Sunday, Apr 26
For Apr 25 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 7 min with AHI = 0.70 Events: 5H, 6CSR. No major mask leaks (max=14 L/min).
Late about 1:30 p.m. posting the blog this week. John had to deal with neighborhood kids coming into our pasture and into the enclosure with the horses. Scary, but not so much as hearing later of one of the little boys apparently getting on Ebony, and then falling off. We knew nothing of their presence, having arrived through the woods, onto our property, without an adult. John did not know until they returned with their older sister, who was checking on their story that they told her they had permission from us.
Monday, Apr 27
For Apr 26 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 7 min with AHI = 0.49 Events: 3H, 1CSR. No major mask leaks (max=18 L/min).
Jim Gardner (our friend and Geography Prof at Iowa) is coming for a visit June 23, so I had to change my Yakima doctor’s appointment. All is set for a month later. More changes to the dental schedule happened this week too. This stuff about making appointments 6 months in advance is difficult.
Good news: my blow-up neck pillow reached its destination in Portland, and my Oximeter cord was returned from Illinois. The cord had come in the normal postal delivery, but was being tracked so it actually arrived in my mailbox at 2:05. I finally got it late as we returned home from buying John a circular saw and a Black and Decker Workmate from a friend moving out of the Great Northwest. I also bought a lamp to use as a gift for another friend in WA.
Once home, I tested my Oximeter, first charging it with the new cord. Then I removed the data for one night, that being two nights after it quit working. I will record my SpO2 tonight, 14 days from the night last on. It appears to be good as new (and it is).
Tuesday, Apr 28
For Apr 27 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 24 min with AHI = 0.68 Events: 5H. No major mask leaks (max=16 L/min).
All right! I transferred our Consumer Cellular payment to obtain a better return on cash awards: from Discover (1%) to American Express (AMEX at 5%). Neither card has an associated service fee. AMEX has been the only card taken at COSTCO (and still useful until next spring). The new deal at COSTCO will be with Capital One and a Platinum {blue?} MasterCard. However, (Nancy here), I’m going to wait to talk to the folks at our Costco store, because I found another story different from John’s that pointed to CitiGroup’s VISA card. Also, we were getting 4% back on AMEX Costco’s card when purchasing gasoline, and now the new Mastercard claims only 2%. To counter the loss of charges via COSTCO, American Express is promoting new offers and awards. Thus, the transfer at Consumer Cellular, and also, that card provides 3% back on gasoline purchases anywhere. We already switched to that Simply Cash card, but will continue to use the old AMEX for gasoline until Apr 1, 2016.
I managed to work in Jazzercise today with getting a much-needed haircut after. It was a cardio-planned event and about wiped me out for the rest of the day, night, and next. I felt that workout for sure. I came home and worked on chores and chords, ha ha. (Music prep is necessary for our group change of songs for the next two months — May & June.)
Wednesday, Apr 29
For Apr 28 CPAP. Reported figures. 8 hrs 29 min with AHI = 0.12 Events: 1H. No major mask leaks (max=8 L/min).
Today is the normal day load expected: music at the Food Bank lunch, then to the AAC for my usual exercise class, with an unusual visit to Paul & Gloria, where Paul is in a nursing home, recovering from a hospital visit. They are members of our class, and besides a visit, it was to take along a nice get well card sign by members of the group and another from me to my “favorite veteran.” Paul is 92, and will be back among our group soon. When he returns, Evelyn I will have to play his favorite song for him, “Don’t Sit under the Apple Tree with Anyone Else but Me.” Actually, we may surprise him and do it this week, as this is our day for our whole group to perform at Royal Vista.
I arrived home to more excitement to make my afternoon, and to hold myself in heavy winds to photograph the arrival and delivery of a large logging truck full of burned Naneum Canyon logs to our pasture, via our newly created (uncompleted) access road to our property.
The truck includes a loader/unloader. The driver is named Owen. The fully loaded unit weighed 83,900 pounds, came across our new access road (with culvert) that you have seen in previous blog reports. The truck (weighing 39,500 pounds), carried 44,444 pounds of Ponderosa Pine. That is 22.2 tons of logs!
A cord of wood weighs different, depending on the species and moisture content and these are not dry. Supposedly, dried wood has less than 20% moisture. Very dry wood is not good, either:
Here is the information.
Below are the videos I took of the unloading process.
Part I- 9 mins. Real log delivery.
Part II – 15 mins. Finish the off-loading.
Part III – 3.5 mins. Shortening the truck w/o logs for traveling.
Thursday, Apr 30
For Apr 29 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 6 min with AHI = 0.99 Events: 7H, 2CSR. No major mask leaks (max=16 L/min). Messed up with doing computer stuff in middle of the night, because of long upload on one of the log truck videos to You Tube. They were 3 hour uploads. Taking them on my newer camera requires more bandwidth than my old trusty other one does.
Today was music at The Meadows (old name was Mountain View Meadows, where we go only when there is a 5th Thursday of the month). It only happens 3 times a year, but they wish for more. We have more facilities in town than weeks in a month. Today we had quite the turnout, about 15, and that is all but 3 of the current residents. The facility is way-down on residents. Those that came were good participants, many singing along. We were at the end of our March/April playlist, and one woman (Ruth) sang all the Irish songs without looking at the lyrics. I commended her and said, “You must be Irish.” She smiled and said she was.
I took two new versions of songs for us to try for the new set of music, starting next week.
Left there and ran by the university for a retirement party for a friend I have known for almost my entire time there. I saw her, gave her a hug, had a small piece of cake, and a glass of cold water being flavored by sliced strawberries. Other water delicacies presented were cucumber (Yuk) and oranges for flavoring.
I dropped by the CWU surplus sale, picked up four 5-gallon buckets, just before closing, and then came home by way of our colleague who is leaving town in order to pick up a 5-gal gas can for sale, and then while there, I helped him tune his fiddle. We played a few tunes together. I wish he had been playing with our community group and me for the past 20 years. On the way out, he gave me a small cable table and a small amount of rolled barbed wire. I wrapped the gas can (John’s insistence) in a big black plastic garbage bag so the vapors would not affect me. [John says: Or fill the car with vapors to blow when the auto’s electric gizmos click on.] I still drove home with the windows opened at his suggestion.
Friday, May 1
For Apr 30 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 59 min with AHI = 0.17 Events: 1H, 1CSR. No major mask leaks (max=16 L/min).
I am so happy to have my replaced Oximeter cord. It is so much better in working order, and worth the $6.00 it cost me to ship it back to Illinois.
Went early to the activity center today, to be there to meet my newfound friend, Larae, who will be entering the Aviation program at CWU this September. She’s the one who gave me the travel pillow I’m trying to get fixed in Portland. I met her to deliver an unopened tube of Shoo Goo to fix her boots. She will return it when done, for John to fix his camouflage boots when he finds them again. 🙂 I took a container of cut up celery and of cut up zucchini bread with pineapple in it for my contribution to the potluck table. The Center staff fixed grilled (outside on a grill) chicken with cheese atop and I added sliced tomatoes to mine, without a bun. In addition, there were a few salads, most of which I couldn’t eat (because of high Vitamin K), but some fruit, cottage cheese, and desserts. Some lady in the community donated antique pencil sharpeners for the table and we were encouraged to take one. I took one with its sharpener missing because it was a horse drawn carriage. I first had chosen a harp, as I was wearing my musical noted shirt, but when I found out my friend across from me had played the harp in her younger days, I gave it to her and found the other to keep. I picked up one more when I left, an old spinning wheel to give to my spinning friend.
I will put my carriage in the old glass-doored desk along with my 1950s replica of the horse-drawn carriage of Queen Elizabeth II. I watched that on my friend’s TV, on June 2, 1953. The new queen was only 26 years old then. Her coronation was the first worldwide-televised event. I guess next month, I should dig out my old (colorful) replica, and take its picture for this blog. 🙂
After lunch, I drove north to campus and bought more (six) 5-gal. buckets from CWU Surplus, and returned to the normal Friday exercise class. I read the paper at the AAC and saw a garage sale on Lyons Rd, not that far off Naneum (well so I thought – oops!). I came back by to pick up the “new” Calphalon** 3 qt soup pot from another Tanya in Kittitas, to whom we shared our old wheelbarrow.
** Commercial Aluminum Cookware Company
[John: I thought this was likely a famous European thing, and started looking. Ha!
This cookware began in Perrysburg, Ohio. Just west of Perrysburg is the town of Maumee, the two being separated by the Maumee River. The area was a lake bottom during the glacial period 14,000 years ago – Lake Maumee – and is one of the flatest regions on Earth. You can see this by using Google Earth and go to
41.508565, -83.754714
. . . then use street view (the small orange human symbol) and have a look.
Reading material: The Great Black Swamp
Interestingly, the 2nd bibliography entry for this wiki page is by Kaatz, M. R.; that being Marty Kaatz, a CWU professor of geography and friend; now deceased.] I should have access to the AAG past articles, so I will check later and download his article for free, to read it, and perhaps print a copy for his wife, Carla. Small world, eh?
The black pot was offered on the Buy Nothing list. I put in a request and luckily won the draw with #4. My reason given was to replace our old aluminum soup pan well used from my mother’s kitchen stuff. It is aluminum and almost worn through. My parents married in 1937, and I am not sure when this came into their kitchen, but I have seen it all my life and I’m 71.
Message email from Utsab Bhattarai today, my friend and former student from Nepal. We all had been very worried for his and his family’s well being. This is today’s message. I had heard a day or so ago they were alive.
Hi Nancy, Sorry, could not write you soon…you know there are lots of problems such as electricity, internet and water. Anyways, it’s so terrible everyday in Nepal. We can’t sleep at our homes; people are under the tent and there is no food and drinking water; life is totally disappointing. Luckily, the place where my home is few hour’s drive from the most affected areas so our condition is far better than others in the sense that there is no heavy damage on the buildings. However, the numerous earthquakes that are felt time and again as a regular thing has been a matter of shock and fear to all Nepali.
By luck, till now our family and family members are okay, but few friends are told to be wounded and one died, which is a very sad news.
It look like many quakes come in Nepal this time and they will have a serious effects in several parts of the country. Till now more than 6000 dead bodies have been announced. I have a fear in my mind that pretty soon the earthquake might increase its power and bring another serious harm and devastation, etc.
Btw, another thing is: side by side I have been trying to find a suitable PhD program. One of the univs in Australia is being a part of interest at this time. I will tell you more about it sooner and may ask for rec letter as soon as the application process starts or the potential supervisor agrees to support my application. For this I think it should be easy for you to write rec letter for me since you have a common draft already prepared for me at the time of UW. This letter’s content work equally and importantly. Moreover, I will write and let you know about my application related stuffs once I get such hints. I always expect a positive support and favor from you; and I am glad that you have been my appreciable and thankful person.
This time I am praying to God and saying: We want to live so please— NO MORE EARTHQUAKES IN NEPAL…..with a deep hope of being admitted in a PhD program asap. These are my two important wish and dream at this moment.
Bye now, internet usually does not work at this timing so bye bye….
John said to tell him these large quakes happen in 78-yr. cycles, so he will be safe from concern in his lifetime (we hope). John has been reading about it, and just told me the Katmandu area has moved up 3 feet and Mt. Everest actually lost a few inches. I saw some before and after shots of the devastation, taken from a satellite, but they are easily found so I won’t include any here.
We had pizza for supper, starting with a bought WWII Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (aka Red Baron) one to which John added fresh tomato and leftover baked chicken breast from last night’s dinner, bbq sauce, and Parmesan cheese. It was stupendously good.
Saturday, May 2
For May 1 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 39 min with AHI = 0.00 Events: none. No major mask leaks (max=16 L/min).
We left about 8:15 for the Teanaway area east of Cle Elum for a Fire-Wise workshop (free) from 9:00 a.m. to 1:30, with a oxymoronic BBQ lunch following. (That description was made when I sent a note to my friend in NJ and put BBQ (ha ha) lunch following). We made it safety there and home by 3:00 probably. John went with the dogs for a jaunt, and they were joined by all 5 horses – in what we call our orchard – that is out front. Now, I see them behind the house where there is a small area with grass. I thought I heard rumbling feet, so he’s let them in there. I only just pulled up the blinds (after hearing the noise), to be able to see pretty horses enjoying a nice day. It will be good to get the landscaping projects done and permanent fences and gates placed. Horses seem to sense that something is temporary and find joy in pushing it down.
Any reports on the Fire-Wise presentations/activities will have to wait until I can process the information. It took me an hour tonight just to move the photos from my camera. To upload 10 minutes of a talk is more like 3 hours, and needs to be done when we are not otherwise using our computers to access the web.
Via 97-year-old cousin Ethel and daughter Pat, we received, from Pennsylvania, a bottle of Maple Syrup made by 3 cousins — sons of Uncle Ed (John’s mom’s brother). If we were “locavores” we would not approve of such long distance shipping of food. However, we are thrilled. We’ll have some with bacon from Illinois, pecans from California, pancakes of flour from Montana, and orange juice from Florida. We do have some locally grown blueberries (ours). We have not yet received a reminder from the Scotch Hill cemetery for a donation that helps to keep our ancestor’s gravesites cared for. Hmmm? Anyway, the area has had white folks settling in since about the first decade of the 1800s. Does anyone know the earliest date of a tombstone in the Scotch Hill cemetery?
Sunday, May 3
For May 2 CPAP. Reported figures. 8 hrs 14 min with AHI = 0.61 Events: 6H No major mask leaks (max=15 L/min).
Sunny day, not much wind so far, and John is watering small Plum trees while I am going over the text of this thing, for the next to last time.
We’ve both been working on it, and John just brought the horses up behind the house to enjoy the grass.
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan