A critter-filled week

Monday, Apr 3

For Apr 2 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=1.57. Events: 1 CSR, 10 H, 22 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 21 min with (max = 16 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 87, 1 events <88% with overall avg., 92.5%. Pulse avg. 54.9, low 51.

A pruning day for John who left at 7:30 a.m. for White Heron.

John called at noon to say he’d be late arriving. The road from George to Quincy has the DOT doing something with long delays. He is following a different route home, which he will have to use for the rest of the week.

I finished cropping the photos for AAC for the Louisiana Bayou and sent 99 Mb of stuff through the wetransfer.com site (free for downloads for 7 days). The photos I am taking for the senior center needed to be created at a higher resolution so the publisher can use some in the program of activities for the City of Ellensburg agencies that comes out quarterly.

John took photos of the ‘finish’ on the Baker’s Secret Teflon coating that was ruined cooking the roast for last Friday’s potluck.
See below for that story.

Tuesday, Apr 4

For Apr 3 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=0.15. Events: 1 H, 1 PP, 19 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 32 min with (max = 20 L/min). I did not do this oximetry before re-recording for tonight and wiping it out. However, I am sure it would have been good.

We had a rude awakening. A critter arrived into our house overnight. Rascal (cat) brought it over the fence (and maybe inside) and our dog delivered it to our bedroom. This appears to be a Bushy-tailed Woodrat (Neotoma cinerea), and a photo is here: Bushy
The dust pan is 9-10 inches across where Bushy is resting. Note the rounded ears, white feet, and bushy tail.

John left at 7:40 a.m. to prune at White Heron.

The pork roast for dinner last Friday John baked in a non-stick Baker’s Secret pan, with aluminum foil placed beneath it (and up over the pork loin). Cooking apparently adhered the foil to the surface. We soaked the pan in hot soapy water, but when the foil came up, it brought the coating with it. Seemed very strange because it was cooked in a “slow oven” (225°F) except for the last ½ hour.

RUINED TEFLON CAKE PAN
Left is the full pan; middle is the area of bubbled covering within the yellow frame (left pix); the large missing pieces of coating (upper right), where the metal of the pan shows.

I took it to Bi-Mart from where we bought it a couple years ago, to see if they would send it back to the company. I was surprised that they honored the lifetime guarantee and replaced with a slightly lighter version of the same sized pan. In addition, they were going to send the ruined one back to the company.

Currently, they had this 9 x 13 Baker’s Secret cake pan in house wares for $5.97.Replacement pan given. We have been appreciative of the business practices of Bi-Mart, with returns.

I went to get ice cream from Grocery Outlet, but they were out. While there, I went across the street to spend a $10 coupon from Jerrol’s. I applied it all to 3-ring dividers to use with our music endeavors around town.

Another photo awaited my arrival home. It is of my Brittany in CA.Daisy is happily running over parched land looking for birds. Photo taken by Deanna Azevedo, wife of Daisy’s field trainer. Almost all four feet are off the ground, and she’s smiling, with ears and tongue flying.

Another Tuesday stop yielded 40# of culled Yellow Delicious apples from the F.I.S.H. food bank. They are a little soft and aromatic. Still edible and also good for the deer.Collage of boxes of apples after unloading a large plastic bin that I will return tomorrow when I go play music there.Soon, “our” three deer came for dinner – mama and her twin fawns from last year. They are our “familiars” and co-exist with our cats, dog, squirrel, songbirds, and pheasant. The “winter” coats are looking ragged, but thankfully, the little girl made it through.

Wednesday, Apr 5

For Apr 4 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=1.17. Events: 9 H, 1 PP, 22 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 41 min with (max = 18 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 87, 1 events <88% with overall avg., 92.2%. Pulse avg. 53.2, low 47.

John left at 7:40 a.m. for White Heron pruning.

This morning, I ran copies of two pieces of music for the players and we ended up using only one at the food bank soup kitchen. The other I need to change the key and add a 4th verse onto the lyrics, “You are My Sunshine.”

While we are on a sunny yellow theme, I’ll add a collage of our bunch of goldfinches who have dramatically changed in color brilliance over the past month since we first saw them. Collage of Goldfinches in our front yard. Red finch on the far left. If you look forward to Saturday, you’ll see the close-ups John took with his 200mm lens.

I took Gloria with me today to the food bank. We found some rolls for her and a Rosemary Olive Oil loaf for John. We had a nice music session with lots of players and singers there and joining in from the audience. Afterwards, we enjoyed a nice meal. The place was filled today.

I got off the note about the retired geographers’ cancelled meeting next Tuesday morning and included the news about Jim Brooks’ passing. I attached copies of two articles and his obituary that appeared in the local paper, Daily Record, for those without subscriptions, or who live out of town. James Brooks was a geography professor and also was CWU’s President for 17 years. The CWU Library is named for him. If you want to read the material, send me your email address and a request.

John noticed the horses seemed interested in something – watching/watching/watching – but not appearing alarmed. He guessed Turkeys, and went to confirm. He saw only 4 or 5 as they entered the woods, but likely there were more. In previous years, we have had as many as 12 or 13.

Thursday, Apr 6

For Apr 5 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=0.83. Events: 2 CSR, 5H, 14 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 1 min with (max = 15 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 85, 2 events <88% with overall avg., 92.6%. Pulse avg. 52.9, low 50.

Too much rain today, so no pruning.

Checked with Barb and Dee Eberhart and had a good conversation. They do not have email, so I needed to tell them about our former colleague. Dee retired from CWU when I came in 1988.

I went by the hospital for a blood draw for Pro Time (INR) and Potassium, for my Entresto med. They did not have the standing order properly listed, but drew two vials of blood anyway, asking me to report it to the doctor’s office. I did.

On my way to the Rehab for music, I stopped by the AAC to pick up my freely given computer carrier, given by Tiffany M. on the Buy Nothing East Eburg Facebook site: “Computer bag with padded center compartment. Two big pockets + center compartment + lots of smaller pockets. Includes a high-quality adjustable padded strap with metal clasps.” That will fit my laptop perfectly for trips out of the house. From there, I went to the Kittitas Medical Supply store for CPAP supplies. I have already met my Medicare deductible this year, so I owed no co-pay on $432.69 worth of tubing, mask, nasal pillows, and filters. {John says things of equal complexity and similar materials can be found in a hardware store for under $40.}

I went by Grocery Outlet to buy four 3 lb. packages of frozen blueberries that ended up being $1.16/lb. special deal, buy one, get one free. I forgot to get the Campbell soups on sale – Cream of Chicken and Cream of Mushroom; ends up being 66¢ / can, when getting three cans of each type.

I talked to the nurse at my PCP’s office in Cle Elum, but she had only received the INR results and not the Potassium. Currently, it is a mystery what happened to that blood. John thinks this guy got it:
I wasn’t home long before we went back to town for a geology lecture at the new Science II building on campus. The Ellensburg Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute sponsored it, and the community is invited. At least 100 folks attended. We both thoroughly enjoyed our evening.

Please do take the time to view the videos I made. You will not be disappointed.
Larry N. Smith: Glacial Lake Missoula and Its Giant Floods

Larry Smith came over from Butte, MT – a locale known for its Copper. Google Earth will show the big pit NE of town, and here is a link to a photo of the
Berkeley PitIntroduction to the topic and speaker:

The Clark Fork River was dammed during the last ice age by a glacier at the current location of Lake Pend Oreille near the Idaho/Montana border. The lake rose and fell multiple times.  At its maximum, the lake was 2000 feet (610 m) deep at the ice dam, 1000 feet (305 m) deep at Missoula, and extended up multiple valleys in Montana. Glaciolacustrine sediments in the Clark Fork River valley at Garden Gulch, near Drummond, MT allow for documenting high-stand positions in glacial Lake Missoula and repeated subaerial exposure of the lake bottom. Sandy alluvial sediment below the glaciolacustrine section locally interfingers with the lowermost lake-bottom sediments, showing concurrent deposition of the alluvium with the transgressing lake. Cycles of lake deepening, subaerial exposure and periglacial modification are represented in a 9 m-thick section. Optical dating of quartz show that glacial Lake Missoula reached >65% of maximum capacity by 17-24 ka and either partially or completely drained twelve times from this position. Others have inferred that the lake rose and fell 35-90 times, but many of those events possibly did not reach the maximum elevation seen near Drummond.
Larry Smith is an associate professor in the Department of Geological Engineering at Montana Tech. He has been studying glacial Lake Missoula for about 17 years. He got interested in the lake deposits while working at the Montana Bureau of Mine and Geology. He studied the huge gravel deposits in the Alberton Gorge are, which were moved during cataclysmic lake drainages. The gravels host the aquifers that residents use for groundwater. Larry has Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Ph.D degrees in geology from University of California, Santa Cruz and the University of New Mexico. He has lived in Butte for 23½ years.

Larry Smith – Questions & Answers, April 6, ’17 IAF (after lecture)
A few questions

Friday, Mar 31

For Mar 30 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=1.95. Events: 2 CSR, 12 H, 3 PP, 13 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 9 min with (max = 21 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 84, 8 events <88% with overall avg., 92.6%. Pulse avg. 55.5, low 50. CPAP on all night. I cannot explain the low SpO2, unless the dirty filters needing changed are causing it.

Today, John left to prune if 7:40 a.m. Cameron called and it is not raining, but it looks pretty iffy here. They did have to retreat to the winery, sitting out a quickly passing rainstorm, and watching the clouds and angry skies. They could see the storm as it crossed the ridge 15 miles west of them. When it crossed the Columbia River just a short distance away, they were already in the winery. John and Cameron were the only pruners today.

I fed cats and started uploading movies I took last night. One of the most skittish ferals we are feeding comes in after the others finish. I managed to take his picture at the front door, in front of the wooden pallet protecting the dry food from the deer. He has been around in the shadows for months, but we thought it was a female, and called “her” Sally. Now that he has come closer for canned food, we realized he is a male. So, he became known as Salazar. He still runs when we open the door, but he has learned to come to the front porch for his vittles morning and night.

First, my morning concern involved being a Sherlock Holmes on my blood draw yesterday. I was at the Kittitas Valley Healthcare Hospital at 12:45 and only one phlebotomist was there (Nathan). I am supposed to have a standing order for an INR and a Potassium test (requiring two vials of blood). He found the standing order for the INR (Pro Time), but the potassium was not there (as had been sent 2 weeks ago for a second time from the KVH – Cle Elum doctor’s office). He drew the vials to submit to the lab, and explained what I needed to tell the office to do about the computer paperwork request, followed by a phone call to have the lab find it in the computer, print, and store in the correct file. I did my part yesterday. I spoke with the nurse and knew the Pro Time had been sent to the doctor (INR=2.4), but with no potassium reading. This is required for my new heart medication, Entresto.

This morning I first talked to the Cle Elum clinic and then to KVC Hospital’s lab technician, Dean. He was going to search for the missing vial, run the test, and send the results to the doctor’s office. I was to receive a phone call from them later in the day, on my message recorder, because I was leaving for Yakima as soon as John returned home. We had a 2:30 p.m. appointment for servicing my Forester / Mat was to help me with the phone and Bluetooth connection / John had 2 bottles of White Heron wine for Mat & his wife.

We made it there in time, but when I gave them my DL and insurance papers for a loaner car, they noted my insurance expired on Mar 16, 2017. I must have received them in the mail, and never separated the cards to get them into the glove compartments of our vehicles and into the envelopes with the car registration papers and the dates covered on the outside of the envelope. Meanwhile, I requested from my insurance provider (in Idaho), and they emailed me a 30-day temporary proof to use until Safeco replaces the cards. While still in the waiting room, I called the Yakima Heart Center to make an appointment with my cardiologist. That is going to be May 5th.

After receiving our car, and paying for the two new air filters that were filled with dust and cottonwood fluff, we drove to Costco for almost $90 of things, causing the doorman checking John out, to say, you did well to come out with less than $100. I noticed when starting the car, that my maintenance due light for technical inspection (an orange wrench), was still coming on the screen on the dash. I planned to go back anyway on my way home to have my new cell phone paired with the Forester’s Bluetooth technology. That took awhile, but we paired John’s phone and mine so that we can use it in that vehicle. I found out something I did not realize, which is that the phone only needs to be turned on, not opened, and can stay in your pocket or bag. You can make a call or accept one with the phone out of sight. Pretty neat. That process took awhile, but afterwards, I drove to the service department and they reset my service-needed light. I watched him do it, so now I know for the future. It is in the settings near where the clock is set.

Our trip home was partially light, although overcast, but no rain, while the trip down to Yakima was through torrential downpours – slightly exaggerating here, but my windshield wipers were on the highest speed.

I arrived home to no news from my doctor, so I have to imagine the vial of blood was never located. That is not a comforting thought from a hospital environment.

Frogs are croaking out back, and have been for many nights in a row. It does provide peaceful go-to-sleep music in harmony with the owls’ hooting, and the stream rushing, filled with mountain melt water. It is still cold so the frogs must be hardy.

Sat, April 7

For Apr 6 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=2.54. Events: 16 H, 12 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 18 min with (max = 14 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 90, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 93.6%. Pulse avg. 53.9, low 50. My Oximeter ran out of battery, so it recorded only for 2.5 hours (might affect the result parameters).

I awoke at 5:30 and thought it was 6:30. So, I may need an afternoon nap. I fed Rascal and cleaned the kitchen. Then I decided to scan the offers from the Subaru dealer we found when we returned yesterday evening from my 2014 Forester’s service, where they had to replace a cabin air filter (cost=$66.31, plus tax= $5.44) and an engine air filter ($29.74).
I composed a complaint email to ask for money back from the $49.95 they should have charged me instead of $66.31. There was also $5.24 tax on the charge for that filter. It took too much time to do this, so if my time were worth more than $1/hr the refund won’t cover it. But there is principle involved. I had to do it, and they’d better acknowledge my request. I sent it to the Service Manager, to two of the service consultants I dealt with, and to my friendly sales associate from whom we have bought 3 cars at their dealership. I also called another service consultant who helped me yesterday and told him the story. He does not have an email address, but he was in the shop today. I asked him to tell his manager to read his email.

Early morning phone call from Gloria, inviting me to a Ladies Tea at Pacifica, but it is at the same time that I have a dental appointment for a teeth cleaning.

I managed to wash a load of dishes and John took care of the outside chores. He finished planting his onion “sets”, and after brunch went to work on planting flowering almond tress he started from seeds from our neighbor. From a dozen seeds he has 3 baby trees. Now we will enjoy a nice brunch he fixed while I continued working on the blog. He served ham, cheese omelet, buttered sourdough roll sliced toast with Parmesan cheese, and pears.
Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan