. . . we are back getting things done again
Sunday, Sept 13
For Sept 12 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 38 min with AHI=0.30 Events: 2 H. No major mask leaks (max=5 L/min); no oximeter.
I used most of the day to get the blog ready for John to fine-tune.
Only in the early morning was it very windy (45 mph gusts). Then when we finally got around to posting it on WordPress, the server was down, and still is at 9:00 p.m. tonight. The server is in Wenatchee, and while I have a cell phone for the owner, we first thought they were doing maintenance, as has happened in the past. Therefore, we didn’t call until Monday morning.
Monday, Sept 14
For Sept 13 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 24 min with AHI=1.35 Events: 9 H,1 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=18 L/min); no oximeter.
Needed to go in to the foot doctor for toenail trims (paid for by us and tax-payers via Medicare), and while there I learned the results of my culture. I have trichophyton rubrum on my nails of my right foot. What a nice thought. We have previously been doing laser treatments for a different fungus for over 2 years, and will begin again, because while the better cure supposedly is an internal medication, I am not willing because it can affect my liver. I already am on several meds that are a potential threat to that organ.
While we were in town, we went by to check on kitty’s water and other stuff at the home of the folks traveling back east. This is in the south part of EBRG – along with most other places we visit. The older part of town is about a mile north and in between is a residential area with houses of the 1940s to 1970s variety. Then there are land uses requiring more space – hospital complex, large grocery, small department store, and a new fire station (under construction on a site once used for hay storage and a scales for weighing hay trucks). Very recent housing and retirement complexes have been spreading southeast from this. The house with the kitty (Anne’s place) is in a single-family [lease the land – own the house] community area called Rosewood. Here are the Google Earth coordinates for the community center (the locked mailboxes for the whole community are on the NE side of that building, as you will see pictured below):
46.982299, -120.533150
The west part is mostly filled in. On the east there are many lots but for the past 6 or 7 years most housing construction in the EBRG area has stalled. This year building permits have increased significantly and there is a new house or two going up in Rosewood.
Here is another area, NW of town: 47.024493, -120.569513
This parcel was purchased by a major builder about 10 years ago. The area was fenced and ditches for sewer, water, and grading was started. Then it sat that way until this year. Work has started again, as has controversy from people nearby that apparently missed the previous activity.
Okay, enough about urban geography.
Came home for lunch, finished the blog, and got it published by 1:30 pm.
Tuesday, Sept 15
For Sept 14 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 5 min with AHI=1.18 Events: 6 H, 1 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=7 L/min); no oximeter
I put a crop of one of the pictures from White Heron on 9/11/15 on Facebook and have gotten a ton of messages from friends around the world. As of now, I have received two from Chile and one from France. Here is the photo you saw zoomed out version of in last week’s blog, so this actually looks like a different picture.
Nancy & John at the Chef’s Extravaganza, 9/11, with the Mariposa Vineyard behind us and the Columbia River beyond that. That’s the vineyard John volunteers 3 hours/day each spring for 3-4 days/ week, pruning wine grapevines.
I left to make it to the CWU BBQ for starting the new year for staff and faculty members. I got there early behind the building I had my office in for over a decade. Parked and realized my parking permit expired 6-30-15. I moved my car to a regular spot and took the sticker into the human resources dept. They set me up with new ones for two cars for a year.
On in the same building to donate a Macintosh power cord to the computer folks for a laptop I no longer have. Then, I walked over to the location of the BBQ. I found a table in the shade with a bunch of custodians from various buildings on campus including the one I last was housed in (Dean Hall), almost 6 years ago. Had a nice lunch with a fun bunch of people. We were very happy to have arrived at the start, because as we sat and ate, the line got longer and longer until it was out of sight. The food served was grilled hamburgers, long hotdogs, veggies with dip, and soft drinks. Dessert was a sundae with two choices of ice cream and about 6 different toppings such as Butterfingers & Reese’s peanut butter cup pieces, with the normal caramel and chocolate syrup toppings. The ice cream was served, but we could add any toppings we desired. We all thought that was the best part of the meal.
From there I drove several blocks south to drop off an $8 payment for a 50# bag of onions being delivered from the Columbia Basin, provided through a local church. Then on to get gasoline because my Subaru was in great need–$2.58 /gallons for a little over 10 gallons. Now at the end of the week, the price is down more than 20 cents off what I paid, and we are still higher than most of the nation, except for California. [John went through Leavenworth on Sat., and it was $2.99.] On by the Palace Restaurant to leave a thank you card with the postcard I received (not until 9/13) for my free birthday dinner that I already collected on 9/1. It has to be used in the birthday month.
Then on by another friend’s to leave the last of the yellow straight-neck squash on her front porch. Her cat met me and was very vocal asking to be let in, but the door was locked, and I couldn’t help her. Found out later she was only out for an hour.
Then I drove about 5 miles out to the west end of town to pick up a single mattress, freely given to a family across town who had no means of transportation. It barely fit in the back of my Subaru, but John had taken out the “Cargo Cover” and that helped. While on the same side of town, I stopped by another house to deliver some of our tomatoes and pick up two plastic containers with tops, being given to me. Thank goodness the containers were small.
From there I went to the AAC for Jazzercise class. I called and talked to a friend from there who was in Yakima Memorial for having a pacemaker installed this morning. He was doing much better. We have the same surgeon. Then, inside to share that news with the folks there, because he is on the board of directors for the “senior” center. Only two of us were there today with our teacher. We had a hard workout and I am still hurting from it. I left there and drove by to give the mattress to its new owner – their youngest child, a little girl. She now will have her first very own bed. From there, I went by another friend in the same neighborhood to leave two containers of tomatoes on her front porch. It is in the shade all day, so it is a good drop-off spot.
On home to rest an hour before turning around and going back to town. I arrived at Rehab at 6:00 to visit with a married couple living there who were moved into the same room (first time in 8 years), from Royal Vista (the facility that closed its doors 9/17). While there, the rest of our group came in. We had the largest turnout of residents I have ever seen at that facility.
I arrived home to chili John fixed for dinner. Now he is on no-food intake for a fasting blood draw tomorrow morning.
Wednesday, Sept 16
For Sept 15 CPAP. Reported figures. 7 hrs 30 min with AHI=0.93 Events: 7H, 3 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=13 L/min); no oximeter
Normal busy mid-week action, starting at the Food Bank’s Noon meal. We had a big group with a mandolin, fiddle, banjo, ukulele, guitar, harmonica, and two singers. We met a new person who arrived in town from near Kooskia, ID, where he lost several buildings on his property in the recent fires. He loves geology, so we spent a lot of time introducing him to our local geology and the players in the area, including getting him on the local geology list serve for events in the community. A field trip to Blewett Pass is coming up the last Sunday of the month, and John and I will participate. Also, the community is invited free to attend the fall course at CWU, Geology of Washington, presented by Nick Zentner.
After that, I drove to the senior center for SAIL exercise class, after which I went to my friend’s home to do the “kitty run” again (watering her plants, checking food, water & litter for the cat, and picking up mail). These places have central mail delivery, near the community center.
Those of a certain age can remember when mail was brought to a container by your front door, or to a slot in your door, as I used to deliver the money mentioned yesterday for the onions. An example:
Thursday, Sept 17
For Sept 16 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 27 min with AHI=3.1 Events: 20 H, 4 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=17 L/min); no oximeter
I worked on Oklahoma Hills (added verses) and Shenandoah (chord changes) and printed music for those who didn’t have it.
John made a large pancake filled with many blueberries and pecans, served with crisp bacon. He had raspberries on his; I usually pass because I don’t like the seeds. I drove myself in for music at Dry Creek / Brookdale. We had a nice turnout of audience and players. We stayed and visited among ourselves and with some of the residents who wanted to share stories and information. On my way home was also another mail & house stop.
This evening we both went back to town for the first meeting of this year of the Kittitas Audubon Society. We enjoyed an excellent presentation on the I-90 corridor development across Snoqualmie Pass. It has been going on for a decade and several of my students have been involved in the research for wildlife connections in the corridor. The presentation covered the research on wild-land communities, on blasting the rocks away that threaten the highway, on constructing walkover bridges and underneath tunnels for movement of deer, elk, amphibians, and small mammals, in addition to raised highway sections to avoid the snow avalanches that threaten the highway. The bridge-like sections are aligned with the known snow chutes and snow will go into the lake, rather than on to the roadway. I-90 is built along Keechelus (pronounced “catcha luss”) Lake. Snoqualmie Pass and the Lake are landscape features carved by a glacier that formed just NW of the Pass and moved in a southeast direction.
Let me explain my collage of Keechelus Lake. I-90 skirts the eastern edge on its way over the lowest pass through the Cascades (the road surface is less than 3,000′). The area is a recreational destination and lake water and snow-melt is used for irrigation purposes in the Kittitas and Yakima Valleys, via the Yakima River (that originates here). Note the dam in the lower right of the imagery on the left and the middle bottom shows the draw down toward the end of the season. It is an often-seen sight adjacent to eastbound I-90, and people from outside the area probably wonder about the scene of all the dead trees on the bottom of the lake revealed by lowering the lake level.
The work on I-90 is shown in the photos here {about 1 photo per 4 seconds}:
Lots of big machines, explosives, and rock.
Friday, Sept 18
For Sept 17 CPAP. Reported figures. 6 hrs 24 min with AHI=0.62 Events: 4 H, 1 CSR. No major mask leaks (max=12 L/min); no oximeter
Today is John’s brother, Dick’s, 82nd birthday. He and his wife live in San Jose’, CA in a condominium ‘village.’ It’s nice for them to be secure and not have to take care of the upkeep on a house and grounds. We had a nice visit and tomorrow their sons and families are taking him to a Basque restaurant. When we traveled to CA we timed the trips to reach Alturas (just south of the OR border on US 395), for a family style dinner at the Brass Rail. Those that want elegance may want to go elsewhere, but we traveled with dogs and horses and were looking for good food and lots of it.
I forgot to go for my monthly INR blood draw earlier this month, because the expected month away date did not get written on the wall calendar, so today I went with John to town and to have it done. When we got home, I had a message to call the doctor’s nurse about my INR. It was down to a 1.7, low for me. She asked if I had changed my diet or medications. I am good about not eating leafy green veggies (high in Vitamin K) which lowers it. I have not been on any antibiotics to affect it. I did miss one pill a couple nights ago, but I did not think it would make that much difference and I did not want to double up when I realized it. She said it could have affected it, but she would have done the same thing. So, I will have it checked again in a week, to see if it has returned to normal. I have to be in town next Friday anyway for our first of the season Scholarship Luncheon at CWU and for SAIL exercise after.
The main reason for going to town today was to fill John’s Subaru with gasoline, and also to get something for him to take on the trail for lunch. When we stopped at the grocery for that, I also get my meds. Cheapest of all my meds, 3-month supply for $2.75 !!! His lunch tomorrow turned out to be leftover BBQ pork shoulder, red grapes, chips, cashews, and M&M peanuts. Nice hearty meal.
On our way to take care of the cat, we stopped at a yard sale at one of the places I play music (a retirement community where they have their own apartments). We walked through several places but only bought two little leather zipped cases that I can use for change or for wires that connected to my camera. The lady wanted a nickel for each and I gave her a quarter for both.
The neatest thing that happened was we parked on the shady side of a garage. I walked in and said, are you selling things out of here? She laughed and said, “No, I’m helping organize my parents moving in from a house.” I asked where they were moving from. She said, locally, they’re moving from their house on Thomas Road. I laughed and said, who is it? We live .5 mile north of Thomas Road. She said the name and I said, “Oh, he is our neighbor we share water with. On our way to town, I was just talking with John about them probably moving to Arizona. They go down every winter, but we thought they might relocate there. The woman we were talking with was their daughter, and she has talked with John on the road while moving cattle and talked with me on the phone, and via email, but we had never officially met in person, until today. How funny and again, what a small world. We have to meet the new owner as she will need to know about the irrigation water sharing (John & I and 3 others south/downstream of us).
Tonight, I filled out my medications report to take to the doctor Monday for our annual physicals. I will attach it to the 3-page form on my medical history I have to work on tomorrow.
Saturday, Sept 19
For Sept 18 CPAP. Reported figures. 5 hrs 26 min with AHI=0.18 Events: 1 H. No major mask leaks (max=15 L/min); no oximeter
John got up at 4:15 a.m. to get out of here early for work on the Blanca Lake trail accessible by Stevens Pass, then north of Skykomish. Up valley from the lake is a small glacier and NW of that Google Earth will show Monte Cristo as a town site, now abandoned but once a thriving mining area. He pulled out the driveway at 4:55 a.m. allowing for a pit stop at the top of the Pass where the Pacific Crest Trail crosses and the Forest Services keeps the “facilities” open. The hike to the lake is a lot of up and down for about 4 miles, but luckily for John the work will be only about a mile in and up. I wish he would get to see it because it is a lovely azure blue from the glacial “flour” source. Note, if you open Google Earth and search for these location coordinates, 47.942042, -121.343999, you can get the view I did below in the collage and see the glacier feeding the lake from the north. Notice also the other lakes in the area are dark, not the light blue turquoise color.
This collage above starts at the top left with a locator map I created on Google Earth, with the coordinates John gave me as he was leaving this morning. Then I turned on photos on Google Earth and picked up the rest of the photos above. The middle top photo shows the lake at the end of the trail, but it is ~3 miles from where today’s WTA crew ended their work.
This photo below is of an interesting piece of trail work and rock moving today that John and 3 others worked on.
Crew Leader Evonne took this photo and John wrote the following back to her:
The photo of the two guys with “feet on rock” is a fantastic job. It seems the rock is about twice the volume of its actual size. And you got the feet just about perfect. Great stuff.
[John adds: The 2 guys are actually about 4 to 6 feet behind the rock and balancing each with one foot in the air while Evonne was telling them to raise or lower each foot so it would appear to be on the top of the rock. The rock came from the dark area to the left.]
We teamed up on getting the rock out of its nested spot along the side of the trail. After they got it uncovered, I dug under it (just to be sure I could) and then got a tree trunk about 4″ across and 12 feet long. With that, we pried the rock up and got a shovel and a grub hoe (holding and pulling) while continuing with the long lever. Once the rock was standing upright, the 2 guys were able to flip it up onto the re-veg site, twist it 90 degrees and place it with the weathered side up. If the rock were really as big as it appears in the photo I doubt we would have even started on it.
In fact, before we started on that section of trail, we did a “WTA” – We Talk Alot – finally agreeing we could accomplish what we wanted to do. At first they had some difficulty visualizing what I thought it should look like, but they quickly caught on and the project zipped along. I can’t remember the young lady’s name but she honchoed the vegetation part – doing a lot of the work, with the rest of us helping some.
So, I don’t know whose idea that photo was but it turned out great. Nice finish to a good project.
Nancy – early morning, again:
I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I fed the oldest dog (the next in line wasn’t hungry yet), loaded dishes, took some photos of books we are giving away, grabbed those photos for the collage above from Google Earth. I started going through the stacks around my recliner created from the collection of bills, receipts, needing filed, on my way to locating our medical records request –3 pages sent in advance a month ago– to fill out to take to our doctor Monday for our annual physicals. It was before dawn when I began, and I happened to be in the kitchen fixing a cup of coffee, when I saw lovely colored clouds viewed from our front yard, looking east before the sun rose over the hills. I grabbed my camera and took a few photos, some of which I made into another collage for your enjoyment.
This scene only lasted a few minutes. Soon the sun crested the hills east of us and all this changed rapidly.
I made a good brunch today for myself, after missing breakfast except for coffee. It was a large bowl of oatmeal, with pecans, peaches, almond milk, and brown sugar. Then I had a dessert of a half a doughnut and a half an apple fritter, leftover from yesterday’s breakfast.
After lunch, I spent almost an hour filling out 3 pages of forms on medical history for each of us for Monday’s annual physicals. I was only given 2 lines for medications, dosage, and frequency, so I just wrote, SEE ATTACHED PRINTOUT, and attached a full page of morning and evening meds information. I have it updated for every doctor’s visit. I had printed that out last night, so I just attached it to the filled in form.
It was relatively quiet on the home front with just one phone call today, but a bunch of emails, and more Facebook activity than I had time to do. Also, we received an announcement for a couple friends’ 68th anniversary. I had to pause what I was doing and design a card to send them. It didn’t take long.
John stopped at the pass on the way home, but couldn’t locate his phone, so he wasn’t able to call me. Later he found it in the used lunch sack at the bottom of his backpack. Such is his disorganized life. (last sentence added by John)
Finally, here is more activity on our place. Below are two collages I will explain about the entrance to our home.
This is a new paint job John surprised me with this week on our large mailbox. He changed it from a lighter baby blue to this brilliant blue. It is a complement to our chosen blue roof color of our pole barn in the distance. The close-up on the right is to show the red flag addition.
This final collage shows the main driveway to our home and the yellow tree at the end is a Black Walnut tree in fall colors. The green trees are Ponderosa pine, spruce, and cherry trees. Earlier this week but at a later hour, the right photo was taken nearer to the house. The right edge of the driveway is native vegetation, Rabbitbrush. There is quite a lot of this around (some seen behind the mailbox) and now, with not much else blooming, there are bees gathering pollen. There is a bee keeper on Naneum Fan although we do not know him nor whether or not these are domestic or wild ones.
Rabbit Brush & Bees
In the above page is a non-working link though the text is there, but if you want to see the source, you can go to:
This one, and scroll down.
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan