Nancy writing each day:
Sunday was a light day mainly used for resting from the week previous and all the exciting things that happened.
Monday found us going in for a blood culture draw and for other blood lab tests to check on the existence of bacteria or if they had all been eliminated by the two antibiotics. We won’t know the culture results for a few days.
Tuesday found us on the road to Yakima for almost the whole day, leaving at 8:45 a.m. for a 10 a.m. appointment to have my ICD (device) checked. That was over in 12 minutes, but we had to wait around to see the cardiologist at 11:15 a.m. We were late getting in to see him and then he spent over an hour with us, reviewing all that had happened since the last visit (July 21st). Lots surely had transpired. He was very thorough as usual and dictated facts and all his opinions of which we will get a copy. We didn’t get home (ate a lunch there), till 3:30 p.m. Then I went by myself to play music at 6:30 p.m. at one of the nursing homes. Came home to a dinner cooked by John for me. I’m eating again, finally, so that’s made him very happy.
Wednesday – we decided to make some Chocolate Chip cookies, but only made one cookie sheet and put the dough in the frig to cool down for more during the evening. Our main chore of the day was to figure out some of the TIAA-CREF paperwork that never got completed in April. We needed to process the papers to get our money invested there transferred to Vanguard where we have an investment counselor to help us get some income into our checking account for our retirement. There is no “pension” from the university*, but they matched part of our contributions to mutual
[* from John : Years ago we were given the opportunity to opt out of the WA State Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) and, instead, our retirement dollars were directed to retirement plans sponsored by TIAA-CREF, Vanguard, and Fidelity. We were warned that once we signed out we would be stuck with our decision. We signed out and never looked back. Nation-wide many state and local plans are now under funded. Can you say “Taxes will go up.”]
funds and stocks, over the years.
Even when John taught part-time, he was able to put a few thousand aside in a retirement fund. We had an appointment in the afternoon with our helper at the CWU Human Resources department and we saw her to get the forms we had filled in, notarized*, and to check to see we had the correct ones.
[* from John : The State of WA assumes a 50-50 split of retirement funds between spouses so a paper has to be signed by the spouse giving consent to move money out of the CWU Plan and the signature has to be witnessed by the plan representative or a notary.]
On the way home we stopped at a nursery and bought 4 small bushes, Rose of Sharon (or Althea, as Nancy remembers it from her childhood in Atlanta). Two are good to 5 below and the others to 10 below. John is going to put them out by the road because he has a vision of a different gate entrance in the future for our home.
In the evening we took off for town again, after a bite of dinner, and heard a geology lecture for the community by a CWU Instructor, titled: “The geology of Mt. Stuart: A closer look.” Washington is a jumble of parts that came from elsewhere. They arrived from who knows where and got plastered onto others and the edge of the old North American Plate. Mt. Stuart is a 93 million year old granitic mountain of unknown origin.
Thursday will be the normal music at the Rehabilitation Center where I spent 6 weeks getting back on my feet–January and February. It is good to go back now that I can walk again. We sneaked out of the music early to get to the University by 3:05 to hear our newest faculty member, a biogeographer, talk on paleo-ecology found in cores (mud) of lake beds. It was a fascinating lecture. She has done work on lagoons and lakes in Belize and will be doing research here in Washington. She also has cored many lakes in Oregon. After her talk, I went to Out Patient Services at the hospital for a dressing change and flush on my PICC line, and we took some of the cookies to the group of nurses. John and I both went to the Trail Riding club meeting tonight. A busy day.
Friday. The fast-test for bacteria was negative and today, after extended culture time, none showed their ugly tell-tail presence. Hurrah! We’ll schedule a PICC removal celebration for early next week.
We have a potluck/jam session with the music group to practice for our “gig” next Friday night. We’ve been asked to play music for a fund raiser in the Yakima Canyon for the Scenic By-Way. That’s a 22-mile stretch of Nature’s beauty down the Yakima Canyon Road between Ellensburg, WA and Yakima, WA. There are many basalt cliffs, a few Ponderosa pines, black cottonwood, cactus, and big horn sheep occasionally within view. The Yakima River (catch & release) runs the entire stretch along side of the road. It is a very scenic place.
John spent most of the day planting Rose of Sharon (Althea) trees (small) we bought a day or so ago. He’s planting them near the road and the entrance to our driveway, with the hopes getting some pretty flowering trees up there for color. He’s also been cooking pork ribs all afternoon for the potluck tonight. It’s his specialty and everyone loves them.
Saturday brings more music. The Kittitas Valley Fiddlers and Friends entertained at Briarwood, a retirement community. This is the place where they provide us food after we play and sing. It’s a nice group of people and they normally sing along and some get up and dance. They had sandwich makings today and desserts. There were several types of meat, tomatoes, lettuce, 4 different cheeses and two kinds of bread.
This morning we hit a couple of yard sales and the bank. There they counted our piggy-bank-change – actually a plastic gallon bear – and converted it into cash for us. A few weeks ago John accidentally hit the bear in the nose and the thin plastic shattered and spilled coins onto the dresser and the floor. The time had come to gather the coins and count them. [Ecclesiastes 3]
Sunday; nothing is planned, except I will go to the Grace Episcopal Church for another music program, to play along with one of my friends.
Nancy