{Click on these 2 photos for large size}
The above Cherry blossoms are on Nanking Shrubs just out our back door, but . . .
The Cherry blossoms in Wash. D. C. have brightened the Nation’s Capital this week. Click and view during daylight. Or just search for photos. There are lots of visitors there, too. Try a search with –
cherry blossom Washington dc 2014
Saturday, Apr 12
Finished and posted the blog this afternoon. John brought me a nicely-cut-up into bite-size pieces of warmed leftovers from the great pizza he made last night. John is doing yard/garden work (mostly), and I’m working on the “books.”
Sunday, Apr 13
Will likely be the same regime as yesterday. Washing clothes, searching for socks for John, washing dishes, mostly tax related stuff (all those were done). I did pause for photographing a picture of one of our Brittanys who won the Chukar Classic in 1978 & 1982. The Idaho Brittany Club is collecting history, and photographs of winners. I managed to locate Carol Pochardt through LinkedIn (a professional networking site), and to get her connected to Robin Tomasi, the organizer of the history. Carol’s dog DC Bi-Mar’s Cinnabar Cindy won it in 1988. Cindy was also the dam of a litter with the sire, our DC/AFC Ramblin’ Chocolate Dandy, and I kept Cedaridge Duch’ss Dancer from that litter. She is behind our dogs as well. Also, I left a phone message for Michele Sherer in San Jose’, CA, who had many dogs from our lines, winning or placing them in the Chukar Classic. Here is a 1984 photo of Dan Richmond, FC Simons Ruff-Shod O’Dee and me with an Open All Age 1st place trophy. Click on it.
Ruffy was dark orange, not liver, as it appears in this photo of a framed photo.
I was finally ready to print the tax form, but our WI-FI (WLAN) between the printer shared by our computers in the den is not getting a strong enough signal, at least that’s the error message. John worked quite awhile and finally had to return outside to plant new berry plants…black, blue, and straw. I had just become totally ticked off when running my wrap-up on the final tax return, because it wouldn’t let me use all the deductions I have spent hours and hours recording … over the past many months. I guess we don’t qualify for the itemized deduction and must take the standard instead. Had I known that, I could have save an amazing amount of time, but now I will still likely do next year’s the same way, just in case. One never knows until it’s all entered. I’ll just get an earlier start. I didn’t think our situation was that different from previous years, but I guess I was wrong. We have itemized deductions for over 25 years. The current situation is caused by making a distribution from my tax-deferred IRA to use to build the pole building and buy 20 tons of hay. Not only is the money taxable, but it moves our income into a higher bracket for the year. So, the extra income, all taxable, affects the allowable deductions. We’ll drop back to a more normal situation for the next year. Keeping my fingers crossed for the next 10 minutes that my puppy will get her blue ribbon today on her first year’s birthday. She is supposed to run her brace at 5:00 p.m. Still no news and it is 8:07. I’m sure we won’t hear anything because any cellular towers are miles south near the interstate highway. The camp setting is in a small valley, Crab Creek valley beneath the basalt cliffs — photo in last week’s blog of our visit with “Daisy” near Ritzville, WA.
Printed out my tax return, and realized I was out of black ink in the back (backup) printer.
We may squeak through. I have one that didn’t print two bottom lines, but I can write them in by hand. I’m rather exhausted from all this effort and added stress. Think I’ll go to bed.
Monday, Apr 14
John has been doing outside work–spraying weeds, and the sprayer quit. The 2003 Ford truck battery also won’t hold a charge, so it needs to be replaced. Always something. Now he is waiting for the farrier who called with news he will be late for his “trim” appointment. John released the horses from the corral, and of course they went to the other end of the 7 acres. Don’t think anything is scheduled for me, so it will be another busy work day. I’m finalizing the tax forms to mail tomorrow, from the Kittitas P.O. where the wait is not as long as in Ellensburg. This afternoon, I received a nice email from Peggy Doiron that Daisy won a 3rd place in the Open Derby (OD) yesterday. Here it is in her words: Quick note. Daisy did a very nice job for her first time in OD. She placed 3rd. The dogs that were first and second ran bigger, but we were tickled with her. She stayed forward and busy. Had a nice little point and then on to look for more [birds]. She was our best OD yesterday.
Then a long conversation from Jeri Conklin (Daisy’s other mom), catching up on lots of things. We are both happy campers. John came back in from the horse farrier work and we had lunch. I cooked the large funny egg I mentioned in last week’s blog, for adding to my tuna
{this image is full size}
salad, and then forgot to add red peppers after peeling the egg and cutting it in half. I rather figured it might be double yoked and you can see it was. It certainly made the concoction an egg/tuna salad instead tuna with egg! After lunch, John got back with the WIFI printer connection problem and we finally called our DSL provider who changed the password last week to make the system work again in order to access the Internet. We had not been able to print since then, and didn’t realize during working hours it needed another adjustment. Took awhile on the phone, but finally we again have access to the printer from both our newer computers. John has ordered ink for the back printer, and I have tested and printed a copy of our tax form to be submitted tomorrow. Guess the emergency was resolved, and a lot of stress is removed. Now to get our tax forms all in shape to ship off tomorrow.
Tuesday, Apr 15
Go to Kittitas with tax return and if John finds his wrenches, he will remove the truck battery and we’ll go buy a new one. All that happened. We were late leaving because it took him awhile – moving things and throwing odds and ends away. The tools needed are the same batch used on the dishwasher I wrote about, a socket set and a ratchet wrench. We knew they were near and only under just one or two layers of “stuff.” Eventually found under the plastic liner for the big apples purchased a few weeks ago, somewhat like this micro-thin liner in this web photo. {Click on photo for bigger but poor image.}
As expected, the tools were just into the garage via the washroom door under the black plastic pre-formed tray and the thin foam top cover. With proper tools the old battery was soon ready for its non-working ride to town in the back of my Subaru. I drove to Kittitas (10 mi) to the P.O., and was the only one in line (but 4 people arrived as I finished). We drove on to Bi-Mart and succeeded in finding a replacement sprayer for the one that broke yesterday and it was on sale for $14; normally $20. While there I checked on my Magnesium tablets, and they were on sale for 30% off (through tomorrow). So, $2.79 for a normally priced, $4.00 bottle. Only one bottle was on the shelf, so I got it and asked for a rain check, which they gave me!! On to Les Schwab for the battery replacement for John’s 2003 truck. It appears that was the factory installed battery, so 10 years must be a record. John bought the top of the line of 3 possibilities — ranging from 5 to 7 years warranty. The cost was $151.15, for a 7-year guaranteed battery. Our sales tax is 8.1% but they knocked off $10 because we didn’t have them do the installation. Rather interesting now there’s a charge to install a battery but most interesting of all is the high price of batteries. On the way home we stopped for gasoline, while still talking to John’s sister, as I had called while the battery buy was going down. We talked the cell-phone battery to nothing, but had a nice long visit. Then home, chores, supper, and computer news and updates. At 11:00 p.m. we got an out of area telemarketer call. That’s really crappy. It’s also scary to receive a phone call so late at night. Makes one worry that something is wrong with a friend or relative.
Wednesday, Apr 16
Started off the morning with a call from the Research Triangle in Raleigh, NC part of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, to use my background in Geography for helping construct the publically accessible (free) nationwide database for jobs. More later, as I get the documents via email and postal mail. I was recommended as a resource by the NCGE (National Council for Education), of which I have been a member since 1965. A researcher called and asked me a lot of questions, about my background. The concern is to describe what a geographer does in that type of job designation. Considering my work with the jobs list and announcements since the 1990s, and being in the profession since the 1960s, I suppose I’m experienced enough, and I am willing. I don’t need more to do but will give this a try. A local apple packer has opened a controlled-atmosphere (CA) storage unit and released small Rome apples. We like Romes so when word came via a neighbor, I stopped and picked up 10 lbs for $1.99 at the fruit market at the south end of EBRG. I was down thataway intending to be at the Food bank for music and the Senior Center for SAIL exercise class. On the way home, I stopped by Royal Vista (nursing home and great dessert makers) to return the cake plate we cleaned and packed (that we’d taken from the Volunteer Appreciation Dinner the Tuesday night a week before). While there I took a sweatshirt to a woman (probably in her late 70s, who is a resident there, and who follows all our music in 3 different times I play each month. Heard while visiting her that an accordionist would be playing this afternoon, so I told the assistant to go get Jeanne Gordon and take her to the performance. Meanwhile, I walked to the other end of the building to visit with Jeanne. I got there the same time as the nurse’s aide, and thanked him for taking her, and told him she was an accordion player herself in the group I’m in, but from the 1950s. He had no idea. I went to say hello to the accordion player, and she was Karen Eslinger, with whom I have played many times. She asked me where my fiddle was; I said in the car, so she invited me to join her. That was a long haul (on my feet the entire 1.5 hours). I surely got my exercise today, but enjoyed doing music from the 1930s with her.
Thursday Apr 17
Morning is gray & dreary, with some little raindrop sprinkles. John’s out near the road planting some Ocean Spray trees. Yesterday, among other chores, he planted Dahlias in the last year’s potato patch where the soil did not need much work. If they grow he will spread them to other places where they can be seen. I spent a little time last night and this morning re-writing the music for the Tennessee Waltz without repeats and with large fonts for our group. It’s pretty nice-looking. Haven’t heard anything about how our puppy performed. She will be running on the same grounds again this weekend, and then off to Idaho. Since I wrote that, we learned she didn’t place because she didn’t like the rain and the wind, and the birds were running and not holding, for a point.
Today, I played music (largely Irish) at Dry Creek and one of the fellows on oxygen in a wheel chair is our biggest fan and has been for years. He talked to me at the beginning and at the end and gave me a smile and said something with an Irish brogue, followed by a thank you in German, so I said thank you (in German ) back. My grandmother spoke German but she only taught me a couple of words. John’s grandmother was Irish. 🙂 Neither of us knew her.
Great dinner tonight. John roasted chicken breasts he bought today, and we were astounded at the size. So large I had a lot and he had the rest of only one! He made Bisquick® biscuits (with beer) and a gravy (mushroom & onion), plus cooked cauliflower, fried in a batter. Boy, it was good. We’ll have leftovers tomorrow and the rest of the weekend.
Friday, Apr 18
Late yesterday afternoon I had a blood draw for my blood-thinning factor (INR test) but we were on the phone with a friend when the nurse tried to call. Today, at different times, both Cathys from the Cle Elum Clinic called to give me a report. That’s a strange and unexplained thing. The test report was at 2.8, so that’s about right. Last year for a time I bounced up and down on this test. Lately there is very little change and seemingly for no obvious reason. Today, John was out in the wind, but happily had sunshine part of the day. He was planning to plant Ponderosa Pine trees he got from the local Conservation District, but I think he changed jobs to work out of the wind – gusts to 39 mph. [Changed the fencing around the Blueberries and cut out some of the old thornless Blackberry canes.] I stayed busy inside.
Saturday, Apr 19
I will be going to play music and eat at Briarwood Commons this afternoon. I suspect John will post this in the morning.
So we hope you have a nice Easter Sunday.
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan