Sunday, Nov 2
CPAP report. Reported figures: 6 hrs 56 min with AHI = 0.00.
John’s out and about moving some brush cut a year or so ago that is still piled closer to a shed than is good. Generally, when time is available, he is cleaning our woods area close to buildings or along fence lines (see below on Friday’s entry) and I’m alternating between clothes & dishwashing, email, recordkeeping, and other chores. On recordkeeping. I filed a bunch of receipts and realized I was charged for my fasting blood draw last week. A follow-up this next week, saved me $37.31, because they had failed to indicate I had insurance to bill. These goofs appear all too often, and I wonder how many people just pay the owed bills they received from the doctor’s office. I put the music “Winter Wonderland” into software for December’s repertoire. The music was written in 1934 by Felix Bernard, and the lyrics were written by Dick Smith.
Monday, Nov 3
CPAP report. Reported figures: 7 hrs 45 min with AHI = 0.13.
I had to go in for a fasting blood draw, but wanted it to coincide with my one necessary trip to town (for exercise). As soon as I had the blood draw, I was hungry for a special biscuit, but they do not sell them after 11:00. I thought maybe another fast food place would have breakfast items, but they didn’t. I guess they remove those grills to make ready for lunch food. I always imagined they used the same grills for hamburgers. ?? After trying to use my free coupon for an Egg McMuffin at McDonalds, and get a Crosswich sandwich at Burger King, I gave up on breakfast I really wanted, and got a lunch instead, at Dairy Queen, for which I had an OLD $5 free coupon from a Poker Ride (horseback), before I was ill. It had no expiration date–so I got a $5 meal with 3 pieces of chicken strips, fries, bleu cheese dressing, drink, and dessert (free sundae, or a small Blizzard, for an extra $1.) I took the dessert coupon to use later because I didn’t want that much to eat, and I carried home a large amount of potato fries for John to have for his lunch the next day. From there I went on to the SAIL class and transferred containers of green tomatoes to two people. Many green ones got thrown away – into compost for next year.
I came home and worked a little on December’s music — “The Chipmunk Song” is a song written by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. Although it was written and sung by Bagdasarian, the singing credits are given to The Chipmunks, a fictitious singing group consisting of three chipmunks by the names of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore. The song won three Grammy Awards in 1958: Best Comedy Performance, Best Children’s Recording, and Best Engineered Record. “White Christmas” is a favorite of many, written by Irving Berlin in 1940. Most will remember Bing Crosby singing this, but you might not realize he first sung it on Christmas Day on the Kraft Music Hall show, and then recorded on a 78 Decca record in 1942. A couple of years ago, I began researching more information about the songs we play, so that I can introduce to our audiences. It is written on each piece of music we play (for which I can find the information).
John surprised me with a special dinner tonight: salmon (1/3 of a large one) caught in the Columbia River (a Tribal fishing right) by a nephew of a friend, cooked apples, and left-over spaghetti sauce on fancy pasta.
Tuesday, Nov 4
CPAP report. Reported figures: 7 hrs 8 min with AHI = 0.00.
My First ever CSR (lasted 1 min 49 sec) ~5:00 a.m. That stands for a Cheyne-Stokes Respiration event. Cheyne & Stokes are UK doctors who discovered this in the 1800s. It’s an abnormal pattern of breathing characterized by progressively deeper and sometime faster breathing, followed by a temporary pause in breathing, called an apnea. The pattern repeats with each cycle usually taking 30 seconds to 2 mins.
Rained all night but is clearing up for the day, we think.
I heard the squirrels chattering this morning and said to John, “I hope Rascal catches another one.” He said there are several around. My wish was fulfilled. I know this comment and photo will upset a few people, but these guys are pests and have caused much damage and problems for us, over the years. They take most of our Carpathian walnut crop (7 trees), and while we don’t eat the black walnuts, they carry them into places around to chew and put up for winter. The worst case was gobs of shells and fine waste (sharp teeth and hard shells) under the hood of our ’80 Chev truck. After consulting with the mechanic, John drove it to town and they used high pressure water while the engine was running to get rid of the stuff without causing more problems. Actually, cancel that last description. The truly worst we are still living with. We inherited a 1.5 story shed with this house. It is not property closed and squirrels can go under big swinging doors or climb the rough wood siding to find other routes. Inside, the former owner never finished putting plywood over the large pads of glass fiber insulation, and the squirrels got in to bury their nuts, and knocked it all out over everything we have stored there. The fiberglass is not nice and the mess is worse. It will take an effort to clean up because it is all over and in everything that was stored there. So, I was just telling John this morning to go pull out his 22 and shoot the critters. Rascal took it in his own hands/mouth. Then brought it in the house, but we got him to take it back outside.
When he brings something inside and we or one of the dogs gets near him he objects with a growl that would warm the heart of a Harley-Davidson fan. He can be chased or herded out an open door so the above photo I took just off the back concrete slab.
So, on to our own brunch: pancake w/strawberries, and bacon. Winds have blown all day. John has cut brush and moved it to stacks all around the property. We had a visit from a neighbor to return some 5-gallon buckets and a large container that we used to carry carrots to her pigs. We gave her some onions, apples, egg cartons, and two boxes of black walnuts, now almost completely fallen from the trees.
I’ve been working on the computer trying to catch up. Still have much left to do. Managed to change the filters in my CPAP machine, finally. I just got off the phone planning the date for our fiddlers & friends to go to Briarwood for fun and fellowship. It will be Nov 15, so fast to be the 3rd Sat in the month.
John provided a dinner of roasted chicken, baked potato, and baked carrots. For dessert, we had a Mrs. Smith’s cherry pie that John enhanced with a sugar glaze on top of the moistened crust. We have a big tub (1.25 gallons) of cheap ice cream from Grocery Outlet – mentioned above. Meanwhile, the cardboard containers get smaller as they introduce confusing shapes – oval, cylindrical, tall, squat, and so on. Marketers and marketing seems more confusing than particle physics.
More music today –this time, All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth, written by Donald Yetter Gardner in Smithtown, NY in 1944. He was a 2nd grade teacher and wrote it in a half hour after asking his class what they wanted for Christmas, and realized they were having difficulty with sounds through their missing front teeth. Spike Jones and His City Slickers recorded it December 5, 1947.
Wednesday, Nov 5
CPAP report. Reported figures: 7 hrs 5 min with AHI = 0.14.
I went to the Food Bank today, dropping off produce with neighbors on the way (onions & apples). Once there I delivered a package to a person at the Food Bank who lives in Kittitas close to the intended recipient. On to exercise class, where I delivered more green tomatoes, and back home in the rain via Grocery Outlet where I loaded up on sale items. This is a strange but sometimes useful store. Many chores at home awaited me, and I have not made a dent. I spent a lot of phone time today talking with people who needed a shoulder upon which to rest their thoughts. A worry for me was removed: John informed me he had taken care of the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) from my retirement account. This is something I know (but not much) about. Still, if you are turning 70 ½ and have an IRA – someone needs to keep up on this stuff.
Thursday, Nov 6
CPAP report. Reported figures: 5 hrs 53 min with AHI = 0.00.
My Dr.’s appointment was across the street from my grocery store where they were having a special 12-hr sale on baking goods, such as flour, sugar, cake mixes, and frosting, and cartons of 18-eggs (for $1.78). I went by before my 11:00 appt at the Lung Specialist. The place was crowded and I had to park at the end of the parking lot, a good 300′ from the store. Luckily, I took a cart from a lady on my way in, because when I got inside, there were none! The store was filled. I went directly to the eggs and bought a carton because I figured there might not be any left after my appointment. The sale items are there until the supply is exhausted. That has happened to me before (when I lost out). So, when I got to my appointment, I had raised my blood pressure). My meeting went well and I didn’t have to take the walking test I expected to repeat from last time. We discussed my recent concern for an oximeter to record that data while I sleep. He said I could borrow one from them overnight and Medicare would cover the reading, and analysis and I could bring it back the next day. When I chose the next day I would be down there for seeing my cardiologist, it was a Friday. Therefore, I don’t have to take it back until Monday. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a big enough memory for me to use it more than one night, however, and the technician said it would confuse the interpreters, who are used to having only one night’s recording, so my idea of doing it one night with the machine on, and one night without, won’t pan out. It will show me if the machine is preventing my O2 level from going below the desired level. It needs to stay in the 90s. I’m still searching for an oximeter that will coordinate with the software I have for my CPAP machine, to evaluate the SD card’s storage of data. I want to be able to sleep off the machine and record what happens… and to sleep while on the machine and view the synchronization of the numbers from the oximeter with those from my CPAP machine.
On my way to the courthouse to deliver more goodies, in a driving rainstorm, I stopped to fill my car for the trip tomorrow, and it was down to $2.95/gal, here in EBRG.
I went to play music at Royal Vista. We observed many smiles today on the faces of residents as we played our music for them and encouraged them to sing-along. Many did. One of the residents there is a woman who started, playing the accordion, in this group, with her father, in the 1950s. She can no longer hold the instrument, but she uses a tambourine occasionally, and sings with us when we are there.
Once done, I delivered yet more produce from the back of my car. Gave away bags or boxes of onions, carrots, apples, to six people. Both onions and apples are showing the first signs of reaching their “use by” dates. Our warm fall hasn’t helped. The coming week is going to be our first cold spell. Not near as cold as the parts of the country east of the Rockies, though. You know who you are – look out.
John told me to be sure to go check out the tiny little apples still on the crabapple tree, with all its leaves now gone. They are only slightly bigger than a large pea and pale red. The blooms are white. All the walnut tree leaves are gone as well, but a few walnuts still hang up there.
(John has used some larger files for photos. For some they may load slowly. Try right clicking and opening in a new window. Google Chrome then allows you to Zoom again just by clicking on the image. The side and bottom scroll sliders can then be used.)
Friday, Nov 7
CPAP report. Reported figures: 5 hrs 49 min with AHI = 0.00.
I need to ask some more questions about my mask. I seem occasionally to get leaks from my mouth being pushed open, ever so slightly, during the compressed air entry. I also need to know the importance of running with the heated air humidifier. I tend to run it without the humidifier (knob set on zero on the far left, which provides unheated air–yet I assume it is using some of the humidifier’s water, as I have to replace it).
Started the morning with a lovely view from our back patio, of the beautiful colors still on a few trees with their leaves still holding. This is adjacent to the stream on the west side of our acreage.
Early morning of today, when we are going to the WTA Volunteer Appreciation Dinner in Seattle, John decided to take me on a tour of his recent trailblazing projects within the woods and our so called swamp. John claims we went ~1/2 mile and it took almost an hour. Not sure it was that much distance unless one counts the up, down, under, and over trees, roots, hills, fences, and springs. I’ll try to show a few photos I took on the trip. For starters, we walked to the edge of the woods with a view into and toward the easterly tributary of Naneum Creek. John had to help me climb over a big tree to get down passed the gate keeping the horses out of this area.
This is at the edge where the pasture drops off to trees and brush. Note that some of the trees are (were) nearly horizontal. A cut one in the lower left has a hollow center. The dots show our route and out at the 3rd to last dot there is a side trail to the left that goes to a small spring. One that I have not previously seen.
The little spring is on the left with the reflection of the blue sky. The water flows from left to right and then off toward the top right. About 100 feet away it meets a second little flow from another spring. The area has some big trees and lots of small brush – rose, red Osier dogwood, hawthorne, nettles, and much more. Here is what it looks like:
On down the trail, he’s brushed out and “blazed” to the creek. Already the deer have started moving through the area, and finding nesting spots to spend the night. We walked on around a tree that had recently lost a limb, and he picked it up and threw it off the trail. Our main creek is in the distance.
As we walked on around the property, we came by a stack of tree-trunk-rounds he had sawed and stacked from a large fallen tree a couple years ago. The oval shows where the tree broke off.
Now he has to remove it by wheelbarrow because there is no way to back his truck any place nearby. We crossed the little streams from the springs several times on our tour, and viewed much he had cleared, with more to go and be taken from the area.
I was tired by the time we got back to the house, but had the energy to take a photo of the lovely Mountain Ash tree:
We left shortly after 2:00 p.m. for Seattle. The first 1.75 hours went fine, until we reached Issaquah, and the traffic was incredibly heavy from Issaquah to past the 405 turnoff and through Mercer Island. We traveled several miles at THREE MPH. No joke. All four lanes of traffic lighted traffic signs above the lanes claimed we could go 50 mph in the express lane and 30 mph in the other 3, but all four lanes crawled stop and go. We don’t go to Seattle often, and traffic is why. At home, on Naneum Road, 3 cars is a traffic jam. Well, and getting lost – didn’t do that this time.
Our purpose was to enjoy fun and fellowship with many of the volunteers he has worked with over the years on trail maintenance projects (he, as an Assistant Crew Leader). Over 250 attended. The evening started at 5:30 on the 2nd (3rd ?) floor of the REI building, with nice catered dishes, wine (we didn’t have any), and other drinks. Food items included large shrimp, little meatballs, dips, veggies, cheese and various other dips, bread, crackers, and two choices of cake for dessert.
Last year the WTA awarded John the Carhartt Award, and this year have changed it to the Above and Beyond Award, with the same gift of a jacket and pants, plus now a fleece hat with the WTA emblem, as is on his fleece vest (given after 25 work days), and there were 12 winners this year, as last. All previous winners will receive a hat. He also got an over 100 award for over 100 days on the trail. He has about 150. It is an insignia to put on his orange hard hat. As well, he qualified for a free National Park’s pass. There were nice raffle prizes, but we did not win anything. Other gifts at the door were loud safety whistles and Clif (energy) bars. We each got a blueberry or chocolate-coconut one. On our way upstairs, we searched for a wool hat for John, and found one made in Nepal, so we bought it. I need to take his photo wearing it. It is quite cool looking, but we hope it will be warm for his outdoor work. On our way out, I suggested we stop at the front desk and ask if we could get a free voucher for our parking for the first hour, because of our purchase before dinner. The gal asked if we had been attending a meeting upstairs, and of course, we said yes. She took our parking receipt and put an REI sticker on it, which gave us free parking for the entire time (saving us $7.00). Pretty cool. We seriously doubt that WTA even knew about this perk’s existence.
We got back home at 10:15, but didn’t retire until 12:30.
Saturday, Nov 8
CPAP report. Reported figures: 8 hrs 56 min with AHI = 1.01.
John went to town to get some soft drinks for him, some food for Ebony, and gasoline (in a can) for his chainsaw. He managed to get it at a lower price than I was able on Thursday. He paid $2.87, currently the best price in EBRG. While there he saw one of our friends (and former student), and learned her husband was going to have to go through a sleep apnea test. So, John offered my services for advice (which I wish I had had in advance of going for the overnight sleep evaluation). I plan to start by referring her back to this blog when this mess started in June and follow through to present.
Rest of the day was full of chores, except for an interesting receipt from our friend, Sonja Willitts, whose Brittany, Tug, you’ve heard about in recent blogs is a poster boy within a deck of cards (Tahoe Pets) to raise money for the Tahoe Humane Society, in S. Lake Tahoe, CA/NV/
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan