Saturday, Oct 26
Managed to get this blog out on time, even if midnight.
John got an entry into the local paper that we left out. Here you go:
Sunday, Oct 27
I made the mistake of staying up until 1:30 a.m., and so it was hard to get up with John, and even harder to go back to sleep with the wind blowing in the 35mph gusty range, with threatening clouds for rain today.
John left at 7:30 a.m. for the WTA work crew at Park Pointe Trail, Issaquah, WA that we introduced in last week’s blog (last night). I do not yet have a web page for that trip, and when I do, it will be brief.
I managed to get back to sleep later than wished, and slept another 1.5 hrs. When I awoke the wind had subsided a little, but it had taken the tarp off the stack of boxes in the front yard, so I needed to go repair it before the rain really does fall. I put heavy rocks on top. Now must get ready to meet a former student to give her my western boots for a new home, and share some apples with her (two brown grocery bags of apples). That happened right before noon, and the rain started heavy shortly after she left.
At least we got the squash fixed last night for the potluck tonight. I just have to remember to pack everything I’m supposed to take there.
I checked my Sear’s parts delivered and found I have the required parts for the dishwasher, one of the two things needed for the range and nothing was received for the refrigerator because is it too old to have parts available. If it had quit running, I could get a replacement, but it is still going strong after 30 years.
I truly hope John makes it by Tiger Mountain to take the finished project pictures from which I can update the web page from last week. That will make it a nice contribution.
Then he comes on home, depending on the time he returns, either directly to the potluck dinner starting at 6:00 pm. or home first. John just called at 4:00 and he is still in Issaquah. I expect he will be late for dinner, but there will be plenty of food left, I’m sure. I just hope he makes the time to go by the site to take the photos from finished products of last week’s trail labor. He did, got the pictures, and still managed to get back before dinner started at 6:00. That was super. Then he left to feed and take care of the animals, and I stayed for a jam session until 9:30. We had a great time.
I updated the October 12th trip. Please click here.
Monday, Oct 28
Clean up to get ready for the Sears appliances repairman. Well, what a mess. I started with a phone call to the Sears place to tell them I did not get all the parts I was supposed to for the service man coming tomorrow morning. I tried to return a call to the woman, Kristina, who left a number with John Friday, when I was gone to town. She wanted me to check the packages to be sure all the parts ordered had come. I tried calling back and the number was incorrect. It rang but with the strangest ring I’ve ever heard (and not a high-pitched FAX machine squeal). Then I called the 1-800-number that the robot left on my phone earlier about the repair visit. It took me to the Call Center in Tucson, AZ to an idiot on the other end of the phone. I spent over a half hour and got nowhere, so I tried another number, and finally got a fellow, (also in Tucson, but he spoke English), and he managed to help me better than the first. I spent another 1/2 hr. with him. I finally gave up after two more calls, directly to Spokane. I know one thing; I am not paying the money for any more service contracts on appliances. It would be cheaper to buy a used one from someone moving. Just in tonight’s paper is a heavy-duty Kenmore washer and dryer for $130, in excellent condition.
I wore myself out today, loading newspapers, magazines, and office paper into boxes that went into the truck we took to town. John loaded all the stuff out into the truck. I left my sweater on the back of the chair at last night’s potluck, so had to drive by this afternoon to pick it up. We were on our way back from taking paper to the recycling center, and then glass bottles to the transfer station. The paper recycled consisted of a dozen boxes of academic books and old copies of handouts we cleaned out of the garage that are too old to give to anyone, or even to a school or city library. John loaded them all in our newer road-worthy pickup, which needed gasoline, and also 2 large boxes of shed-stored very-dry firewood, we delivered to our neighbor. Also, while in town, we dropped off a bag of clothes to a friend. It’s nice to sort out things and make people happy. I delivered a dress and a blouse to another friend last night, and recycled a Bavarian-looking teddy bear (with a special green hat) to a friend from Bavaria (she may keep or give to a grandchild).
Once home I have cleaned out the dishwasher, and started on the stove, cleaning them for their repairs tomorrow. I need to tackle the clothes dryer, so the repairman can open it to service and clean out dust and lint that sneaks by the filter.
Tuesday, Oct 29
Early morning, after 8:00 a.m. until Noon, the Sears man is expected. I started this Tuesday morning after an hour’s work, and John’s extra 45 min. work, cleaning in the kitchen–the appliances and access to them. We now await the repairman, due between 8:00 a.m. and noon. Good we are retired and not having to juggle this with a job (even to be here when the repairman arrives). You cannot leave anyone not 18 in the house to wait for the person. Now, at 9:50 a.m. we received a call from Felipea that he will be here in 20 minutes. He’s from southern Mexico, but has worked out of Yakima for 18 years on Sears repair.
At 10:45, another repairman called. WE HAD BEEN DOUBLE BOOKED. What a horrible organization. We did have a good relationship with Felipea, and he fixed or serviced everything. While he was here, John went out and cut a couple of pieces of the rug we got the roll of a couple of weeks ago, at CWU surplus. He cut two for the kitchen, so we can walk on carpet from the den into the kitchen and over to the sink without stepping on cold linoleum.
One of the cats caught and killed the Douglas PEST squirrel. I’m so happy. No one ate any part of it. Rascal brought it in and deposited it at the bottom of the ramp in the living room, to the outside doggie/cat door. The squirrel has been stealing our walnuts and packing them in our shed’s insulation, chewing them under our car hoods, and causing a mess. Therefore, we are DELIGHTED to see him gone. Bless his little heart. I know several friends will be appalled at our happiness, but they haven’t had to live with two of the critters for the past many years.
Wednesday, Oct 30
Drove by a friend’s home to deliver some apples, and on by to check the price of gas, which was more expensive than another place in town, so I went afterward there on the way home to fill up. Food Bank 3 singers there, only 2 instruments. Interesting meal: Biscuits with sausage gravy, some sort of overcooked egg dish (not really a quiche), good fruit salad, and pumpkin cake, but very good — not like pumpkin bread. Off to the AAC only to deliver apples and accept thanks from people there and who had received some earlier; no exercise today because they were having a special session for 2 hrs on Medicare. I already know more than I want to about that program.
Today was busy, but the best thing was all the hours (3) we both spent on sorting through boxes of stuff and other things from the shed. We found stuff back to 1960s, when we were graduate students, even stuff from when I was a high school student, and undergraduate. I saved a couple of the best, but tossed the rest. I had some good notes from my first geography intro class and also my first geology class in college. Tossed tax records, business records, and house/land purchases from the early 80s. Sorted out a few things to share with friends and colleagues. Filled a real trash bag full too, not to mention boxes, which John will take to the transfer station (the fancy name for a dump).
Thursday, Oct 31 HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Today we are entertaining with our music group, at Mt. View Meadows, expecting cookie treats when done. We are all planning to do our best to dress for Halloween. Ended up with a witch (complete with skeleton earrings and black hat), a Gypsy Princess with a large black wig, me in my pumpkins in love sweatshirt, and another in a wonderful sweatshirt with a cute front and a rabbit on the back with a pumpkin tail. I drove my car with a box of apples to distribute. John went to the dump, and disposed of .16 tons at a charge of just under $14. While he was out in the truck, he drove by Luft’s Trailer (horse and farm things) dealer after a recommendation from a friend that they often replaced pick-up beds with flat beds on 1-ton trucks. We were hoping we might get one from them. There was a Ripley’s believe it or not moment – they had an exact match (except color) for our F350 2003 truck. It is nearly new and of somewhat higher ‘trim package’ than our damaged one. We agreed to buy the damaged truck thinking it was “good enough” but later decided the bowed-out tailgate was unacceptably hard to get closed when open and open when closed. Also, upon contemplation we decided it would not accommodate a canopy. One thought was to look for a canopy with double doors that doesn’t use the tailgate. Still, whether or not the front would seal we did not know. The horse trailer place and the canopy place have co-located to a new road on the edge of town. John went from the dump out that way – the horsey-things place came first. He stopped in. Our truck is silver with a plain trim-package. In the back corner of their lot, they had half-a-dozen “take-off” beds. One bright green high trim F350 bed was among the offerings. It has chrome around the wheel opening, a sprayed-on bed liner with drain holes and tie-downs, and bright red and orange flames painted on it – maybe an extension of a paint job something like this one from the web:
We will take before (now) and after photos in a couple of weeks. Replacement is scheduled for Nov. 18. Our pick-up bed is damaged on the front end (rubbing into the cab), and the rear tailgate door is also bent out of shape. None of us realized the problems when we bought it used. The bed has a drop in plastic liner with no drain and no tie-downs. Water can get underneath and lead to rusting. The next photo shows two things: . . .
. . . near the top is a bracket to tie rope to. Ours is gone or hidden under the drop-in liner. At the bottom left of the photo you can see one of the holes in a truck bed to hold racks or whatever. On our bed, the one on the passenger-side front corner has been ripped upwards leaving several jagged edges. Our guess is someone tied something very heavy in the bed (an old upright piano?!) and it broke loose and pushed the box into the back of the truck, ripped the metal, and then bounced on the tailgate with nearly devastating effect. We’d love to know what happened if whatever it was went out the back onto the highway.
Friday, Nov 1
We spent the morning getting ready to go to the Seattle Center to attend the WTA Volunteer Appreciation Dinner, where John will be presented an award. John packed up 5 odd sized boxes (~75 pounds) of apples to take to the WTA folks who have been appreciative of the lesser amount of Honeycrisp apples he delivered to last week’s WTA work party at Park Pointe. Some of those went to a fellow worker while the Crew Leader took hers (~15 lbs.) back to the WTA main office in Belltown. They were such a hit we got an email from the director of WTA, whom we have never met. He also put together some of our onions, and Golden Health squash, and apples to take to a fellow ACL he has known for many years. She likes fruit and veggies. You can see Kara on this page. . . . 7 down, orange hat, and the membership manager. We carried all goodies to the Seattle Center and most went into Kara’s mom’s car parked nearby. About half the apples went to a van going back to the WTA office.
John had not wanted to make the decision on the pick-up bed until I saw it and agreed. So, on our way to Seattle, we allowed a little time to visit the trailer place to have my okay. Obviously, I was delighted. It was 2 hours to Seattle, and we made good progress through the Seattle traffic. We got to the parking garage early, found a spot right on the first level by the entrance, and tried to pay our fee. The instructions were to put the VISA card in with the VISA to the lower right. Well, our card was different from the version pictured so we were putting it in incorrectly. It seemed to take it and return it, and then asked us to push a blue button, but when we did, it sat, saying some like wait while processing, and then it said to take your receipt. The machine clicked but no receipt appeared. We called the number on the side of the machine, which got us to a person who couldn’t help me, and his supervisor came on and went through it with us. Phew. It worked when we got the card in the correct way. We have a receipt for the $10 now. We trudged uphill for a long block, and made our way to the entrance of the room. After saying hello to people we knew, and going to the restroom, we had a lot of time until the actual start time; I went out and took some lovely autumn photos of the Seattle Space Needle. This is taken from the front of the Lopez Room, in the Pacific NW section of the rooms nearby the basketball stadium, Key Arena.
We had great weather for our trip over and back.
Here’s a look at WTA numbers so far this year:
97,000 hours (and counting) of volunteer service to trails
3,100 volunteers across the state
23% volunteers age 18 and under
6,833 trip reports this year helping 2.3 million hikers find their next hike at http://www.wta.org/
I took many pictures and movies tonight, and sometime in the future I will post some of the best.
John was selected as one of the 11 awardees of the 2013 WTA Carhartt Awards! “This honor is bestowed upon the most dedicated and generous trail work volunteers from the entire season. Congratulations!!” That was part of his email received asking for his size of jacket and pants. We didn’t know what the package would consist of, but this is what it turned out to be.
Carhartt Men’s Sandstone Active Jacket – Quilted Flannel Lined J130
Carhartt Men’s Weathered Duck 5 Pocket Pants
If we bought on Amazon, it would cost $56.95 for the pants, and $115.00 for the jacket. Both plus 9.5% tax would be $171.95, plus shipping. In addition, the jacket has a nice embroidered WTA emblem on it,
which would be more costly, and no doubt the “goods” at a retail store would be higher priced yet. We have no idea what these things cost WTA but all the awards were really nice and the clothing looks great. Thanks, WTA!
I will have to get John to dress in his gift later and include the picture in a future blog. For now, here is a photo with him and the clothes in it, and with WTA crew leader, Evonne Ellis, who you might have read about earlier in the web page of the WTA trip to Taylor Mountain. She was the innovator of the Banana Dance to warm people up to go on the trail. The banana is my old bowling banana that I was pictured with in a previous week’s blog, when I told you we would tell you the “rest of the story” later. Here it is: John and I arranged with her “boss” to get the banana from us at a work party, and to present it to her at the Appreciation dinner. We pulled it off, and the photo below shows both people with their awards. John is holding his Carharrt jacket with the WTA emblem and the pants below.
Saturday, Nov 2
We slept in after our long and tiring day yesterday. John spent a couple of hours in the wind on yard and animal chores. We had 40 mph gusts through some of his time out. I stayed in the house working on things. We hope to get this blog out soon.
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan