Sunday, Oct 13
Worked most of the day creating the blog for last week, and I spent more time throughout this week, updating the link we sent out in last week’s blog at the end. It is a web page to describe the WTA days John put in on Friday and Saturday. Check this link.
We also retrieved an artifact we have plans for, and we took it into the yard and took pictures to share. We’ll eventually share the entire story with you, but for now, here it is for posterity and to keep you involved in our life.
This was a cheerful addition to my school office window since 1988, in 3 different campus buildings. Note the discoloration from the sun, for 11 years in one East-facing office window.Made a phone call to John’s sister to catch up and use our minutes on our home land line. We have 120 minutes each month included in our cost of service. Sometimes we forget to use it all. Must use it up by the 16th of the month. We still have 50 minutes left after talking for 43 with Peggy today.
Monday, Oct 14 Columbus Day
I just heard yesterday about the University being closed today on Columbus Day. Wonder about other places in town. I’m not going to town today, so it doesn’t matter. Oh darn, I’m sure the post office is closed. So much for getting my anniversary card to my friends for their 64th in the mail today. I put it in the mailbox, where it will stay until tomorrow, the actual date of their wedding. I should have put in the mail Saturday, but I was too busy with other pressing things. Fast lunch and back to work. John wants a wide sight-line along our east fence and has been cutting trees there. We tackled more in the kitchen and I finished loading the dishwasher and started it. We were wishing to cut his hair, but it didn’t happen – no daylight via the windows and thus darker than I like. We’ll put that off and cleaning out boxes from under the tarp, until tomorrow. Several are still there from the garage water tank replacement clearing. I think I have made it through the academic materials ones, and have clothes, blankets, and ‘stuff’ left. I’m truly not sure what all is out there.
My socks were delivered today. I’m happy I didn’t pay $30 for them. They are not wool, but only a small percentage, mixed with other fabrics. Oh well. I suppose the $6.77 extra I paid will make the cost $2/pair, and they might be worth that!
I worked off and on with other projects, including email through the day. I’m sharing time between putting in music for How Great Thou Art and working on a web page describing the rest of Saturday’s trip you saw the start of in last week’s blog (link is now at the top of this page).
We played around opening faucets all over the house and yard again today and we think perhaps the air is decreasing in the pipes. I surely hope our problem is just residual air in the system.
Tuesday, Oct 15
Finally, we have water again without much interruption from blasts of air. What a joy! Finally, I got John’s hair cut today, and arranged for scheduled maintenance on our Culligan system as well as service on our Sears appliances (that expires Nov 21). Our new range (from 2011) has been without a back right burner for much of the time. We never made it to the pile of stuff in the front yard under the tarp, but I went through other boxes in the house and have one more that was sorted out from under the tarp.
I’m going through Urban Geography stuff right now for my colleague teaching the course I used to. I don’t need all this stuff anymore. Today, I threw everything I took out of one drawer of a filing cabinet from our Wine Class – a little more to go through there. I imagine most of it goes to recycle too. It felt so good. I stacked the paper in a recycle stack, threw away old transparencies (mostly John’s physical geog that SOMEHOW got in the wine drawer), pulled out manila folders and large mailing envelopes, even if used, for use in storing things. Found a cassette tape advertising some product, and tossed it along with all the associated brochures.
Off to play and sing hymn music tonight at Royal Vista nursing home. We ate late — bourbon chicken (commercially frozen), baked Honey crisp apple with cinnamon and sugar, some of our tomatoes, and red grapes.
Wednesday, Oct 16
Today off to food bank soup kitchen for music and on to SAIL class (which I decided against staying for after setting up the CD music, and taking in some tomatoes in to share. My ankle was bothering me even to walk, so I didn’t feel up to all the movement in all the exercises we do. A couple more stops on the schedule before heading home. Delivered more tomatoes to a couple of friends, and onions, picked up some free light bulbs and shower heads from the Utility District, and came on home to work on a piece of music that did not check out right when 3 of us played it today. Spent over an hour on the phone with a couple of people, from our past.
Thursday, Oct 17
John and I went outside and worked together on boxes under the tarp and others he brought over from the big shed. I found a filing drawer box full of old printouts from very old green & white computer printer paper, that was in very large binders. All can be tossed/recycled. Plus I loaded a wine box full of other white office paper to recycle, and found more things to trash. I sorted out a full apple box of things plus filled a canvas tote bag to take to Mat Novak, John Bowen, and Jen Lipton for classes they are teaching that pertain to the materials (Urban, GIS, Economic, Air Photo & Remote Sensing).
John drove in with me, and we stopped off at the jeweler to pick up his repaired wedding band. Then off to drop me off at Dry Creek, and while I played and sang, he took my car for a fill up at JRs (only just finding out if he paid cash he could save 10 cents/gallon). JEEZ.. We now need to plan ahead better. He then went to two stores for canned cat food & dog food, some donuts for his crew helpers tomorrow. He went by the Court House and bought new plates for the recently purchased used truck. He spotted that there was not a plate on the front and neither we nor the dealer has a clue as to why. (News on this, see Saturday.) Then by CWU surplus, but first, on the way, to my friend’s (banjo player’s) workplace to give her a box of pears I forgot to tell her to wait around for at the end of our playing time. At surplus, we made some bids on 2 x 4s, plastic pipe, plywood, cement blocks, and bought a roll of blue carpet for $5.00 (it is 22′ long, and 3 feet wide). We can cut a couple of rugs for the entrance, to front and back doors and for the kitchen floor. I think that will work just fine. From there to Dean to deliver the apple box full of things. While there, we had a very nice visit with Marilyn (our secretary in Geography since 1996). On back home to do more work on things, and emails, and I ate two of the donuts because I had skipped lunch. I didn’t realize he’d bought them for the crew. John fixed sliced roast beef and our onions, baked 2 of our little potatoes, toasted a buttered cheese roll in the oven. Temps are down to 40 right before 11:00 and heading for 31 tonight, with clear skies.
Friday, Oct 18
The white Subaru needed gas and John was headed over to the wet side (near Tacoma) so he left early. You can see where he went using Google Earth, go here:
47.276516, -122.089474
The short post that precedes this one has a photo of spawning Salmon he took from a high bank on the south edge of WA’s infamous Green River. The white looping road is for worker access only. It is gated at the top where the red marker is on this photo.
WTA volunteers and a couple of King County folks are building new trails in a 1,200+ acre natural area. This part is called the O’Grady Trail. Trails are in the woods south of the river (right of the yellow marker in the above view).
I continued working a couple hours going through the boxes piled on pallets, in our concrete front yard outside the garage, where John moved things to, when needing more space for the new pressurized water tank. Primarily, I have sorted through academic materials. Today I tackled a huge box of clothes, blankets, and spreads. I didn’t enjoy doing it, so I moved back in the house with some blouses and tops on hangars to go through, from the top of the box. A couple of things I will keep. The rest I will take to friends in my music group or at Briarwood when we play tomorrow.
I loaded the dishwasher and need to be in the house when it goes to the dry cycle to turn it off and dump the still slightly orange water from the top of mugs.
Hung a nice throw knitted blanket (don’t know where from), on my fence to offer to my neighbor, when he drives by. I know he crochets, so don’t know if he can repair two dog chew holes in it or not. It is gold, with white deer outlines on blue on both ends, and some red bulb looking things. Maybe someone will want it to keep their legs warm.
While sorting through filing cabinet contents, most of which gets recycled, I found information about a video a former student recently wrote me about remembering from my Urban Geography class (2005) on the sewage problems of London, back in the 1700s. I looked for it in my VCR collection but could not find it, so I assumed I had checked it out from the library. I now know the name of the series it is in, (Films for the Humanities), –“METROPOLIS. PPS 1995 and the video is named A Big Stink!
I called a friend in the CWU Library to see if it was accessible still in their system. It’s not, but is available on something called SUMMIT from Southern Oregon University, and can be borrowed as a book on Interlibrary Loan. I did make some more headway on recycling 2 feet of folders from the filing cabinet, second drawer, primarily urban stuff. Thus goes the day.
Saturday, Oct 19
Been working today on finalizing this blog for John to post. I’m heading out for a few hours of music and stuff in town this afternoon, going by the grocery, and to get gasoline in the car for his trip tomorrow. When I started it in our driveway there was a rattle or engine sound. The sound goes away and the car drives fine. It was just serviced a few hundred miles ago so maybe they forgot to tighten a bolt – or something. Years ago the local Chevy dealer replaced belts but didn’t get the fan properly bolted back in place. It slipped forward into the back of the radiator and made an odd sound. We stopped at a mechanic shop and borrowed a proper size wrench to tighten the fan. 20 years later we haven’t looked at a Chevy product. We will go to Yakima on Tuesday to have my feet looked at (from the laser/toe nail thing) and will stop at the Subaru dealer for a consultation. Now about the missing plate on the truck. John took the new plates and was going to put them on, but . . . the space between the holes in the license plate does not match the spacing of holes in the bumper. Not even close; 2 to 3 inches difference. Also, the bumper slants back sharply so even if a plate could be put there it would be hard to see. That’s a project for the coming week. Stay tuned.
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan