Monday, Oct 17
For Oct 16 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.86. Events: 0 CSR, 7 H, 16 PP, 2 RERA. Time on 8 hrs 3 min with (max= 12 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 several blips to low 84, with avg. 90.1%.
Yesterday, we posted our weekly blog.
Today, I am staying home to try getting well.
I canceled going to the Rehab tomorrow night for music.
Today John was outside digging holes, moving rocks, hay, and short sections of recently cut Poplars. Frequent job changes help to not overuse a single muscle group – or he has a short attention span. He came in for lunch and to respond to a few emails.
I spent the day resting, but also scanning a copy of an exercise book so I can return it tomorrow. I also washed dishes and worked on bills, email, and scheduling.
We received a medication compound preparation via FedEx from Trinity, TX early morning. Late afternoon in the mail, our new horse water tank heater and stainless steel cleaning pads arrived via USPS. The box was too large for the mailbox, so the carrier drove it in. Glad we were home and John was outside.
I worked on reviewing the thesis.
I’m sorry to report I’m not feeling well tonight.
But, there was a beautiful sunset to cheer me up, visible out our back patio door.
When the leaves are all gone and the sky is clear the top of Mt Rainier can be seen in the low-center of that view. Mornings work best because the Sun is to the East and shining on the snow covered top.
Tuesday, Oct 18
For Oct 17 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.17. Events: 0 CSR, 1 H, 1 PP, 1 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 1 min with (max= 8 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 one blip to low 86, with avg. 90.2%
Staying home today to recuperate. I was certainly not wishing to go to Jazzercise, and the other person likely to be there was also sickly feeling. Katrina was happy to have us keep our germs away from sharing. A couple of people there at the Senior Center on Tuesdays have comprised immune systems, so it is a good idea to stay away. I have been busy with all sorts of things inside.
I received an email from my friend Elise in NJ and followed it to a big surprise about two characters we knew in our past from Troy, Idaho. We left that house in 1989.
I know bones in the Smithsonian
This morning, I commented on line to the article. Here is the content of my message:
My husband and I knew Grover and his Irish Wolfhound well. We lived in Troy, ID from 1974-1989 and ran a Dog Boarding Kennel out of our house. I can assure you Clyde preceded him in death, and being the research Anthropologist he was, Grover would have been able to preserve the remains of Clyde’s bones properly. In fact, he had the bones of all three of his dogs, Clyde, Icky, and Yahoo. Icky was the one we got to know best at our home. I don’t think we boarded Clyde before he died, but Icky’s name we remember for sure.
I think this Smithsonian presentation is awesome and while I understand space is a problem in museums, I hope they will put it on display again in the future, perhaps with the bones of a Sasquatch (Bigfoot). We also followed his research with interest.
Look him up at
Link wiki Grover Krantz
I suspect they will put the human bones and the dog’s in storage, after all the work of merging them into one. The only other possibility would be they will be returned to WSU for Forensic studies and education.
Thanks to the commenter, Angela, who provided the link to the story in the Washington post, 2009, when Grover’s wife went back for a visit, and they told more of the entire rebuilding story.
To my post on the life-with-dogs site, I added my last comment because of another’s comment on line wondering what they did with the human remains after no longer displaying at the Smithsonian.
Link to that:
WoPo article
Be sure to follow the NEXT on the photo in the Washington Post article to see other photographs.
I managed to get an announcement out to our music group for receiving a count of how many are attending, so I can call in for the number of armless chairs. We are limited to 12. A few people can play in a chair with arms.
I also washed a load of clothes. Dishes are a more common occurrence. Gosh, we dirty a lot, and add to those daily 2 large saucer dishes x 4 for the cats.
John broke from outside chores and came in with the mail (which was useless), and fixed a casserole for dinner (chicken, peas, cashews, celery soup, with crispy dried onions on top). The chicken is a neat ingredient we buy at Costco, cut off the bone, of their roasted whole chickens they roast and sell there. I don’t know what they do with the dark meat, as all we ever see is packed white meat. John says they package thighs and legs separately. This is deboned, so makes it a bit pricy but convenient because we don’t have to deal with any other part of the carcass. We gather stuff over weeks/months and then run all the garbage to the transfer-station (aka dump).
I also am not in good enough shape to go to tomorrow’s activities, so I canceled those as well, and canceled picking my 90 year-old friend (almost 91) whom I usually take with me on Wednesdays to the Food Bank (music – she sings with us – and they feed us). From there, we go on to SAIL exercise and run other errands before I take her home.
Wednesday, Oct 19
For Oct 18 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.00. Events: 0 H, 0 RERA. Time on 4 hrs 24 min with (max= 11 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 blips to low 86 with avg. 90.0%. Definitely shows the impact of having a CPAP machine on to keep the SpO2 higher through the night, although it still went to 87 even on the CPAP.
Stayed home to recuperate and am canceling going tomorrow too.
I wrote an email to our neighbor Allen. Called him this afternoon, to tell him we had apples and no Internet, so if he contacted me I wouldn’t see it. He was in town and hadn’t seen the email, so he dropped by on his way home. John had dropped a box of smallish ones off at the senior center, with any ones with “issues” taken out. Our Grocery Outlet store uses an out of the way space to place wine boxes. We always get one or two at each visit, especially if we get anything frozen. They hold about 20 pounds of apples.
Called Sandy Morris (new Activities Director at the newly named Pacifica Senior Living at Ellensburg, and talked to Laura who left her my phone number and she will give it to her again to have her call me today. It worked this time.
I was working on things this morning, and both of us were standing away from our computers, when we had a 3 second power outage and then the back-on power surge. Sadly, it zapped our modem. John could not get it working. So: We called tech support. Then John had to start our old WinXP system. That’s always a pain because it is only on 2 or 3 times a year now and services that can, want to update, and those that are no longer supported send warnings. So after a bit of fuss, the computer could deal with the DSL line via an Ethernet Cable. We spent an hour on the phone with a guy in South Carolina, only to find out we could not reset the password connection on the modem, and someone would have to come to our house to troubleshoot it. They put a high priority ranking, but the maintenance person did not call until 4:07. John had gone out to the barn, but I got his attention because the person asked if we could bring the unit to town. So, off he went with only the modem and the power cord. I surely hope that is the problem and they will just replace it, nicely at no cost, but I think they are now charging for modem replacements.
He had gone an hour ago for 3 stops for me because I couldn’t go today or tomorrow. At one stop, he dropped off music at a guitarist’s house who shares with another guitarist in our group, and also left him a box of apples. I usually carry it along with me for them, but I’m not playing tomorrow. Also, John took him and his wife a box of Honeycrisp and Gala apples. On to Bi-Mart to get me some Ricola cough drops. Always reminds John and me of the old singing commercial in the Alps.
That link points to the 2011-2013 version, but we don’t remember the dancing with the stars version as this is, but see at the very end the footage of the fellow in the Alps. Looks as if we are in Leavenworth, WA.
John left there for the Adult Activity Center to return the exercise book I borrowed to scan and to leave another box of apples for the center folks. They love the apples.
It’s a good thing the maintenance person did not call during the 50 minutes he was in town. He did call (as mentioned above), and John drove the modem in, and the fellow (Jake) was able to fix it.
We were thrilled to have our Internet back after being off (about Noon until 6). Maybe the power surge was what we needed to prompt fixing it. I wonder if that modem has been the cause all along of our spotty Internet connection availability. In a month or two of good connection, we’ll celebrate.
Thursday, Oct 20
For Oct 19 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.55. Events: 1 CSR, 5 H, 4 RERA. Time on 9 hrs 3 min with (max= x L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 blip to low 86, ~12 at 88 or below, with avg. 90.9%.
I stayed home today to recuperate, and missed the music gig. I was told seven members of the group provided music to an appreciative crowd.
We received an email early from John’s sister in Ohio. At 11:15 last night, she had gone with a friend (Chris) to the airport to welcome the Cleveland Indians back from Toronto, where her team won the American League Championship Series (ALCS). Growing up, she and John rooted for the Pirates when, in 1960, the team won one of the most storied World Series ever.
Roster: 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates
John remembers many of those names and can’t name a current player on any team.
Peggy sent us detailed instructions of how to get to the photos to see her and a photo of Ryan Merritt.
“The plane landed at midnight. Not a big crowd. But fun. Crowd cheered plane when it landed near the International Exposition (I-X) Center, adjacent to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Then it drove right into a big hanger and all the players came out, got in their cars, and drove off.
They really went so fast and it was dark so was hard to identify them, but we did recognize several.
Someone called for the players to come over so we could take their pictures. Finally, the rookie pitcher who started the game, Ryan Merritt, came over and everyone was taking pictures and selfies with him. I couldn’t get too close and the TV camera light was shining at me so my pictures were not very good. I was behind the man in glasses and suit at left top (of the second picture) so didn’t get a good picture.
If you can go to Fox8.com and see the pictures of the players coming off the plane, there are a few others. In the one of the crowd, I am right in front of the pole with blue jeans and a yellow blouse. My neighbor Chris is beside me wearing an Indians’ t-shirt.”
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Nancy back:
I tried but could not find them until Peggy sent us (at my request), explicit directions, which John used to find and download the two best. Peggy also sent the one with her and Chris in it by the telephone pole (left below).
Left-Peggy Hultquist, in yellow blouse and jeans by the light pole, and on the right photo, she is standing behind the guy in a suit on the left – close to the action. She couldn’t get a good picture, but this shows Ryan Merritt well.
Friday, Oct 21
For Oct 20 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.19. Events: 1 H, 0 RERA. Time on 5 hrs 8 min with (max= 15 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 one blip to low 80 (off CPAP), with avg. 90.3%.
I talked with my doctor’s nurse and decided to wait until next Tuesday to get my INR, and we discussed my progress on getting better. It’s looking good.
John has been looking for some time for his “lost” cell phone. This morning he found it under the driver’s seat of my car. Last time he drove that was when we found his car battery dead and had to take mine for him to let me off for music. He previously had looked in my car, but under the passenger’s seat, where he normally sits. What a relief. He found it in time to have it with him on the road to a WTA work party near North Bend, WA tomorrow. Now he has just tied a hunter’s orange-colored tape to the side of the container. Maybe he will be able to keep better track of it.
Well, I went to take my pills, and realized I need to refill for the whole week my little weekly box, starting today. That took awhile and I had to call in refills for two major costly ones.
I worked mostly today proofing Chapter III of the Master’s thesis I’m reviewing. I did one chapter, but sadly, it was only 30 pages, but lots of detailed reading, and critiquing. Unfortunately, too late to take a nap I started feeling worse, with eye and aches, and even my upper teeth left side (above the surgery place) were hurting. John says it’s probably ’cause I’m getting better. That’s after a recent morning comment, “I wonder if you have pneumonia.” Well, I guess I didn’t have a clue, but no fever is a good thing, and not gasping for breath. Tonight it is too early to go to bed, so I’ll keep at it. BP is ok. Took my last pill of 14 today. I’m sure you all do not need a play by play of my sickness, but part of this blog is to answer the questions I’m asked in the future by my doctors. I have an annual physical coming up, and I have been in contact over this recent “cold symptoms” route with my family physician’s nurse, who also is one of the leaders of the Coumadin advice team for INR (regarding dosage and frequency required).
I was ready to go to bed quite early for me, but I stayed up and actually got a little better. I convinced myself I did not have the signs and symptoms of pneumonia that the Mayo Clinic reports may include the following:
Chest pain when you breathe or cough
Confusion or changes in mental awareness (in adults age 65 and older)
Cough, which may produce phlegm
Fatigue
Fever, sweating and shaking chills
Lower than normal body temperature (in adults older than age 65 and people with weak immune systems)
Nausea, vomiting or diarrhea
Shortness of breath
I had the cough that started my episode, but the production of phlegm was from the Musinex DM tablets I started 10/14 every 12 hours.
Saturday, October 22
For Oct 20 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.90. Events: 4 H, 1 RERA. Time on 4 hrs 26 min with (max= 10 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 one blip to low 79 (off CPAP), several below 88 (85s on CPAP), with avg. 89.9%. The oximeter I kept on after awaking in the middle of the night, so it recorded the lower sessions of SpO2 during two 20-minute segments.
John pulled out of here at 6:00 a.m. with temperature 37° to be at the trailhead by 8:00 a.m. They are supposed to have a break in the weather and have a nice workday. I surely hope so. It is a crosscut saw training day – all are sawyers with various amounts of experience, training, and certifications. Except John hasn’t been able to get to a “certification” day and his is expired. On I-90, he passed by an accident (lots of flashing lights) but could not see what was going on – still dark and dozens of red, blue, and white lights.
I stayed in bed and slept until 9:30 a.m.! I am sure I needed it.
Worked on thesis critiquing, feeding cats, and cleaning the kitchen. Thankfully, I’m feeling better than last night.
For lunch, I felt like making a tuna fish salad with cheddar and hard-boiled eggs. Now, that should give me energy to work on the blog before John returns home from the Pratt River Trail work. Also, will continue with other chores, wishing the two female cats would appear for a late lunch.
Here’s a follow-up to the Lori Rome’s contribution last week. After looking at this link below, I commented on her send:
NICE – thanks, Lori Rome, again very much for sharing. I just followed this link, and it makes me want to see what they did for the Mississippi River also applied to all the rivers that empty into the Columbia. I like the flow orientation maps as well. I’ll add this link to my blog this week as a follow-up to the story on you last week.
Flow to this Link
Finally, near the end of my day, is one of our resident deer enjoying apples with bad spots. Later the two little ones (twin fawns) appeared, too late for a photo. Mama has a dark patch on the left side of her face. That’s her in the picture below.
John made it at dusk, in time to feed the horses with available light.
Supposedly, he has some good photos forthcoming from a person on the trip, so we await morning in hope they will make it to us. It is a video of how cutting an uprooted tree can allow it to return to standing, on the base of the old root ball. You WILL get to see that below, along with comments of John’s day on the trail.
Let’s start with Joe Hofbeck’s note to the crew that came this morning (actually at 12:45 a.m.). Joe was the blue hat (crew leader) today:
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“So… is single bucking the way that God intended logs to be bucked? I suppose we still don’t have a consensus on that one. But ya gotta admit, single bucking sure gives you feed back on your sawing technique.
It was a great day and I think everybody learned something. I was reflecting on the huge root wad that JB’s crew cut. A few years ago, we would have never attempted something like that. Surprising how far training and practice has raised our skill levels.
So now, you my acolytes can go forward and stamp out butt sitting / arm sawing.
Thanks for being out there and being safe. Joe”
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Go here for pics and JB Robinson’s video of the grand root wad tip up:
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If you go to the link above, you will find many trips Joe Hofbeck has been to in recent years. (I don’t know the timing, but today’s trip is listed under PrattC.) You can get to JB’s video below, or via Joe. The second photo is from the past, not taken today. The next to the last is a beautiful shot of the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River on their hike out on the Pratt River Connector trail. This is about 30 miles east of Seattle.
Please follow the link to the video (or check below for an update to one under my control). You will not be disappointed. It is very much worth a watch for 43 seconds of educational entertainment few people get to experience.
Since I wrote this, JB Robinson sent me the video with permission to publish it here, and there is a link below you don’t have to go through all the dropbox things…but that is the public version (above in dropbox) to see many wonderful photos of work in the woods:
Now I can share the photo before and after of the videoed tree:
Steve, the cross-cut sawyer, before left, & after the fall returns the stump up to standing with the root ball below.
I’m going to let John react to a few photos below, starting with the first clearing shot of the day and ending with a photo of the entire crew.
Two trees and 2 teams of 3 each. At the start, the crews had to clear brush to get access to the trees and to make the work site safe. They remove limbs so afterward the cut pieces can be rolled, and there won’t be anything to snag an arm or leg. Two other teams are not seen here.
Next is just a cool picture I wanted to include:
John is on the tree, Rick beside him and their leader is Claire, 2nd from right. The other three are the crew in the background of the first photo. When the sawing is done, the handle(s) are removed and a protective guard is put over the sharp parts.
Finally, a parting shot of the entire crosscut sawyer team (+1) who worked the trail today:
On the left with the red shirt is the +1, next to Claire. That is Bud Silliman, our saw sharpener and handles guy. The weather was nice so he came out to see if the teams were handling the saws with proper respect. If he doesn’t do his sharpening well, the sawyers struggle, and the saws don’t sing.
Sunday, Oct 23
For Oct 22 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI= 0.13. Events: 1 H, 1 PP, 2 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 46 min with (max= 13 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 one blip to low 84, a few below 88 with avg. 90.5 %, all night on CPAP.
This morning marks the arrival of the photos of John’s trip yesterday to complete this week’s blog.
Neat for lunch John made a tuna melt sandwich for each of us with the remainder of the salad I made yesterday.
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan