the hours, and the bread room is no longer open when we arrive for playing music. We both got a loaf of whole wheat bread, she some dinner rolls and I, an Olive Oil Loaf. The local grocery stores donate bread not sold by its best-by date, and the only place to store it is in a semi truck, so the food bank can’t keep it long – and why they encourage people to take the bread, even when they do not need to partake of normal food distribution. Better to use it than lose it to mold. There is always plenty and there’s a limit of five items.

Thursday, May 12

For May 11 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 5 hrs 45 min with AHI=0.52. Events: 0 CSR, 2 H, 17 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 11 L/min).

Finished up giving away (notifying at least) for the BNE seed packets. I have given away 2 of the 4, and those go next week.

Called Hospice Friends and will pick up an egg carton foam pillow for my chair. Got it and it was a better one than previously offered. I have worn that one out from sitting on it.

Our neighbor we honored on Mother’s Day was ill this morning, and once in ER, they decided she had to be transferred by ambulance to Swedish Hospital in Seattle for reaming out her esophagus that had constricted and kept her from swallowing anything. That doesn’t sound pleasant, but if it works, that’s fine.

John went with me to town, driving his car to fill with gas for this weekend’s trip. After letting me off at Meadows Place, he proceeded to get gas from the cheapest place in town on the north side, at $2.32. Then was able to find some cat food at Grocery Outlet on his way back to the grocery store we normally frequent, but where the price of the same can of cat food with a 10-cent off coupon is still 15 cents higher priced. He stopped off at Safeway for his cheaper (89¢/2 liter) colas. And eventually, he came back to pick me up, a few minutes before we ended. Twelve people contributed music, and we had a number of happy people in the audience, including some of the staff, singing.

Friday, May 13

For May 12 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 7 hrs 7 min with AHI=0.42. Events: 3 CSR, 3 H, 13 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 10 L/min). Oximetry: Interesting, between 5 and 6:00 a.m. my pulse dropped to 38 lowest, yet my SpO2 remained high except for dropping to 83, an hour after I went to sleep.

Early in the day we had a little excitement. I looked out the back window and saw our horses where they are not wanted. I found John in the front yard and asked him if they were supposed to be there, after he’d told me yesterday he did not want to let them in the backyard. He was surprised, because he had not put them in there. I looked again and saw two sections of the fence were down. He went around to open the easy gate for them to leave and to get the downed fence out of the way so they would not get tangled in it, leaving. Then he proceeded to fix it. Ancient boards and nails became loose in the high wind. At some point screws will have to replace nails in some of these things. Screws hold better and longer.
First view, left above is Myst with her nose in Raspberry plants, and behind her are the downed sections of fence. Right are the other horses, Cheyenne, Jazz, and Breeze behind the heat pump.
This shows the open gate (left edge) for them to use to leave, John walking toward the fence needing picked up and re-strung, and far right is Jazz munching on a mouthful of grass. Many years ago the boards came from an fence – old then – in EBRG from friends who were moving.

Backyard Horses / Downed Fence 5-13-16

Owen Orvald is 10 today. Need to find a special b.d. card special for him. I sent it between machine down time on Internet connection. What a PITA. Owen is the first child of a student from shortly after we arrived at CWU. Now the family is near Reno.

I have been trying to get some computer work done, but the Internet won’t stay up long enough to write a message.
I did manage to get this sent to a local contest.

I submitted this photo Jeri took of Daisy for Knudson’s Kooky Pooch contest to get 40# dog food / month for a year. Now people have to access Facebook and vote for her.

Go to Facebook – VOTE for Daisy

Saturday, May 14

For May 13 CPAP. Reported figures. Time on 5 hrs 20 min with AHI=4.50. Events: 11 CSR, 24 H, 8 RERA. No major mask leaks (max= 9 L/min). Bad report, which causes me to wonder why. I must have set myself up incorrectly last night for proper airflow. Oximetry: only on for a couple of hours, because I must have jarred it off my finger in the middle of the night. Not a good recording night on either device.

John leaves early, 5:30 a.m., for North Bend, for Crew Leader College. Unfortunately, he awoke much earlier and could not get back to sleep. I awoke at almost 4:00 and he decided to go ahead and get up. He did find all his gear, pack his lunch, and get out of the house. He had to go to check and put things in his car, so I warned him to be careful and not get sprayed by the skunk. Got a chuckle from him. He printed me the program for today. He will get there for the kickoff, hoping to get there soon enough for a seat in the room, and maybe a donut. His training session is Basic Crosscut Sawing, which he has experienced, so this is a refresher with 2 sawyers he has not worked with. The goals are to discuss and practice a successful log out, types of bind (tension/danger) encountered, dangers in logging out trails, and successful planning for cutting logs so that the trail is cleared with minimum effort.

I stayed and slept for another couple hours, but now have gone out to retrieve a potted hen and chicks plant for a gal to come pick up this morning. There was a pungent skunk odor around the front yard. While out, I fed one of the ferals, Woody. I’m keeping an eye out for the others in the afternoon. The clouds have moved in, threatening, and they were calling for rain where John will be outside working. He found a light rain jacket to carry in his backpack.

I only got 1.5 hrs in for cleaning up my presence and recording the information from the old BNE site, so I can leave and join the new subgroup, based on my Ellensburg location.. now BNK (Buy Nothing East Ellensburg-Kittitas-Vantage). Now the Internet has been down since 9:14 a.m., and it is down all over Kittitas & the whole valley, as well. I tried calling the 1-800 number, for Fairpoint Communications, but they no longer have a local presence and their national one is not being recognized. Yes, I’m royally ticked off. We cannot get anything else out this far from town, and we do not wish to subscribe to cable, even if it came this far out. Service returned about 2:45 p.m., and the phone number started working again, so it was broadly based as John found out looking at outages of Fairpoint across the U.S. today. We were fortunate our landline through them continued operating.

I’m getting by with doing dishes, eating, sorting, and working on the text of the blog. No way we can publish it without a connection. Continuing with cleanup & filing. Charged my phone and oximeter (uses the same charger – nice after the original with the Oximeter quit working a 3rd time. The service company I bought from on Amazon replaced the first two, but I didn’t want to ask again, and then tried my older cell phone one and it fits and works.

John’s saw group finished and was back at the USFS in North Bend by 4, but WTA brass wanted a group picture at 4:30. John called about the time expected, after 20-to-5, and I went right out to feed Lemon out back, and it started sprinkling. I went to the front door, saw Woody on the cable table and her mom Sue right behind. I ran back in to get a plate for Sue. I had only seen Woody, until I walked out. It was starting to sprinkle more, but not bad as it has gotten in the past hour. I managed to feed Woody on top of the table, and convinced Sue to come in the front gate onto the concrete. They both cleaned their plates. Now for John’s arrival it is raining much harder, and I didn’t put up the barrel or buckets to catch the roof water, but he’ll be home soon to rectify that.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy & John
Still on the Naneum Fan