Black-headed Grosbeak

Monday, May 15

For May 14 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=0.77. Events: 5 H, 1 PP, 20 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 31 min with (max = 12 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 90, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 92.2%. Pulse avg. 55.2, low 47.
Look back to last week for better photos. Correction to the bird ID in last week’s blog. It is a Black-headed Grosbeak. Thanks to Caitlin LaBar for correctly naming the new bird on the block. This is a male – check below for a photo of the female, which we have seen as well, but not photographed.

Audubon field guide

Here is a nice link to their “song.”

Sing a song

This link starts with a female and switches to the male at 1:05 minutes into the tape. They are both feeding, not singing. The viewing is backed by an interesting instrumental. This is named Fat Lips (Black-headed Grosbeak). I have no clue what the reference to “fat lips” is, except it might refer to the stronger bill shape of seed eaters when compared with insect eaters.

Another bird link

John sprayed Weed B Gone, mowed, and continued working in the yard on various projects.

I worked on dishes, the blog, and other stuff.

Tuesday, May 16

For May 15 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=0.90. Events: 1 CSR, 6 H, 15 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 40 min with (max = 19 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 88, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 92.2%. Pulse avg. 54.4, low 49.

I went to copy part of 10 more sets of the audience music, the last 3 pages that I neglected to run the first time.

Not much going on today, just the normal Tuesday stops.

Wednesday, May 17

For May 16 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=1.10. Events: 1 CSR, 7 H, 1 PP, 12 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 23 min with (max = 12 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 88, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 94.2%. Pulse avg. 55.8, low 50.

I picked up Gloria and we went to the Food bank for music and lunch after, but there was no SAIL exercise at AAC today. Just as well for me, because I needed to get home to leave for Cle Elum.

We drove my car to a reception for our retiring doctor, Paul Schmitt. We had nice visit with him and several others, including the new doctor we will be transferred to. We shared pieces of each type of cake there (lemon with white frosting and chocolate cake with cherries and chocolate frosting). The new doctor is Norman Wood. He is going to have a complete shoulder replacement in 2 weeks, and that is good so he should be healed by the time we have our annual physicals at the end of this year.

Our Brittany, Daisy, in CA hit the airwaves again on Facebook. Jeri Conklin entered two photos in the Lancaster Photography Association club competition – Desert Wildflowers and Desert Scenes, and she received two Awards of Excellence in Intermediate Novice Print Division. The title of the Daisy print was “When All is Right in Life.” Jeri used Photoshop to process the print of the cactus flower. She had fun and was happy to hear the judge comment on the positive things she had done with the photos. Congrats, Jeri. I have always loved all the photos of Daisy in the Poppy field.

Thursday, May 18

For May 17 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=1.10 Events: 1 CSR, 7 H, 23 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 20 min with (max = 14 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 88, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 92.7%. Pulse avg. 53.6, low 47.

John finished packing the truck canopy with stuff needing taken to the transfer station (aka dump) and went today. He managed to get rid of 200 pounds of stuff (with a lot of stuff that did not weigh much, but was bulky and filled the space).

I got my donation in the mail to help with the cleanup of the Wilkins family cemetery in Guyton, GA (my mom’s side). I visited there back in 2012 when I went to the family reunion.

We played today at Pacifica. Had a good turnout of players with a large and appreciative audience.

Friday, May 19

For May 18 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=0.00. Events: 18 RERA. Time on 7 hrs 35 min with (max = 16 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 88, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 92.2%. Pulse avg. 54.8%, low 50.

Horse (just one, Jazz) was in the yard again this morning. He apparently just stepped over a fence as John’s other horse, Drifter, often did. The others missed seeing how he got out, so they were still in the pasture. They are completely removed from that section until John has time to tighten the wires.

Our farrier came to trim Myst.

I dropped off my computer for service, and went to the last Scholarship luncheon of the year. We had a nice green salad, with chicken, strawberries, cashews, and onions, if wanted. For desert was a create-your-own sundae with two types of ice cream, caramel syrup, chocolate fudge spread, strawberry syrup, & grated nuts (plus the other sides left from the salad bar (strawberries & cashews). It was quite delightful. I finished there, bid adieus, and made it to the AAC, for BBQ & Dancing (line type), and there were four raffle tickets given to everyone there. Other early arrivals had lunch including BBQ chicken. The activities were organized and supervised by students from CWU in the Recreation and Tourism program. Some of the guys conducted two horseshoe games outside. The gals led the dancing inside, and some of the fellows also danced. I took photos and videos. One woman asked that I take her picture in front of the pool table with a great centerpiece – large cowboy boots and small bales of hay adorned above with large horseshoes. She wants to put it on her Christmas cards this year. I will show a few photos here so you can appreciate the efforts the CWU students went to, for the day of entertainment for the senior center group. It was a lot of fun. Three of the students are with the rodeo princess from Roslyn. The one on the left is Jenna whose family owns cherry and apple orchards in Quincy; she and her family donated a large box of large Honeycrisp apples to the raffle. Top right is the potential Christmas card photo, and the bottom right is one of the line-dance lessons. I took some videos too, but have not taken the time to upload them. The left is the sideboard with many gifts from the community collected by the students, and given by raffle ticket drawings to the participants. First on the left is the $50 Chamber of Commerce gift certificate (I won), the third one back are two baseball hats from Ellensburg Rodeo (I won them too). I’m excited about the hat I have on, because our music group, Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends, plays each year for the Ellensburg Rodeo Breakfast in September. In addition, there were chocolates, decks of cards, and free dinners at several local restaurants. You can see about 7 down, the large Honeycrisp apple. With that luck, I should have gone and bought a lotto ticket! (But, I didn’t). I am going to use my $50 coupon in July, to take our visitors from Michigan (friends, Ann & Fred Joyal we have known since graduate school in Iowa, in the 70s), to lunch and to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I believe we will go to The Porch or maybe to Rodeo City BBQ.

I picked up two cases of cat food at Pet$ense, but did not get a $5.00 discount. I hope they print that offer again soon in their flyer, and I will try to obtain an extra copy of the newspaper ad. Lowers the price per can to .41 instead of .49, but at the local grocery store we frequent, the price is .68. We should own stock in pet food.I stopped by Hospice Friends on the way home to pick up some supplies for another, and myself, and while there (wearing my fancy musical shirt), the coordinator mentioned it and asked if I knew of a local orchestra. I told her about our group. She plays the Cello. Only once in the past (for Christmas carols in Cle Elum), have we had a cellist. He has since died. She works daily, so cannot join us on Thursdays, but she is very interested in joining us on the 3rd Saturday of the month at Briarwood. I’m sure that group will be delighted. She couldn’t come this week because she had to return to Seattle for a funeral. Only a small number of our group make those Saturdays.

We went to the Swedbergs’ house to watch their home and answer the phone while the family is in town at the funeral place for a 2-hour greet and viewing.

I took my computer and working on some things, mostly music, because I did not have access to the web from their house. John sat and read the old history of the Kittitas Valley. Those are classic books. He learns something new every time he visits and has time to read them. Niece Sally arrived back with a load of groceries a little over an hour after we got there. John talked with Sally a short time, then left for EBRG in the Crosstrek to fill its tank for his trip tomorrow. I stayed and visited awhile and helped boil eggs for the planned deviled eggs for tomorrow’s reception after the funeral and graveside services.

Saturday, May 20

For May 19 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=0.16. Events: 1 H, 12 RERA. Time on 6 hrs 7 min with (max = 11 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 81 (off CPAP), 19 events <88% with overall avg., 91.3%. Pulse avg. 55.9, low 50.

John left for Talapus Lake WTA duties at 6:00 a.m., because of concern about I-90 construction delays. After he left I fed two cats and the birds, and slept some more. He should make it home by 6:00 p.m. He ended up getting their early because there was no traffic stoppage and very little traffic at that hour. His trip home was more rapid than expected too, arriving after 5:00 p.m. He took the back roads from just east of Easton just to “check it out” because this coming Friday he’ll be over the Pass and heading home when I-90 traffic is heavy.
Our Brittany Annie was very happy to see him. She obviously felt abandoned today.

I went to Briarwood today for music, where we dedicated the program to the memory of Lorene Mellergaard Swedberg. [Mellergaards are a large historic family in the Valley.]
This Saturday timing conflicted with the Funeral at 1:00 p.m. and the graveside ceremonies after at the IOOF cemetery. The rest of the group stayed for a meal, but I left after our music and went to the reception at the Methodist Church. I missed a heavy rainstorm at the place we played. I had taken a page of the memories I constructed for the memory book, with Lorene’s photos and the music with the 1st verse of “You Are My Sunshine,” to Briarwood, and had it there for people to sign (as a sympathy card). Lorene used to attend our 3rd Saturdays of the month play dates there over the past decade or more, so people recognized her in the photos. At least one family relation was there whom I knew from dinners long ago with the Swedbergs. I carried the signed page back to the reception at the Methodist Church, had some food, and visited with a bunch of friends, relatives, and others in the family I have known since 1989. Here is the card I took for the family.Happy beginnings today at Alek’s 5th Birthday celebration in Kittitas using the Ponderosa rounds John made for mom Jennifer. A dozen kids were to craft decorations on the smaller rounds (see last week’s blog), and the larger diameter pieces were used under the main dishes. Cake and cupcakes on top of the larger rounds and the table of all the other goodies served to the 12 kids and their moms.

While the kids did not get to paint the smaller rounds, they did come inside to paint birdhouses. What a neat idea !Below is Jenni’s thank you note she sent to us with the photos:

The kids didn’t get to make their collages 🙁 (with the small rounds) as it started down pouring in the middle of the party. Decorations were fun!
We will have more friends over to decorate the rounds at a later time and I’ll send you those pictures after I take them
😉
Thank you and John again SO very much. These really made our party look great.

Sunday, May 21

For May 20 CPAP. Reported figures. AHI=0.60. Events: 5 H, 1 PP, 11 RERA. Time on 8 hrs 21 min with (max = 14 L/min). Oximetry: SpO2 low 87, 0 events <88% with overall avg., 92.8%. Pulse avg. 57.8, low 47.

Amy and Dustin Davison are back from their trip “North to Alaska.” Here’s the happy departure – we, and especially the audiences, missed Amy and Haley at our two musical gigs this week, at Pacifica and Briarwood.Dustin & Amy, happily boarding a ship, bound for adventures to see glaciers and small towns along the route. The right top photo shows the Sawyer Glacier, complete with lateral moraines, and look carefully at the one on the bottom right, at the black spots on the lower iceberg. Those black spots are seals.

After our brunch today, we plan to go to town to pick up some planter pots given to us by Suzanne Wade and hubby Randy. They plan a move in a few months and are cleaning out a few things. We will put them to good use in our garden and nursery.
Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan