Monday, May 4
Beginning this week with a unique rainbow photographed by Evie Schuetz in our agricultural Kittitas Valley:
Wheel line creating a rainbow by EvieMae Schuetz
I’ve got a to-do this morning with a bank transfer for our house remodeling project. At 8:55 a.m., I sent Brandy at our bank, an email requesting a “Certified Check” (virtual) be issued and to arrange for transferring funds from our account to our contractor’s account at the same bank. The stone-tile floor in our new room is patterned after that in the bank.
I plan to start my new medication tomorrow morning, it’s being recommended by my PCP because of the results of the bone density scan I had last week the same day as my mammogram imagery. The mammogram results were fine; no cancer. The bone density has me one-point score away from Osteoporosis, with Osteopenia. I need to begin the medication to prevent bone fracture which can occur with osteoporosis only by walking (a weight bearing situation). The medication is Alendronate. I only take it once a week on an empty stomach, so first thing before having any liquid at all. I must stand to take it and I cannot lie down afterwards, but I must eat something 30 minutes after taking the tablet.
I called Gerald and found out some good news. They are allowing family of the Rehab (nursing home) residents to enter the building to visit. They only allow 2 folks in at a time. Temperature is taken, masks required (and given if they don’t have one), and one person only is allowed in the room. Gerald went this morning with Gene (their son) to see his wife, Jeanne. What a fantastic decision for the families. Poor Gerald has been going bonkers, although they were allowing him to call in and talk to Jeanne over the phone. She always recognized his voice and the caregiver would tell him she was smiling. One day, she even said a few words.
This week’s COVID Bingo card had a special request in the Free Space in the middle: to make up your own random Act (of kindness) & Share it with us. Mine was allowed, so I could X it in, and submit my entry as a .jpg. I completed my Bingo across horizontally through the “Free choice space” for emailing before 7:00 p.m. Wednesday.
I need to walk up the driveway for exercise when Lynn and Walter leave. They have been putting in the floor insulation and he also helped again with the water softener and filters.
I have talked with Culligan folks about changing to the VISA card. Done at 2:55 p.m. and will be deducted tomorrow.
I created a beginning Word Document to collect information for Nick’s groupies (study group) about buying tee shirts to bounce off Kathy—the designer and group member from Brisbane, Australia. I included images of the T-shirts she sent me. This effort lasted over a couple of days and she put all the visuals of the shirts, the sizing chart instructions, and the monetary Australian dollars to USD in the last 3 pages of a 4-pg PDF that I created to mail to the group. The first page was my introduction to Kathy and the shirts and the process for ordering from Kathy.
The Livestreaming lectures this week by Nick Zentner, came off successfully as planned:
Tuesday, May 5
My next rainbow picture is from a friend in Cle Elum who lives on Lookout Mountain overlooking the Teanaway Valley. This is a beautiful double rainbow, which presents some knowledge about optics of which I was totally unaware.
Double rainbow by Katie Kallio
She explains: In a double rainbow, a second arc is seen outside the primary arc, and has the order of its colors reversed, with red on the inner side of the arc. This is caused by the light being reflected twice on the inside of the droplet before leaving it.
Nick was brought a fancy cake, and a young admirer Patrick could not come to EBRG for a bite. Nick and I made a plan. Checked with the Post Office about details. I went by Kittitas, WA Post Office with a piece of Carrot Cake that had been frozen in a plastic container. Patrick received it Thursday and sent a thank you note with pictures of the reception at the mailbox and his eating cake later in the house. I was most impressed by this 6-year old classmate’s description of the geological meaning of the use of the carrot cake by Nick as a prop to explain part of his lecture.
Patrick’s words were: The white frosting layers are layers of ash and the brown stuff are slackwater sediment layers in Ice Age Lake deposits. 
Nick’s photo of Touchet Beds, with cake, & layers of Carrot Cake
The cake weighed 15 pounds and was brought from the Tri-Cities by the owners (Joanna & Neal) of two restaurants there in Kennewick, WA and Richland, WA, named Foodies Brick & Mortar. Joanna and Neal have been viewers of the Livestreaming YouTube Geology videos with Nick from Home since Mar. 17, this year.
While in town, I got John’s colas for the month at Fred Meyer with 10% off Senior Discount, and bought a bunch of special sale priced of our favorites, Reece’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups at 67₵ each.
Took a $400 check by Umpqua Bank’s night deposit in the parking lot, to save driving through the backed-up drive through window.
I went for my INR blood draw and was out in 12 minutes (much better than last month).
Went by Safeway for my refund from John’s shopping trip for 79₵ drinks they charged him 99₵ for. The 80₵ return had 2 old quarters in it.
Drove by Nick’s home with Greg’s honey jar gift, and Nick came out to his mudroom, where I was going to put it, and we had a nice conversation. It was a gift from a member of the audience, Greg from Ten Mile, TN. He and his dad raise bees. 
Gift for Nick and one for me. Nick tasted the honey on his finger for his toast at the end of his lecture and thanked Greg for the gift.
I submitted my BINGO COVID 3 solution via email to Jodi, the City Recreation & Parks person.
Took my medications list by Super 1 Pharmacy for the Pharmacist Leslie to check for contraindications with my meds of the new pill my doctor ordered for Osteoporosis.
Came home and toured the developing remodeled room. The floor is all in, one door, and another on the way. I have been photographing the process inside and outside as best I can. I’ll occasionally share a few things of interest.
Nick’s evening lecture:
‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #36 – 5-5-20 Glacial Lake Missoula starts 4:40 minutes in
Wednesday, May 6
Here’s some reading relating to our last lecture I just found this morning,
Nat’l Park Service: Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail Long-range Interpretive Plan (June 2016)
Dating of late Pleistocene megafloods (multiple floods from drainage of glacial Lake Missoula)
Here’s background viewing for tonight’s lecture Ice Age Erratics.
NOTE: almost at the end of the lecture about 9 minutes, an ad interrupts the flow. Stick with it until you can Skip Ad, and you’ll see the rest.
Vantage Erratics – Roadside Geology, Feb 8, 2012 (10 minutes)
Definitely, check this out from 20 minutes into the visuals:
Wenatchee Ice Age Floods Oct 2, 2013
Also, check out this website of appropriate information:
Glacial erratic boulders of the Puget Sound region
I made this wind report from information on the NOAA Pendleton site and sent to Nick, wind for planning the location of his lecture tonight. I thought it would be too windy for his backyard and perhaps his porch inside the house would be better.
Next are some things developing around the outside of our house during the remodeling project mostly affecting the front of our house where the attached 2-car garage is being re-purposed as a livable room (including a utility room for the water treatment instruments, a refrigerator freezer, and a chest freezer.
Just beyond our front door is a Mountain Ash tree. They have clusters of white blossoms and the fruit is bright orange. That hangs on the tree during winter, and after freeze and thaw in spring, birds will eat them. The deer love them. We have others nearby and this one is in the way.
Below is a video of John cutting down the tree. The stump will be pulled later by backhoe guy Pat Jenkins.
John Sawing Down Mt Ash Tree Front Yard
{On John’s computer the focus is fuzzy until 25 seconds. – on Nancy’s it’s perfect throughout}
Nick’s lecture tonight:
‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #37 – 5-6-20 Ice Age Erratics start 4:30 minutes in
Thursday, May 7
Created the Tee Shirt Order form, okayed with Kathy Down Under, and sent to Kathy! Now once approved, I’ll put it all into a PDF to send to the study group for ordering from Kathy in Brisbane, Australia.
I sent the background materials for Columbia River Gorge lecture to all members of the study group.
Received the good news that I won another gift card from playing COVID Bingo 3, this week. I chose to receive the $25 to use at the Yellow Church Café. Last time we ate there was with our Australian friends, visiting us after spending time with their family and grandchildren.
More suggested readings for different lectures this week.
Erratic Boulders – Rafted in Icebergs by the Ice Age Floods 2-min Geology, Jun 4, 2013
and, check out the erratics atop Steamboat rock in the Grand Coulee:
Steamboat in the Desert | Nick on the Rocks • Feb 25, 2019
One more left over from our Missoula Floods lecture:
Giant Ripples in the Scablands | Nick on the Rocks • Feb 25, 2019
Suggestion background for Columbia River Gorge lecture tonight:
Columbia River Gorge Apr 5, 2015
Next is in the Columbia River Gorge, and was a downtown lecture John and I attended; I videotaped Nick from the front row and put in our weekly blog. By looking at the end of the green boards lecture, you’ll see some awesome visuals of the Bonneville Landslide into the Columbia River (including actual footage 100 years ago of building the Bridge of the Gods across the Columbia River) – watching the visuals below is a must do!!
Bridge of the Gods Landslide Apr 4, 2018 (start at 30 mins)
Nick from his porch because of the painters covering his lecturing black board space with ladders, while painting his house until the last minute before livestreaming time beginning at 12 minutes to 6:00. Please start below at 6:33 mins to be able to enjoy the thank you thanks for gifts that arrived in the mail today.
‘Nick from Home’ Livestream #38 – 5-7-20 Columbia River Gorge starts 6:33 minutes in
We finally received our replacement VISA card today canceled 4-25-20. It was sent regular mail on 4-30-20.
Friday, May 8
Called Cle Elum clinic about Alendronate and aspirin & too much Calcium, and also about my INR from Tuesday (Lacey). Check the portal KVH found INR=2.4. After 1:30 p.m. I talked to Lacey about both items and I need to mark my calendar 4 weeks out for June 2. Also she was going to consult with my PCP (Chelsea) to tell her my concerns about aspirin and calcium supplements along with the Alendronate (because of my pharmacist’s findings on possible contraindications with the tablets).
No livestreaming video lecture from Nick Zentner tonight; his day off (along with Monday).
Here is the background reading for tomorrow’s lecture on Mima Mounds.
This morning I checked the pronunciation of Mima (but it was for names and not specifically for the Mima Mounds). Mima was heard as “ME”ma. I sent the link to Nick and then a couple hours later, I read the Wikipedia article on Mima Mounds, which I shall start with below, and the pronunciation is different with the phonetic given as “MY”ma. The phonetics suggest Mima, with the lowercase letter, I, being pronounced as is in tide. I think I’ll go with that as the better choice, and believe me I have heard it both ways over the years.
As Nick has said, there are many theories but no one really knows the real story of the origin. However, many to choose from below.
My second choice is the Washington Trails Association Hiking site, because WTA is near and dear to our family. John volunteers as an Assistant Crew Leader, working on maintenance of WA trails. Right now they are closed off many of the lands, but I just noted that Seattle Parks have opened their lands, and also this Mima Mound Preserve in WA was also opened May 5 to public use (with social distancing).
Mima Mounds, Hike Info (south of Olympia)
This is nice article appearing in the Seattle Times on the MMs:
Mima Mounds: Mystery hides in vast prairie
Great Pyramids of the Gophers: Mima Mound Mystery Solved (2013)
Another “Science” Dec 2013 about computer modeling claim that gophers are the solution
Finally, the following January 2020 article summarizes all the research on the origins as being unexplained by science:
The Mima Mounds in Washington Are a Phenomenon Unexplained by Science
Supper: Meatloaf, pears, French fries, and more.
Hoping to go to bed earlier than usual to be up to watch the early morning geology lecture on Mima Mounds.
Saturday, May 9
This morning from Nick’s backyard: START 5-9-20 at 10:40 to catch a story before the lecture starts officially.
‘Nick From Home’ Livestream #39 – 5-9-20 Mima Mounds starts 10:40 minutes in
I got on again early for the “waiting group” to catch the conversation, because I do not believe that part makes it to the Live Chat that starts the show when Nick arrives.
I checked and nothing appears until Nick checks in.
After our morning Livestreaming Geology with Nick was successfully done, John drove to town to get grain for our 4 horses, and he is stopping by the Bi-Mart store to check for filters for our faucets. With all the remodeling we’ve disturbed our water tank storing well water, which is full of oxidation from the well, and all the water in the house is coming out orange/red. We have cleaned filters and John changed more this morning, to get the water clearer before we wash dishes or certainly white clothes. We are running out of both. He also bought 5 yellow straight neck squash plants and 5 different tomato plants.
I plan to send out a few thoughts on suggestions for background reading for tomorrow’s lecture on West Coast Tsunami possibilities. Here they are with help from a couple members of Zentnerd study group email bunch.
Seattle Tsunami background viewing:
There is a lot of viewing time with these, but if you spend your time on the first 4 you’ll be well set for Nick’s lecture.
Personally, I think everyone should watch this video, now to precede the following ones:
Pacific Northwest Earthquakes—3 Types • Jul 19, 2015 (8 mins)
Note the next one below is the New Yorker article which drew a lot of attention to this Tsunami issue:
Best of the bunch is by our leader, Nick Zentner! responding to The New Yorker article: (however, it’s hard to see the small screen in some shots, so combining closed captioning might help and turn up the volume because the CC doesn’t translate all his words correctly, but you can hear what he’s saying.
Nick Zentner- Earthquakes: Will Everything West of I-5 Really Be Toast? • Dec 7, 2015 (48 mins)
Followed by another LethaLeeFox pointed me to (and the above was found by Kathy Williams-DeVries. Thanks for the help today.
DON’T MISS this Playlist of animations (as we saw a couple of in the cozy fort during Nick’s lecture this morning) – which was created by Theresa Swan, from Mt. Vernon, WA, mother of Patrick, age 6, one of our favorite classmates. Patrick asks the best questions of the whole bunch of us during the Q&A at the end of each lecture:
Tsunami Simulations created by the WA Geological Survey (no sound on most)
The rest I found:
Another very important one narrated by Professor Nick:
The Cascadia Subduction Zone—What can the landscape tell us? • Jan 25, 2020 (2:40 minutes)
and, our friend, Goldfinger (great video):
Toast, tsunamis and the really big one | Chris Goldfinger | TEDxMtHood • Jul 5, 2016 (14 mins)
Simulations show tsunami threat in Washington State • 8-16-19 (2 minutes)
Tsunami wave simulation for Bellingham, WA • 8-26-19 (2 minutes, no sound)
Finally, an interesting presentation of Earthquakes in PNW:
Earthquakes of Cascadia: 1979 – 2019 • Sep 3, 2019 (3 mins)
The last one is just being added now after the lecture. It’s a downloadable PDF brochure from the WA Geological Survey, with good descriptive information on the definition, causes, and responses and precautions needing to be taken, such as evacuation planning:
Tsunami Hazards in Washington State
Finally finished doing the first load of dishes. Very time-consuming project to get all the buildup of oxidation from the red water off to put in the dishwasher, and the filter will likely need to be changed again soon. The water is still red. Even coming from the hot water tank. I still have a kitchen of dirty dishes to do another load when this is through. It takes 58 minutes to go through its wash cycle and we do not put it through the dry, but turn over the cups and let it air dry. At least two more loads to process from over a week ago.
Now Rascal cat is in my lap, so I will set up birthday’s for tomorrow, and I’ll send a Mother’s day card to a few moms I know.
Supper: Meat loaf, pear slices, French fries, cheddar cheese on Broccoli & Cauliflower (sadly because of the Coumadin I’m taking, I cannot have my favorite broccoli). All with a nice Rose’ of Syrah.
Sunday, May 10 Happy Mother’s Day
The photo of us below appeared on a Happy Mother’s Day wish from Sara Brazeau Lorig, to me, on Facebook – with the message: It wouldn’t be a proper Mother’s Day without a shout out to my two phenomenal “Adopted Moms.” I am so fortunate to have had these brilliant and strong teachers in my life just when I needed them most. Their support and advice has played a pivotal role in who I am today. I am so fortunate to have met them and am in grateful awe of the effortless love that they share with me, all of their lucky students, their families, and their many friends. I love you, Nancy B. Hultquist and Betsi Kurzawski! 
This was one photo she posted and I’m putting it here, because John was also her teacher for Physical Geography at CWU. I don’t remember the year taken, but it was taken at White Heron Cellars winery west of Quincy. This Thursday, John is taking a break in the morning from assisting contractors here and will go over there to help 5 others on bottling wine – a white Swiss grape named Amigne.
Our morning lecture began an hour earlier than the actual startup time, with a bunch of us visiting on line from all over the world in the waiting mode to have Nick arrive and start. It was an exciting topic on problem tsunamis hitting our west coast and affecting people in coastal areas. Viewers from Japan, Alaska where Tsunamis have occurred in our lifetime were watching this morning.
During the morning “waiting session” I began having serious problems with my mouse for navigating the screen on my computer. I also had an enlarged full screen image, which did not allow me to read the Live Chat comments by viewers (to the right of the lecture). Finally, I figured out that problem into the program, but my mouse continued messing up throughout the evening trying to create the final draft of this blog. Finally, John put out the delayed notice, and it won’t be published until Monday night (because from early all day to 5:00, John has to work with two different contractors on our home remodeling project). John is my manager for editing my comments and entering them into the WordPress jargon to create this.
Okay, back to the lecture this morning.
A neighbor of Nick’s rode by on her bike, and she researches this topic of past tsunami deposits of sand in tidal flats. She is a professor of Geology at CWU as well, and has past, present, and future students she is advising on their research for graduate theses. Nick invited her to share her knowledge with us during the livestreaming lecture. She fielded questions from the audience and taught us a lot. We all are grateful for her time spent with us. Her name is Bre MacInnes. You can find her information on line by searching on CWU Geology Faculty.
‘Nick From Home’ Livestream #40 – 5-10-20 Seattle Tsunami ? starts 2:30 minutes in
Here is one of the ones Nick showed this morning in the Cozy Fort.
I wasn’t thinking and should have put that in the suggested reading. I need to ask Nick if there isn’t an outtake somewhere of some of the crew pulling him out of sinking in the mud. I don’t think I dreamed seeing that in my past.
Ghost Forests | Nick on the Rocks • Feb 25, 2019 (5 min)
We called our cousin Ethel (102 yrs young) in PA to wish her a happy Mother’s Day and had a nice long conversation. Found out her father was born 2 years before mine in May of 1895! My dad was born August 3, 1897, and died when I was 14. My mom was born August 27, 1914, and died in 1981 when I was 38.
Supper: Our asparagus from the garden, cauliflower, fish, chicken, fries, and wine.
This weekly blog is not going to be published tonight as usual because John must go to bed. He will be on & off busy helping with the remodeling project. One is working on the inside of the house and the other is working with a construction & roadbuilding backhoe/front-end loader, moving dirt and rocks (we’re on an alluvial fan) / digging holes for posts / pulling out tree stumps / breaking up concrete and hauling off, to create drainage downslope away from the house roof. The house was built in 1981 by a shoddy contractor. We have been correcting things since moving in, in 1989.
Coming out Monday night at 11:15 p.m.
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan