Saturday, Aug 1
For July 31 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 16 min with AHI=1.60 Events: 10 H, 2 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=6 L/min); oximeter on, 7 hrs 5 min, AHI = 1.41
Stayed inside because of the heat, after the morning chores already mentioned at the end of last week’s blog.
Finished and published the blog.
After the temperature went down, I retrieved my gifts at the road, gave some squash to another neighbor and got a dozen eggs in return, and took two pie pans with 7 fresh peaches each to neighbors visiting from Omak. We visited in their parents’ front yard for a good time, until I left and was stung by a bee. It’s still not well, 11 hours later. (It took 3 days to stop hurting, itching, and to completely go down on its swelling, even with the use of ice.)
After retrieving my gifts, I checked them out. The most interesting gift is 2 pieces of vintage brown glass cooking ware, VISIONS by Corningware. If anyone has that and cooks with it, please let me know. The person giving it says she always used the stove top, and never in the oven, nor would she suggest using in a microwave. I have found other descriptions online (all videos are with gas flamed burners) and also prices for the glassware replacements. For the 2.5 quart saucepan I got without a lid, the cost with lid online is $99; a little 7” skillet with a top as I got is available for $42. I need to find out if electric burners can be used. One FAQ site says yes.
Also in the mix of gifts were a couple of knitted hats and a CD holder, plastic sleeves, in a large zipped binder.
High for the day at the airport, 105°, not to my liking.
Sunday, Aug 2
For Aug 1 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 5 min with AHI=0.16 Events: 1 H, 2 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=7 L/min); oximeter on, 9 hrs, 41 min, AHI=.10
101° at the airport just before 3:00; was high for the day.
I had an interesting Facebook message from a fellow (John Mutch) in Boise, ID. He sent it back on July 6, this year, but because he is not my Facebook “friend,” it went into my “other” message box (where I typically do not check). I went there to check on a msg I expected from the Buy Nothing site, and found this:
Hello–I am a collector of Idaho tokens, and researcher of the histories of the businesses that used them. One token I recently obtained was from the Computer Junction in Troy, Idaho. Inquiring with Dorothy Anderson, Troy historian, she recalled that this business was set up by John and Nancy Hultquist. Was that you? If so, I’d like to ask a few questions. I’m in Boise and my e-mail is tokens@gmail.com Thanks!
See tomorrow for more on this story.
Tonight we had a visit from our pole barn resident deer that have made their home there. Our front gate was left open and they came in to nibble on the base of the Mountain Ash tree’s foliage.
Monday, Aug 3
For Aug 2 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 52 min with AHI=1.36 Events: 6 H, 1 OA & 1 CA. No major mask leaks (max=15 L/min); oximeter on 6 hrs, 6 min, AHI=1.31
John was very sick last night, but maybe we have a handle on it. Need to keep him hydrated, get some food in him, and get his energy level back up. We do not know what germ or bad food we had. It hit him harder than me. He is sticking with soft food and no fiber.
The interesting contact from our past last night sent an an email this morning with pictures.
A fellow from Boise, ID found my name on Facebook and asked if he had the right persons who used to own a business in Troy, ID called Computer Junction. Yep, that was us. He is a token collector and obtained it from and old resident of Troy.
I have worked on compiling information for our friends on rental connections here in town. I used a Facebook site named Community Connect, Kittitas County. People responded with known rentals or people who would be good contacts. The couple returns next Wednesday to check on several I found.
I dealt with the medical supply place in Yakima that provides my CPAP supplies and they will send my 3-month supply of filters, mask, & tubing. Now getting ready to get off the computer and hit some of the stacks of boxes in the den. It is such a very slow process, but I need to speed it up to get ready and make room for the installation of our new wood stove.
Oh, I just arranged to pick up more fresh nectarines free from the gal in town, tomorrow. I plan to take them to the potluck going away for the teens from Minsk, Belarus (remember Chernobyl ?) who have been visiting Ellensburg for 5 weeks (health, education, and social functions).
Tuesday, Aug 4
For Aug 3 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 22 min with AHI=0.31 Events: 2 H. No major mask leaks (max=8 L/min); oximeter on, 6 hrs, 39 min, AHI=.30
I worked on all sorts of things before leaving for town at 12:45. First, by 3rd street alley to pick up a large bag of nectarines and cherries and to leave yellow straight neck summer squash. From there to the lab at the hospital required for my INR reading because of taking Coumadin. My reading I learned late afternoon was 2.3. From there on to Seattle Ave, conveniently across from the hospital to pick up my 36-cup coffee brewer and 2 containers for coffee. Those two belonged to my rural neighbor a couple miles away. We had loaned them to a gal for her mom’s 70th birthday party. I dropped off the two on my way home. After getting them, I went to the AAC for Jazzercise. It is the first meeting of the month, so our $2 fee was due and we changed exercises to a new set. I was a little tired but managed to get through the 50 minutes. I left squash at all my stops today – seems to be a good year for them. Two other stops on the way home happened, both in the same neighborhood NE of Ellensburg. I had picked up some old oval picture frames from the free table at the AAC and gave them (with squash) to a family north of the university. Once home, I cleaned up today’s nectarines, and fixed about 27 to take to the party in a big “Northwest” fruit box. They were very much appreciated, and many people took some home. Quite a few were left because of the abundance of food, but all were distributed before I drove home.
I carried along a large package of big heavy-duty paper plates, and there were a bunch left, but the tables were cleaned off before I got ready to leave, and they were no longer in sight. I have to retrieve them for our party box.
As I left the party the western sky was putting on a show – changing fast. I cursed myself for not having a camera along. John, while feeding horses, noticed the clouds and ran (Ha !) to the house and got back out in time to catch the rapidly changing view. He stitched 2 of the stills into a panorama using Windows Live Photo Gallery. Behold:
Wednesday, Aug 5
For Aug 4 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 15 min with AHI=0.19 Events: 1 H, 1 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=12 L/min); oximeter on, 5 hrs, 28 min, AHI=.18
Worked on several projects this morning, including helping John pick squash and tomatoes. Left at 11:00 to go to the Food Bank. I dropped off squash for several more people today.
Unfortunately, I missed connections with a BN person, so postponed until next Tuesday morning to give her a special treat for her 8 year old daughter’s August 27 birthday. She will put the plastic snowman on the left into the frosting of her special cake. I’ll have to wait to hear what she does with the little stocking. It’s only as large as the stretch of my hand. The little girl requested a Frosty the Snowman party.
On my way home, I succeeded in delivering two old picture frames to a gal along with some squash for her family. It was a challenge because the address of the apartment complex was not visible on a sign along 18th street. Luckily, I had looked it up on Google Earth and knew the approximate location, and I had the apartment #.
Late afternoon, I was sought as a participant in a group survey of my experiences with the Kittitas Valley Hospital. It will occur next Thursday. That will be interesting. I decided to join the 1.5 hr discussion. Supposedly, I will receive a small monetary compensation for my time and they will have refreshments to keep us hydrated.
John convinced me to go stand in front of one of our blue spruce trees to model a shirt and hat available through WTA. Funny, I had worn another lighter blue one today, he obtained on the celebration of 20 years of WTA trail work (2013). This one is less busy artistically. The WTA logo has a mountain background with trees and the white broad swirl for a trail. This one has the motto “WTA Volunteers to the Rescue.”
Thursday, Aug 6
For Aug 5 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 28 min with AHI=0.31 Events: 1 H, 2 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=9 L/min); oximeter on 6 hrs, 50 min, AHI=.29
Today was the last day we will be playing music at Royal Vista Nursing Home. The company is closing this facility after 65 years. The building is out of date and unfit-for-purpose. Clients are being moved to another EBRG facility or elsewhere. Some people are upset but we wonder if they live in houses that are over 65 years old? We don’t. Rooms at Royal Vista are small, do not have toilets, and therefore, it was a trip down the hall to a shared bathroom.
Back to this Thursday. We had 7 players there, and a cheering couple from Cle Elum, visiting her sister, and singing along. They had a couple of requests. We were able to play Blue Skirt Waltz for the lady, and I asked her husband for his favorite. He said he loved them all, especially church hymns because he grew up hearing his mother play them on an organ in church. So I asked her sister (the resident – there for her memory problems), her favorite old song. She said she couldn’t remember. The husband said, well, she’d probably like, The Old Rugged Cross. Gerald started playing it, Charlie joined in, and I played and sang the lyrics. When we got to the chorus, the older sister started singing along and sang every word. That put her younger sister in tears. She came up to me afterwards and thanked me and said how amazed she was. I told her we see that often, and I was not surprised. That’s one of the rewarding parts of taking music to the old folks in assisted living homes.
I was supposed to loan my Hawaiian shirt to a family for their son to go to Youth Life camp, but we didn’t make connections. I think I will take a nap and then maybe the phone will ring. I slept for almost 2 hours and got a message that she had to pick up her son, and thought she would be too late. Meanwhile her father found a shirt made by her mother 45 yrs ago, it fits the son fine, and he won’t need to borrow mine.
I got very hot playing there today, and the trip was hot as well. I came home to an icy treat by John, with Strawberry soda and pineapple /orange / raspberry sherbet.
We had a late dinner, including some of our own garden potatoes, volunteered from last year and some yellow squash. John is much, much better, and eating and working again, or partly. We managed to print a picture of our 89 yr old neighbor on a Harley with her physical therapist for her son to frame and take to her tomorrow. She’s in the hospital in Yakima to have a pacemaker implanted.
Friday, Aug 7
For Aug 6 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 7 min with AHI=0.98 Events: 6 H, 3 CSR, 1 OA. No major mask leaks (max=21 L/min); oximeter on whole time.
John’s young helper did not show this morning, so he unloaded the rocks he loaded from the front of the driveway yesterday. Then he loaded 15 gallons of sand from the round pen and spread by our front gate so it’s easier to walk-about there to open the gate. I’m happy for the better footing for that chore, when we leave or come back home. He’s fixed a great omelet-like concoction for brunch, with eggs, cheese, red pepper, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and chopped roast beef. I put some fresh salsa on mine. We had a piece of toast and red grapes with it. Nice. Now he’s napping and I’m delving into a mess of papers.
We had an interesting dinner of salmon (Icicle Creek), with dried plums from our tree, asparagus pieces (also ours), and pineapple (Thailand). John doesn’t like for me to put in meal pictures, but this is worth showing. Not much asparagus is on my plate because it is high in Vitamin K, and these were frozen stem pieces he had intended for a stew.
While his dinner was cooking the last minutes, he looked at his computer and Windows 10 was ready to download. He’s doing it now. It installed without need of input from him in less than ½ hour. The next steps took about 20 minutes. I thought that amazing, having heard from others about their experience. He claims the newer system he has is the reason, and that I won’t likely be as happy. He wanted to stop but at first couldn’t find the correct button. Finally, he found “sleep, shut down, & restart, under POWER, a strange place, maybe. MS has had “shut down” under a START button for many years. I imagine the company had many complaints about that all those years with Windows 7 & XP, and decided to make it Power for power on & power off (my interpretation). I haven’t installed it yet on my machine. I want to see how his goes and then can learn from him, as I have about the power button. And I also have to learn about the panorama thing. He used the recent cloud photo for the “wall paper” and that looks nice. Says he has some more customizing to do. We do not have touch screens so some of Windows 10 is not going to work, any time soon, for us.
Saturday, Aug 8
For Aug 7 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 23 min with AHI=1.76 Events: 13 H, 1 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=21 L/min); oximeter on the entire time.
This morning John picked more squash, watered them, and the plum trees, and we will have many small tomatoes to pick tomorrow.
Do you remember when you first had a refrigerator. John thinks his family got their first Philco refrigerator that made ice and had a freezer before 1950. Below is a web photo that resembles what he remembers (a 1950s model). About 35 years earlier the first home refrigerators came with the coils visible (top, mostly) – gone by the time he was old enough to remember things. They did have an actual “ice box” – unless Peggy and Ethel tell him otherwise. In that case, he’ll retract the “did” part.
John’s folks painted the kitchen (when ?) and the Philco became lime-green or some such. How many folks do you know that painted their refrigerator? Nancy here: I don’t recall the year we got ours, but I remember it was a Norge, and sat outside the kitchen in an enclosed back porch entry of the small 5 room house.
Here some info: Coils on top refrigerator
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan