Monday, Feb 16
One of my photos to start this week: Mt. Stuart watches over an old homestead on Bender Road, not far from home.
There is a story for each of these old places. Unfortunately I haven’t a clue. This one has cattle in the yard and a view of the wind turbines in the distance.
I called my dentist to be sure I could come in on Wednesday for my crown seats. They are still hoping the public health department allows this to include finishing work in progress as they are cancelling all cleanings and fillings, and only can be available for emergency dental work. Keeping my fingers crossed because I need my front teeth back to be able to eat more easily. I’m very tired of soft foods and soups, and not being able to use my front teeth for fear of losing the temporaries. Three weeks of not chewing has been tough.
Two more cancellations of CWU events. One was a lunch this Wednesday at a downtown restaurant, and the other was for the 2020 CWU Foundation donors and scholarship recipients for an evening of appreciation on Thursday, May 7, 2020 which included dinner. We are invited each year because of our donation of two scholarships through Geography and the Cultural & Environmental Resource Management Graduate program, known as The Hultquist Distinguished Service Award.
Access to all Scholarships through CWU Geography
John went to town for two different store purchases plus dealt with fan issues in the heater/cooler of his Crosstrek. On his way in, the heater fan was not working, so when he got to Bi-Mart he turned off his car and restarted it, and it still didn’t work. I gave him the number for Stewart Subaru and he called them. Talked to a technician who said they would have to have him come down to fix it. He has an appointment Thursday at 10:30. While there, he will go to Costco for food. They are out of toilet paper and disinfectants, neither of which we need.
Nick Zentner proposed on line 9:00 a.m.: “Hello from Ellensburg. Thinking seriously about doing a geology livestream from home each day this week at a set time. A live Q & A with a theme each day. Do you have suggestions for time of day and/or subjects to discuss live? I need to learn how to do this – not sure if best to do Facebook Live, or YouTube Live, or? Thanks for your interest.”
He proceeded with it, and now has completed several to date this week: they are excellent and details are explained below on how you can participate, live or after the presentation has occurred, by viewing the stored version.
Nick’s public presentations fell victim to virus concerns.
Related are Evie’s Homeschooling activities.
In “Art Class,” her daughter Franka (13) was tasked with creating an amusing owl animation with a new program on her ipad and then converting it into a gif.
Nancy here – I’ve captured 3 photos from the animated gif to share: (first sent to Australia to cheer up a friend who had to cancel his 4-week trip to the US & Canada, because of the COVID-19 issues). We had planned to meet him in Seattle the end of May.
Tuesday, Mar 17 Happy St. Pat’s Day
John left at 7:30 a.m. for the Mariposa Vineyard and wine grapevine pruning. He’s also delivering many wine materials (books, magazines, glasses, and all sorts of related things, such as VHS tapes by Jancis Robinson on the worldwide wine industry. We last taught “wine” in CWU’s 6-week Summer School session of 2008. Nothing from CWU about a 2020 summer session, yet!
We’ve been to a concert by the 3 ladies pictured below. They have gone virtual also.
The Gothard Sisters are a dynamic musical group of three sisters who play contemporary Celtic music. Through 10 years performing, touring and writing music together, the optimistic style of their music and performances continue to resonate with their fans, building a loyal international following.
Music Genres: Americana, Celtic Classical, Celtic, Irish, Irish Folk, Scottish Folk, Folk, Classical, World Fusion
Band Members: Solana Gothard, Willow Gothard, Greta Gothard
Hometown: Seattle, Washington
I hope this stays below for a week to March 24, but go there now to be sure you don’t miss this performance by WA’s own.
(Pull the start button back to the beginning of the video)
The Gothard Sisters: Free Concert Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day
Just to encourage you, here are the songs performed by The Gothard Sisters:
Flying Sails is by the Gothard Sisters Midnight Sun is by the Gothard Sisters Toss the Feathers / the Blarney Pilgrim is traditional Double Drums is by the Gothard Sisters The Wild Rover / Winds That Shake the Barley are traditional The Bandit is by the Gothard Sisters Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shores is traditional Alaska Set is by the Gothard Sisters — intermission — Hummingbird is by the Gothard Sisters Scarborough Fair is traditional A Capella Dancing is by the Gothard Sisters Mazama Mornings is by the Gothard Sisters (featuring the An Daire Irish Dancers of Wenatchee, WA) Danny Boy is traditional Three Little Birds is by Bob Marley Chasing the Sun is by the Gothard Sisters — encore — Country Roads is by John Denver
After the intermission, don’t miss the second piece of an Acapella (no instrumental music) Dancing [Tap] followed by a great story of the new name for a mandolin, and a visit by a team of 4 Irish Dancers on stage with them doing their Mazama Mornings song.
Meanwhile, I’m coordinating two of my favorites into today’s blog, which I videotaped from my laptop’s screen, while playing.
The Wild Rover – Celtic Folksong
This song (above) is one of our favorites in our March music, which we are not getting to play with the COVID-19 closings. We hope this is not a permanent decision, because the residents love our monthly music sessions.
The next two are the same, with the short version being just the ending.
The Complete Celtic Drumming Song
Short Drumming Song –Just the Ending
I traveled a mile around our rural block to the Winingham’s home where Celia cut my hair (she’s cut it since I arrived in town in 1988), and I took Bobby the article from John he’d found in the WSJ about a man’s Land Rover, as Bobby restores and rebuilds old military jeeps. He has one 1943, they drive in parades, and now is working on a Ford model jeep from the same year (my birth year).
Came home to a 1:51 call from my dentist. I’m having my appointment to set my crowns, but it had to be moved up to 9:00 a.m. (to get everyone in for follow-ups). Going to bed much earlier tonight.
Just receiving an expected cancellation (via postponement to a future date) from Nick Zentner for all upcoming April Downtown Geology Lectures and all the lectures and field trips of the local Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute.
That reminded me of the March 4 death of a serious player in the Ice Age Floods story, Tom Foster, who left Earth at 60 years of age. He was the photographer who published a massive amount of information with photographs on his website,
Discover the Ice Age Floods (website by Tom Foster)
2012 photo of Foster, Taggert, & Zentner
Description of above: contains a photo of Tom Foster (photographer), Tom Taggert (pilot of Ultralight Trike), and Nick Zentner (Geologist). Within it is a video which doesn’t come up very fast, so I found a better YouTube link to it. See next:
Moses Coulee and the Ice Age Floods – Part I
Yesterday, John’s trip to Bi-Mart and Super 1 contrast very differently from this afternoon’s trip my friend reported back to me after 5:00 today. She said, “My shopping went pretty good. No toilet paper or paper towels at Bi-Mart or Super 1. No dish soap at Bi-Mart. No bar soap at Bi-Mart, but plenty at Riteaid. Surprising the meat department at Super One was almost empty, with a little bit of pork left. All the pasta was gone, but plenty of canned food. Plenty of milk and cheese, low on eggs. Didn’t go to any other stores, we have everything we need for several weeks.”
I responded online to the 2020 Census form. They claimed it would take 10 minutes, but all must be done at once; if you stop, you have to redo it from the start. So much for that. It took me 43 minutes, but I documented all the pages and answers, for what that’s worth (probably nothing).
Other interesting information about our town and businesses opened with their details:
Chamber of Commerce Business Info for Kittitas County
Everyone’s life style and activities are being affected by this COVID-19 issue, and probably will be for some time.
Wednesday, Mar 18
John left at 7:45 for White Heron. Before he drove away, he came back to make a super suggestion and brought me two Reece’s peanut butter cups to eat before I left for my dental appointment. Great idea!!
I arrived at the dentist at 8:50 a.m. for my new crowns to be seated. Thank goodness it went smoothly and I was out by 9:55 a.m. I am so happy I should be able to chew again.
I left there and made two short stops and came on home to fix me some lunch.
John got home at 2:30 p.m. after going through town for gasoline ($2.559/gal at Pilot – less by a lot than any other station in town). Then, he came back by Grocery Outlet, the store that is frequently out of things. They have an odd business model.
John’s going to be out in the yard working in the garden area. He’s been making the soil ready to plant onion sets which were delivered Monday, a week earlier than wanted. They come from southern Texas and a much warmer climate.
I’ve been dealing with a bunch of different chores all afternoon, and not completing many. I did get a shopping list ready for John to take with him to Costco tomorrow after he gets his fan fixed at the Subaru repair garage. I hope it doesn’t cost us a lot of money. Would be nice if it is covered by the warranty.
We had a few interesting emails today, one from our friends in Australia.
I found out more about the plans at CWU for teaching this spring quarter. I’m glad I’m no longer on the teaching faculty. They decided today to extend spring break to two weeks, so the faculty members could get all their courses put online. They just got through with this week being finals – all online. Not all faculty members are up-to-speed on online class preparation or presentation. Some classes with labs do not lend themselves to online scenarios, or not easily, if at all.
John finally left for bed, and I’m not far behind at 10:20 p.m.
Better than a sunset to end tonight is this celestial creation photographed at 11:30 p.m. in the Yakima River Canyon by EvieMae Schuetz.
Open shutter for 117 seconds reveals celestial beauty, by Evie Schuetz. She has a star tracker connected to her camera.
Thursday, Mar 19
I lost a little sleep – cat issues; no fun. Their rhythm sometimes doesn’t match mine.
Horses have been fed and John will be leaving just before 9:30 for Yakima.
I’m sending the following around: for Nick Zentner’s Washington Geology presentations.
Free Livestreaming Geology Lectures by Nick Zentner
You need to Subscribe to his YouTube Channel to be involved. Once you hit SUBSCRIBE, also to the right of that, click on the BELL icon and choose ALL for all notifications to Nick’s videos.
Currently, two have happened and one more is tonight, 3-19-20 at 6:00 PST. Follows another two this weekend, 3-21 & 3-22. I’ll put them all here for this week.
BE SURE ON EACH VIDEO TO PULL BACK TO THE LEFT TO START AT THE BEGINNING
3-17-30 Nick Zentner: #1 volcanoes, Starts 15 minutes in
3-18-20 Nick Zentner: #2 Earthquakes, Starts 12 minutes in
3-19-20 Nick Zentner: #3 Ice Age Floods, Starts 12 minutes in
The topic tonight is ICE AGE FLOODS (IAF), which is near and dear to our hearts in Washington State, where our topography was totally influenced and carved into scablands of coulees, by them (the IAF). If you are in Australia, check our time to get it live and/or watch the stored lectures later. I do not know how to write comments or questions from my laptop, and not sure I want to, but just read those that come across. I have not yet been able to watch one LIVE – hopefully tonight, but there are viewers worldwide that I can see on the chat side and am able to read their comments. It’s quite educational and fascinating. Many parents are using these for home-schooling and children are watching, during their time not going to school.
Comments from a question on this #3 lecture last night.
HOW DOES THE VOLUME OF LAKE MISSOULA COMPARE TO THE
GREAT LAKES? The CAPS are on purpose, so that the lecturer can see the questions better on his laptop screen.
Answer (I looked up afterward) and fed back to Nick.
The Great Lakes volume is 5,439 cubic miles
Glacial Lake Missoula volume is 503.8 cubic miles
The Great Lakes are the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total area, and second-largest by total volume, slightly less than the volume of Lake Baikal (5,666 Cubic miles)
3-21-20 Nick Zentner: #4 Ancient Rivers, Starts 7 minutes in
3-22-20 Nick Zentner: #5 Ellensburg Blue Agates, Starts 12 minutes in
UPCOMING NEXT WEEK:
Here’s an hour lecture Nick did in 2017 you may wish to follow:
Ancient Rivers of the Pacific Northwest
When I first wrote this paragraph, it was before the Thursday lecture (#3-Ice Age Floods), when he announced he would continue for the weekend. I had written: I do not know at this point if Nick will continue past tonight, but it is helping him get ready for teaching his spring quarter courses, online, which they are required to do, instead of meeting on campus. The university has extended spring break to two weeks from one to give more time to the faculty members for course preparation in the new (for most) online format. Of course, that means they have to cancel their trip plans for spring break. Via e-mail, I have talked to some at CWU and some in other states.
My mammogram and bone density tests at the hospital were just cancelled. I was afraid that would happen. Worse than mine is my friend’s cochlear implant which was scheduled soon in Spokane, but has been cancelled. Several friends’ teeth cleanings have been cancelled. Many (all?) meetings are cancelled.
John called from Costco. They are wiping everything down and yes are out of TP (WHY?) and other cleaning things. He had to leave his car for 3 hours of work, and they gave him a loaner to drive, which he’s told you about below in his “Not So Nasty News” Friday column, so I shall omit the details here and send you down to his description. It’s worth a read. He brought home all the supplies he went for (plus a few more).
Friday, March 20
I called Sandy & Jolayne on their anniversary today!! a 17-minute wonderful visit to wish them a happy 60th anniversary. They are fine and in good health, just losing stamina, but aren’t we all!
They are in their upper 80s. Sandy (Sanford H. Bederman was my first geography professor in college in 1962, and responsible for my going to Cincinnati to graduate school, where I met John.
Also, Sandy and Jolayne were the organizers and travel leaders for a Geography of Europe Field Trip for 9 weeks, in the summer of 1965. My last activity at Georgia State. Graduate school in Cincinnati started that fall.
Another load of dishes soaked first in 11:55 a.m. soaking—need to get them into the dishwasher and put another load to soak in the sink.
Played games with the cats – Just got the cats out of the back jade plant room. 11:22, and took my Acetaminophen. Czar out front. Rascal currently in bedroom, but has eaten and drank and the window is open if he has to go out.
Other things accomplished: Loaded my medications for the week. Delivered to my neighbor Louaine the Medjool dates John got for her yesterday and picked up the money she owed me.
“The Medjool tree when loaded with dates” is worth a look. Search that in quotes and use “images” for a look.
For an afternoon snack, a couple of Reece’s peanut butter cups.
Pasta Pizza. In Nick Zentner’s lecture last night, he talked of the theory of a Pasta Pizza. To each her own, John says:
Haley excited about her idea and making of a macaroni & cheese pizza.
24-minute call with sister Peggy from Ohio, calling to check on us. She and we are fine and everyone back there as well. She’d talked to Kit, at the AFB in CA, quarantined from The Grand Princess cruise ship.
Saturday, Mar 21
My chore while John was gone was to clean up the kitchen dishes and get them washed from the past couple of days. There was no room in the washer!
John off to town for horse feed; normal place he goes was out of one of the things needed, so he went across the street to Old Mill Country Store and we think got 80# bags or rolled grain for much cheaper; need to check. Both places were busy.
I wrote Nick Zentner and he responded about Thursday night’s livestream lecture.
No music at Briarwood today. Locked out by COVID-19.
3:16 p.m. now, after a 23-minute interesting call to geography instructor Elaine Glenn.
We finally opened a new 5 Terabyte External Drive for me to set up with my computer to back up and free up space on my C drive, which is nearing capacity. We bought it several months ago, but I have been too busy to get the job done. Getting the drive out of the excessive packaging was a knife and scissors chore. I’m not sure I could have ever done it. I found the cover we bought separately from Amazon at the time, and once found, the instructions came in 10 different languages. English worked for me. I now have it setup in the carrier, but still have to install it and back up the stuff on my computer.
Safeway had ground beef on sale, large package only. John made meatloaf for supper, served with mashed potatoes and the hardest canned pears we have ever tried to ingest. Maybe we will use them to cook in a pear cobbler dessert. Eating as a fruit on the side was somewhat like an unripe pear from a tree. We both had to cut the pear halves with a steak knife!
I watched tonight’s livestreaming of the Ancient Rivers lecture.
Sunday, Mar 22
Here are some follow-up videos to the Geology Story.
Nick & Tom Foster 2015 Glacial Lake Missoula Video
Ice Age Floods, Lake Missoula, Bonneville Flood and the Columbia River Basalts
You want to watch this before the Livestream lecture next week by Nick on Liberty Gold.
Liberty Gold and the Yellowstone Hotspot
I’m going to stop this now because you can reach ALL of Nick Zentner’s presentations at his personal website:
All Nick Zentner’s Materials at Your Fingertips
You learned above about the Gothard Sisters gift to their fans; a free concert on the web. I decided to donate ticket fares for two people to them in thanks for providing entertainment safe in our homes for a week after St. Patrick’s Day. The link to their concert is in this blog, and if you missed it, go up to Tuesday, 3/17. You can watch it free for a week, until Tuesday, 3/24, but I think I would be sure to do it by Monday (tomorrow). I have had several notes from people all over the U.S. that they enjoyed it. They heard about it from an email notice I sent.
Crazy afternoon. We had lunch and then called our cousin in PA who will be 102 tomorrow. Think of that. Born at the time of the 1918/19 “Spanish Flu.” Nice conversation. We called her after her afternoon nap, about 4:30 her time. She’d also had a call from Kit Hultquist who is looking forward to being released from the quarantine at the AFB on Tuesday. Ethel had a couple of new-to-us family stories, and we talked for ~27 minutes.
A new (new) story came from Kit, quarantined, and with food delivery. The delivery was supposed to be 2 bags. One was to be hot, burger and fries. One had the tomato and lettuce. The cold stuff was delivered, and the person left. She thought it strange, but ate the lettuce and tomato. Then, the person came back with the other bag. John thinks this is a good metaphor for the whole coronavirus mess.
A heavy load of clothes is washing. It is still running; took over an hour. New washers are strange things. They are slow and make funny noises. Now some of it is drying.
I figured out how to fix my Landline to unblock a previously wrongly blocked phone number I thought was a SCAMMER.. but was a friend.
I have been doing other chores trying to get ready to sit from 5:50 for over an hour watching Nick Zentner’s livestream lecture tonight. I missed the start and need to reload to be able to see that. I watched tonight’s livestreaming of the Ellensburg Blue Agates lecture.
Ending with a night shot by Evie Schuetz:
The Milky Way taken over the Badger Pocket School of yester-year, by Evie. This old building was for sale when we came to the Valley. Someone has turned it into a house and home. We passed.
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan