. . . and our first date occurred years apart during this week! (How nice of John to remember : -) He always embellishes my start, and he added this line and the title, plus the links below.
Sunday, Dec 2 Nothing away planned. What a day this was. We both started early and John did a lot of outside work. I spent most of the day working on editing a thesis for a friend (in the TESOL program)–Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Also, I reviewed a letter and resume final copy for a job application for another friend. We had some breaks for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but worked most of the rest of the time. There were no cougar sightings today, or in fact, this week.
Monday, Dec 3 We both got a well-deserved good night’s sleep, awaking to a beautiful sunny day. John’s been out working in the yard and I have finished making a printed packet of all my comments (on the 116-page thesis) and am ready to go to her defense at 1:00 p.m. on campus near the Library. Because she’s a member of our musical group, to her envelope with my pages of comments, I added Frosty The Snow Man in 3 keys so she can choose the version best for her voice, and included a Bon Voyage and Thank You card from our Kittitas Valley Fiddlers and Friends group (and the Bluegrass Jam session folks). She’s on her way next week to teach ESL in Saudi Arabia to women.
On my way from that session, I stopped to get my new Emeritus Parking Pass which now expires every 2 years, because people were misusing the red ones they have dispensed for several decades. My new one is Orange. In two years, the color will change. At least it is free, once retired. Nice because I think it was costing $120 or more when I retired.
John “fixed” an old Craftsman Sabre Saw last night, and got in about 11 inches cutting before it stopped again. There is a worn part (surprise; it’s about 35 years old). I’m going to buy one from our local Wood’s-Ace Hardware when I go to pick up the drill bits today. The best fit for what he will do with it was this link below: (and you can check the web page link below with additions about the doggie-cat door construction to see it in John’s hands, Nancy)
http://www.blackanddecker.com/power-tools/JS660.aspx#
The first reviewer on this page must be on another planet – the beveling foot plate has a small plastic slider that unlocks it. No problem.
When I got home, I spent more time on the phone with the gal regarding her resume and letter of application for a job in EBRG. It started over the weekend with an hour on the phone between the two of us.
Tuesday, Dec 4 The day started rainy but cleared up. Then rained again on our way back from town. John had tried starting the ’89 truck yesterday and the battery was dead so it spent the night hooked to life-support – a 2 amp charger. We’ve been busy and this horse-trailer-pulling truck hadn’t been started in a couple of weeks. It has a parasitic drain on the battery and needs a brief drive every week or 10 days. So, time to get it fixed with, maybe, a solar trickle assist. On my way to foot care we dropped the truck off for an evaluation. Then on to Burger King for a late lunch. Then late tonight we had a late dinner of leftover BBQ beef, biscuits, and pears. Is it time we can go to bed yet? Last night was too late and the night was too short. I need more sleep. Did spend time tonight tallying my volunteer hours this month. Results: (All Nancy’s because John didn’t do any trail work in November= 42.5 hrs, driving 357.2 miles.) Turns out we can use his volunteer hours cutting firewood and doing chores for neighbors.
Wednesday, Dec 5 Change in normal doings today. I awoke to an early morning call from my partner (banjo) for the food bank that she was ill and not coming. I was sorry to hear she was sick, but I was relieved I didn’t have to go in today. My neck was hurting from sleeping wrong on it (I guess). The last few hours before I awoke I was having crazy dreams, so I had laid down in my recliner to position myself to cure the problem. While still recovering and getting ready to get a cup of coffee, John’s sister called to use up her cell phone minutes that reset tomorrow. I’m going to need to do the same thing, with both phones soon (before the 18th). Went out to take a photo of the doggie door process, which will be added to the continuing landscape change saga. Take a peek at:
http://www.ellensburg.com/nancyh/LandscapeChangeNaneumFan.html
but if you get there before the update has changed to December 8, then come back in a few hours. It’s almost complete now, but Nancy has to do her magic to get it updated on the web.
It is a beautiful sunny, windy, day that will likely be our last for awhile, so John wanted to work on finishing the project. This was the trial run on cutting the oval holes in the wall (crafted from our old barn door). The ovals are about 21 inches high and 13 inches wide. 21 / 13 = 1.61 – using a sabre saw and a 30 year old piece of used plywood, this is real close to the letter, Phi :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phi
From under a pile of “stored” items, he also retrieved a plywood sign (dating from Troy, ID in 1982), which he is going to use for the swinging covers of the holes. I took some photos of the process and the old sign (Computer Junction) before it is gone for good. We had a small arcade — Ah, memories.
http://www.algodoo.com/algobox/upload/image/48950_48950_Asteroids_Arcade_Game_v1_1(1).png
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Decided to stay home and work on cleaning up the clutter. So, off to more of that! I’m doing all right but accomplished much less than I should have with staying home (that saves a minimum of 2 hours, usually 3, and over 4 on Weds.). Oh well, I’m retired. John finished the doggie door and I took some final photos. I should have taken one from inside the house (I did 12/8 and it will be added to the landscape change description). The dogs have been through both ways, but I expect it will take them awhile to be comfortable with it. I don’t know if the doors are too heavy for Rascal. John has propped one open with a piece of wood until they all get with the program. We’ll have to evaluate.
we got our annual invite to a Solstice party. It’s always fun, with good food people bring, drinks, and fried latke (potato pancakes) made by the hostess. People also bring musical instruments and sit around and everyone sings Sun songs and a few Christmas ones.
Well, today I had planned to see which key of Frosty was best for our usual singers, but we didn’t meet. I just used a Virtual Piano on line to play the notes and to sing an octave lower. I should have used our keyboard. I decided on D, so will take a few of those along for those there tomorrow, and we’ll try that key. (It didn’t work, as you’ll see below). Also, I need to get all my Christmas music in order for the rest of December.
Thursday, Dec 6 Today was a wild day. Started by sleeping in later than I ever have (10:00). Guess I needed the rest. The first item of business took forever and was not expected. Someone stole my identity on Facebook and sent a message about the UN (or something) to all my friends. Also, it asked my friends to add me as a friend (to the false profile), but I already was their friend. Three friends caught it and notified me, and two of them notified FB. That stopped it but not before some of my friends unfriended me when they realized what had happened. It’s unlikely at that point they hadn’t already been grabbed by the perpetrator. I’ll never know. I did change my password and added a banner (cover) picture on my news page of our horses with a landscape of ice frost on the trees behind them. If you saw our 2011 greetings, you have seen the picture. I did not change my picture that goes along with my messages (which was also stolen by the perpetrator to send to all my friends). Instead, I checked all the securities on my account and changed the password. Turns out none was open to “public”, but I had been on a status of staying logged in. I now log out after each use. No one knows if that might have affected it or not.
Then I could return to printing the music copies I needed for today’s nursing home gig. John was out doing chores and came in to warm a piece of pizza for us. Nothing much new the rest of the day. Just a lot of email correspondence to take care of. Hope we can hit the hay early tonight so I can get a good night’s sleep a little earlier in the day than today. It did snow a little this afternoon and evening, but not as much as in the mountains on the I-90 pass. All the high Cascades are covered and the ski slopes open. From the following page you can view small pictures taken in good weather and then click on the webcam for a current view.
http://www.nps.gov/mora/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm#CP_JUMP_551370
Friday, Dec 7 Snowed big flakes this morning but now has changed to rain. John went up to try to adjust the water flow through the irrigation ditch. It is still sending too much water down. He found that someone had undone what he did earlier this week. (?? do not know who or why but guess another person found it easier to reroute to us rather than just stopping the flow to himself. These water issues are endless.) We did chores around the place prior to going to dinner tonight on the west side of Ellensburg at a former student’s house. We will be having Bagna càuda.
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/food/bagnacauda
It’s a dish from the Piedmont region of Italy. We have never experienced it before. It had steak, chicken, shrimp, broccoli, cabbage, red and yellow peppers, mushrooms, all simmered in an olive oil sauce with much minced garlic and anchovies. (the anchovies were undetectable, serving more as a salty spice). It was served on sliced bread. Interesting and good. Served with red wine. We took a bottle of Malbec 2005 from White Heron, which John helped bottle, and another bottle of 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon from Bonair’s Morrison Vineyard in Zillah, WA. We didn’t open the latter one, sadly, because I would have liked to have tasted it. I still cannot have much wine with being on Coumadin medication. (4 ounces/week with food, but I haven’t had any wine for many months). It started snowing hard and the wind gusting very high (33 mph) during the hour before we drove to town (in the dark). It was rough going in, but it stopped while we were there, and was clear (and cold) for the trip home.
Saturday, Dec 8 This morning has been uneventful. There were many deer around the place (at least 13) including a little buck. So John “pushed” them to one corner before exercising the dogs. They (the deer) have stayed around all day, seen last out the front windows eating Oregon Grape plants and tops of weeds. (Nancy has added photos of that at the bottom of the landscape change story for this week.) It snowed big flakes for an hour, but stopped and the snow on the outside car and truck have melted their cover. John finished it just to be sure. Even though the temperature at noon was up to 39, the wind chill is registering 33 at the airport (5 miles south of us at a lower elevation).
Hope your week was a good one.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan