Monday, Nov 16
For Nov 15 CPAP. Reported figures. 8 hrs 24 min with AHI=1.67 Events: 14 H, 3 CSR. 25 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=13 L/min); no oximeter.
Morning arrangements with Scholarship Luncheon group planning for this Friday’s attendance. I am one of the hosts with Mary Aho. She is making Angus Beef Stew, and we are bringing Honeycrisp apples and two Pecan Pies from John’s mom’s recipe. He is expected every year to contribute them as he has done since 1988. Currently, we have 11 coming, and there are still several more who have not responded. Fifteen were invited. We may have to bring in more chairs. Two others are unable to be there.
I’ve done a bunch in the house, and John has done a lot more outside. We both have been busy all day.
Here is our resident deer in the garden.
Tuesday, Nov 17
For Nov 16 CPAP Reported figures. 5 hrs 39 min with AHI=0.06 Events: 5 H, 1 CSR, 1 OA & PP, 16 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=8 L/min); no oximeter.
Up early for TRANE heat pump maintenance fellow Nick Jensen to arrive between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m.— came 9:15. We started a contract, $400/year for 2 times. We will have him come after the temps reach 60 degrees, next June. That’s because the tune-up can be done more precisely if the air conditioning unit can be run hard. Will continue in June with this.
I made it to Jazzercise today, with my new fancy red Jazzercise tee shirt, given to me by one of our group. (She won it in her past but it is too large for her, so she gave away 4 of her awards). I think mine is the prettiest. Four of us were there for our teacher to lead and guide us through the movements (much like dancing, but as it progresses, we raise our heart beats from the increased exercises).
Returned my too-large new mask to Kittitas Medical Supply. In the evening I went to the Rehab assisted living place, getting there early to meet a Buy Nothing EBRG (BNE) person to give a bag of winter clothes. I went in and visited with three residents before we set up to play. That play date is for The Connections, a religious group that leads the audience in church anthems and some other uplifting music (such as He’s Got the Whole World in his Hands.)
Wednesday, Nov 18
For Nov 17 CPAP Reported figures. 6 hrs 41 min with AHI=2.09 Events: 14 H, 2 CSR, 24 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=13 L/min); no oximeter.
Picked up a freely given quilted vest from Heather and gave her a big box of Honeycrisp apples. Grabbed some Rosemary Olive Oil bread from the bread room and some cornbread and bran muffins for my neighbor. We are encouraged to take from the bread room, because they get so much, and it doesn’t keep long. They also have a lot of bread in the regular food distribution area. Subway sandwich shops in town (two) have started donating rolls to the Food Bank. I didn’t get any because I don’t like taking open bags, but that is an interesting community contribution. Most of the bakery goods come from the local grocery stores. Donations from Starbucks of pastries and cookies are brought in daily for morning coffee at the food bank for those interested. There are many things available for free in the county – one just has to know about them. Ten years ago if someone asked me about how to get help I did not have a clue. Now I can say, go here, or go there. And I do. Since 9/1 this year, I have contacts for 4 organizations in town to provide free clothing to families. EBRG also has every night of the week covered for homeless people to go for a warm sleep in a different church.
We played Christmas music at the Food Bank during lunch. We had our old standbys, and were joined by another community lady who actually lives in Thorp, but loves to sing. We had 3 singers, and 3 instrumentalists singing winter / season’s greetings songs. Pretty cool. The audience entered on many of them—such as Rudolph, Jingle Bells, Silver Bells, Blue Christmas, and Winter Wonderland. We are served food after we play. Today’s food was chicken Alfredo plus Chicken Parmesan, salad, and dessert. I never know how much salt I get there and only recognize the garlic hours later.
I went to SAIL exercise class at the Senior Center, and we had a good turnout there, as well as a good workout.
Went by Rite Aid and bought some Vitamin D3 and Magnesium at a good price. The best price for Vitamin D3 is probably at Costco, for 2000 mg, but this was a pretty good deal for 1000mg (~1.5 cent/gel capsule). I have to take a lot (5000 mg / day), so saving money is a good thing. The deal was a buy one bottle, get one free, but they were out of most I needed. I’m to go back later (rest of the story below).
Thursday, Nov 19
For Nov 18 CPAP Reported figures. 6 hrs 4 min with AHI=0.66 Events: 4 H, 1 CSR, 10 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=19 L/min); no oximeter.
John visited the doctor (actually a physician assistant) in Cle Elum because of the gut pains and noise he has had the past couple of days. He called me on his way home. Likely, it’s a hernia issue just to the left of his belly-button; cause unknown. He will try eating more fiber, less ice cream/hot chocolate, and maybe try Metamucil in the future? I have DOK (Sodium Docusate) 200 mg on hand, so he might as well start with that. He decided to consider 100 mg until we can get to Costco again, where meds are much cheaper. We eat a lot of fiber with apples, strawberries, raspberries, carrots, potatoes, beans, and legumes.
We played music at Dry Creek today (now named Brookdale), and had 10 people participating. We started our December music today. Realized I had two songs not repaired for a key change from last year. The new folks had them in the wrong key. I have corrected that now.
We’ve been eating apple pie (and need to fix more filling – a few apples have been thrown out, but all now are in refrigerators). John and I made two pecan pies tonight. He did most of the work. Earlier today, I spent a good amount of time sorting good apples and then washing them thoroughly, and packing them and the other stuff I had to take for the table. I also made 8 liters (4 bottles) of Crystal Light Lemonade (Yellow and Pink). I probably could have gotten by with only two. At one point, we thought we might have 15 people. We had plates and real (metal) tableware for all. Mary brought bowls for her stew, cups for my lemonade, and napkins. I took large Chinet plates and smaller dessert plates. I missed getting a photo of the entire group and the table. But, I did capture 3 photos of some of the activity, seen in the collage and story on Friday’s entry.
Friday, Nov 20
For Nov 19 CPAP Reported figures. 6 hrs 5 min with AHI=0.99 Events: 6H, 17 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=10 L/min); no oximeter.
Early this morning I walked out front to the cable table to feed Woody, the feral female you have seen before. She’s there every morning, about 7:30 a.m. The others go to the back of the house to the cats’ mow. And, Rascal is the only one coming into the house to eat and sleep (uses the doggie door).
As I walked out, I saw an ice crystal that had pushed up from the frozen water fallen off our roof into a plastic bowl. I went back for my camera, and took a photo. It was on the ground, shaded by the big stump you have seen Woody sitting on in a former blog. I picked up the bowl and put it on top of the stump so it received the sunlight. The picture on the right is the results. I think that view resembles a Madonna. Isn’t that a cool picture in more than one way?
Some call these Ice Spikes. John has a comment there. Ignore the Doug.C comments – he is on a different planet.
Today is our noon Ruth Harrington scholarship luncheon with Mary Aho as co-hostess with me.
This is the centerpiece of our table. This is a luncheon normally held on the 4th Friday of the month, but we had to jump back a week because of Thanksgiving. A dozen people attended. John helped me carry all the stuff into the building where I had an office from 1997 to 2008. He helped me cut the largest Honeycrisp apples for two plates that served as our salad to go with beef stew made by Mary. The other apples went home whole with each person. Members contribute $5.00/meal at the beginning of the year and only have to fix one table for everyone. The $50.00 donation goes to the Ruth Harrington Scholarship Fund for needy CWU students. Cost (contribution for student scholarships) has doubled since I started.
I didn’t get in any of the pictures, and missed getting one of the whole group at the table when everyone arrived, but below is a collage of a few there, early.
Left-most – 4 of the first 5 to arrive (middle is the 5th). The beef stew was made by orange-sweatered, Mary. Left: Allyson, Mary, Vicki, Kristina; Middle: Estelle serving stew and Mary peeking around her; Right: Ruth (the originator of this program way back in the last century) is in the winter-themed sweater. I joined in 1988, and it was well underway before that. Blue sweater is Peggy, whose office offered the conference room for our lunch.
Saturday, Nov 21
For Nov 20 CPAP Reported figures. 8 hrs 27 min with AHI=1.30 Events: 11 H, 1 CSR,18 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=20 L/min); no oximeter.
On my way to town for music, I left early to get to the post office. They have one window open from 11:30 to 1:30 to pick up a registered mail. Here is what I got:
The package came from Germany via the Deutsche Post. On the form about having to pick it up, our carrier wrote what appeared to be “Dutch.” Who’s that? Ronald Reagan was called Dutch – likely not from him. Well, John ordered it through Amazon.com and didn’t realize it would be coming registered, requiring a signature upon receipt. It is moisture meter to determine when wood is within the proper moisture content (is it dry enough, or too dry) for use in a fancy wood stove. Stihl is the maker (in Virginia Beach, VA) of our chainsaw.
From the post office I went by Rite Aid for some more Vitamin D and Magnesium for me, but the supply had not been replenished. [Walgreen’s appears about to buy Rite Aid.] They offered me a buy one-get one free offer on another brand, Nature Made, but I calculated the price and it was not worth the added price. The sale is on until the end of the month, and they are going to “hard order” some for me. I’ll check next week. I just realized she said to check next Thursday, but that’s Thanksgiving, so I expect I will wait a day at least.
I made one more stop for John for Dulcolax (stool softener, not laxative), and bought a box of 25 tablets, 100 mg each. He found a special deal from the company to pay up to $10 for the purchase (minus tax). I found it for $6.29 on sale at Bi-Mart. It was over $9.00 at Rite Aid. He’s got all the paraphernalia set for me to put in an envelope to mail in for our rebate (that comes in the form of a VISA gift certificate). Generic copies are 90% cheaper.
We had a great turnout of players and audience at Briarwood this afternoon (9 musicians, and at least 20 in the audience). They fed us a nice bean soup, sandwiches, and desserts afterwards. I ate light because of the salty soup, and because I knew John would have dinner for us tonight.
Sunday, Nov 22
For Nov 20 CPAP Reported figures. 5 hrs 47 min with AHI=1.90 Events: 11 H, 2 CSR, 13 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=19 L/min); no oximeter.
It’s sunny and John is out cobbling gates and fence so the horses can have 24/7 access to the heated water trough. The airport had 19° F. last night. It is warmer for about 3 days and next Wednesday it will get colder – so they say. He’s moved to the back of the house and is adding temporary siding around the new door. He has one more board to add but stopped to feed the horses and cats – the Sun had gone behind the Cascade Range with a deep orange, “Goodbye.”
I skipped around between physical tasks (dishes and laundry) and computer and phone stuff. We thawed and are cooking lasagna. We still have a piece of Pecan pie, too.
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan