Celebrated Even When Retired
. . . … Other events in our lives …
I’ll start with some follow-up comments for the weekend that started this week. You’ll remember hearing that John went to WTA’s Crew Leader College in North Bend, Sat & Sun. He has described the activities, in last week’s blog, but here are the photos to add to an understanding, and explanation of his new purchase this week (yet to be delivered), but ordered this Thursday, in Ellensburg.
Toter (background) with Beth in blue jacket and hat. Brusher in foreground. What we’ve ordered. Middle photo: Blue hat here is Holly demoing drill. Colleagues stand at right angle to worker and help keep a vertical hole. Right: Full view of Stihl FS 240 brusher.
Closer view of Toter at work, carrying 3 large posts.
Right side: Beth and John, WTA buddies taken at the Geography Awards Event Tuesday this week. Beth is the granddaughter of one of the donors (Mary Ann) of a scholarship award (Macinko Award in honor of her husband, George) given to a prospective life-long geographer.
I have visited Beth on email, but this was our first meeting in person. She worked with John on a WTA trip a few years ago. Last year she signed on as a Crew Leader. She does 4 and 7 day back-country trips, some very strenuous hiking required, so he hasn’t (and won’t) see her on her outings. He’s wearing his casual blue “bucket” hat and his WTA emblem on an orange shirt and, as an Assistant Crew leader, his WTA hard hat is orange. [Needs to shed a few pounds, doesn’t he?] After CLC he was presented with a new orange hat, so no longer has a faded one from long ago, and it has a nice tightener on the inside straps that his old one lacked.
Monday, May 21
We finished the blog tonight – very late, and I awoke this morning early, with only 6 hrs (if that) of sleep. The 3 outside cats came this morning, so I fed them, and also our inside/outside one wanted fed. I was awake and needed to send pictures to the folks at the AAC for the Friday event, so I put those into a Google Photo shared link and sent. If you are interested in seeing the photos, they are available here: (If you access it and click on a photo, then look above and click on “info” to see what I know about the photograph.)
AAC_Senior Prom Night_May 18, 2018
I was relieved from Jury Duty in July for health reasons.
Sent a check to Scotch Hill Cemetery – John’s relatives are guests there.
I tried catching up on my missed sleep, but didn’t get enough to feel up to going to town for only one stop; I canceled going to SAIL (exercise at AAC) at 1:30.
John made us a great brunch – omelet, sausage, fried potatoes, toast, and orange slices.
Here’s another interesting video on the Kilauea Volcano today, May 21, 2018. You may have to wait awhile until it loads, but eventually start it over again to get the complete running view. They are keeping folks away because of the deadly sulfuric gasses being emitted. We have a VCR with footage of a friends hike to the edge of the volcano rim taken probably 15 or more years ago. It’s rather impressive. On an interesting note, after I retired in 2010, the university removed the VCR units and capabilities from the classroom media presenter devices. That would have seriously affected my use of short clips to enhance my lectures I used in all my classes. They closed the Library’s media center for checking out reel movies and VCR tapes, and did away with them. I am not aware of any mechanical way to transfer information from a VHS tape to a digital copy. I just looked it up and found there is! One can buy a VHS to DVD Video Capture Device unit on Amazon for $35. I don’t have the incentive or need and especially not the time to do that conversion. Apparently, all the camcorder tapes I have of fiddling classes at the WOTFA summer workshops could also be transferred. I’ll have to leave my treasure trove to someone else. Meanwhile, here is the footage I wanted to share of the current eruption of Kilauea:
Fly Over 5-21-18 Kilauea Volcano Summit
Tuesday, May 22
Crazy morning. I awoke sick after a decent night’s sleep. John was due in town about 8:30, but when he went to open the gate, he noticed our irrigation water was down, and it had been slowing down over the past few days. A landowner downstream from us stopped to talk and said the diversion ditch providing our water has filled with rocks again. He will try to address the problem in the next 2 weeks. Last year they had to go through the Fish & Wildlife folks for a permit to clean out the rocks. John finally got back, loaded his car and went an hour late to town.
While there he filled his car with gasoline, went to his appointment, and then made two other stops. I canceled my 2:00 dancing class plans hoping to get to feeling better. We must leave our house in time to be at the Univ. by 4:30 p.m. for the end-of-year party with scholarship awards, in the grass east of the Dean Hall building (shady). We are taking a Crushed Pineapple-filled Lemon Cake, lawn chairs, drinks, and my camera for videotaping the award ceremony.
We are back in the house from setting up & cleaning the lawn chairs to take to the event tonight. I charged my camera battery. I did my part of fixing our lunch salad, after John cut the smoked turkey and apples. I’m feeling better than earlier, but I’m happy I stayed home from the AAC Just Dance class today.
I tried unsuccessfully to uninstall Sophos, a free anti-virus program, but now have to add administrative management to get into the user group to get rid of it. Thus far, I have not succeeded. The idea is that Windows Defender will take over as the anti-virus protector, once I rid my system of the Sophos invader, which I have to take credit for installing. I talked to Craig Scrivner (our computer guru in Geology/Geography, our Systems Administrator) at the party, and was told how I was supposed to do that, but didn’t have my computer along, so when I got home and tried, it did not work. I will have to take my laptop in to campus next week to get him to help me, or reach him in person by phone. I need to go by the Geography Dept anyhow so should be able to combine trips.
We left at 4:00 for Campus. We took lawn chairs and the cake, with a little flag John put on a skewer to identify it. The department also had a two-layer partitioned 1/2 chocolate and 1/2 white cake which most people had, and so we brought about half of our cake back home.
Image on the flag of our Pineapple-Lemon Cake
While we’re talking lemons, here is a collage of our favorite 5 yr. old, whose preschool class raised and released butterflies. All you lepidopterists out there will appreciate this.
They all hatched for the 3 preschoolers. A windy day and they didn’t want to leave, but liked the lemon sugars, and the rose.
Back to Geography: I took my Nikon camera and videoed all the individual awards for those there and those unable to be there. Ours is below. I’m sending all the rest to the donors, the students awarded scholarships, and to the Geography faculty members. I sent the presentation video of the GIS certificates to Bob Hickey, to send to all those recipients.
Many people joined the party, from babies, to young students, to faculty & staff members from several departments, to older retired members of the department. 
Mallory & Josh with Baby Daphne <> John, Mary Anne, Lillian, and <> Elaine with part of the crowd behind.
Hultquist Distinguished Service Scholarship Award
Mallory Triplett- Graduate student, Nancy, Caleb Valko, undergraduate
Hultquist Distinguished Service Award – Caleb Valko
Video:Hultquist Award – Caleb Valko
Hultquist Distinguished Service Award – Mallory Triplett
Video:Hultquist Award – Mallory Triplett
May 22, 2018 Awards – Geography Department and Cultural &
Environmental Resource Management (CERM) graduate program
Brooks/Shaw: Caleb Valko
Joseph P. & Gillian A. Stoltman Scholarship:
Isaac Anzlovar and Jamie Liljegren
Macinko: Isaac Anzlovar
Martin Kaatz: Andrew McDonald
Hultquist Distinguished Service Award:
Caleb Valko and Mallory Triplett
Wednesday, May 23
John left before 8:00 a.m. for White Heron Bottling of Rose. He carried along a large chunk of Jarlsberg Cheese for the tasting and sharing afterwards. He brought home 3 bottles of Rose’.
These flowering shrubbery photos go back over 10 days, but they never got put into our blog, and they are worth seeing in full bloom. 
Purple Lilac foreground, background Crabapple. Right image – Flowering Crabapple, has very small fruit, not a mess. 
Oregon Grape (yellow, foreground) with Lilac blooming and Carpathian Walnut in progress of leafing. Right: Mountain Ash near our front door
I’m taking care of paying bills, talking to the dentist’s office about my appointment tomorrow for a cleaning, and continuing to send videos from last night’s award ceremony up to You Tube. I must finish fixing my salad to take along and pack my carrier.
I’m going to the Food Bank for music and on from there to SAIL. I was rather sore today playing the fiddle and doing exercise, even with taking it easy both places.
Thurs, May 24
My morning was filled with printing and sorting new music for this afternoon to take to a dozen people, for our practice preview session before the regular program. We have 25 songs in this set. I provide lyrics packets and many in the audience will sing.
John and I made separate trips to town because we couldn’t figure how to combine without keeping him away from home for 5 hours.
He’s doing watering chores (onions this morning), using well water. Garden and flowers are doable. Larger fruit trees may suffer if ditch water isn’t back on in another week.
I drove myself to town because John had to drive the truck to pick up his Honda mower from WA Tractor and pieces of free wood at Wood Products Northwest. Below is an old image. Today they had a pickup load laying there.
I went to play music and then went to the dentist, for a 4:00 p.m. appointment for my teeth cleaning.
On one of the free Facebook sites, I spoke for a porcelain doll to give to my friend in Nampa, ID who taught us violin classes for 22 years in Kittitas at the Washington Old Time Fiddlers Summer Workshop (for a week). She has a doll collection and will be in Moses Lake this summer (I went to the workshop there once a couple years ago, but it was too hot for me existing there and being out in the heat on the way in and out, even staying in the a/c comfort of her RV on my friend’s farm. John and I plan to meet Roberta and her daughter for dinner this year, and I can deliver the doll then. It was a gift from a gal on the Facebook site, The Free Box. I asked her to consider me for it yesterday morning, and she delivered it to me at Hearthstone at the beginning of our music. She’s a pretty doll, but not antique. She’s only a few years old. Bobbie Pearce replied to my email, and would love to add her to her collection. While most are antique, she has several newer ones. 
Top of Porcelain Doll – Bottom – Full Standing View
I made contact via private messaging on Facebook, and now I await her returned response to my email about timing. I included the picture above. Once she knows the schedule, we can figure the time we’ll come pick them up. She and her daughter Katrina (a left-handed grand champion fiddler) will go with us to dinner in Moses Lake.
I started researching Historic Hay Stackers when I saw the following picture taken 20 years ago by Fred Newschwander. It is on Thomas Rd., only 1/2 mile from our house, but longer by road. Fred was our veterinarian shortly after we arrived in town. We knew him also through our membership in the Kittitas Valley Trail Riders club. John was the Club’s Monthly Newsletter Editor (we), for a number of years, printed on our computer and mailed to the membership. Finally, they got a web version going and we later quite riding and going to the meetings.
Fred’s history in the valley is updated here recently at a CWU presentation in May.
Ellensburg Veterinarian Honored at CWU Banquet 
Left photo by Fred Newschwander ~ 20 years ago. This is what it looked like when we arrived in 1989. Now the wood is more weathered; the right photo was taken 5-27-18 by Nancy Hultquist. The location is south of Thomas Road west of Naneum Road, on the left, before the first curve.
Here is the best video description I can find from the National Park Service in Montana.
Horse-drawn Loose Haying at the Grant-Kohrs Ranch, Montana (National Historic Site)
Check the video below.
Horse-drawn Loose Haying at the Grant-Kohrs Ranch, Montana
This equipment uses the Beaverslide Hay Stacker, named from its location in the Big Hole Valley in Beaverhead County, Montana. The lift is done with a series of cables and pulleys, which are powered by horses moving away from the raked load, hoisting it up the slide.
Beaverslide Full of Hay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beaverslide Stacker Empty
Friday, May 25
John left about 6:40 a.m. for the WTA work party at Gold Creek/
Gold Pond just this side of Snoqualmie Pass. The pond is an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible place with an asphalt trail and many interpretative signs. Most of the work was cleaning debris from between bridge decking, brushing, and the repair of one bridge approach. It involved cutting brush and moving rocks and dirt. John was on that project. See the prior blog, Item #3, for a bit more – John’s find!
Once over a decade ago, we walked around the pond with our best man and his wife (who died after 12 years of fighting cancer).
Did I mention I fell while dressing in the small bathroom, when my sock slipped on the bath mat on the linoleum floor, throwing me backwards onto the floor bruising and straining some parts of my body. Reflecting on yesterday, I was telling a person in our music group that I had taken a Percocet (serious pain pill I cannot get any longer), but it helped. It didn’t really help me through the rest of the afternoon, however. I had a dentist appointment for teeth cleaning at 4:00 (why I had to break at 3:05 to take my antibiotic during our music that went late past 3:00). Lying in the dental chair with my sore back (where I hit the wall), and my butt where I hit the floor, and my arms (got a pillow for the right one) and blanket for the left one, was hurtful more than the tartar scraping. I hit the right arm (my bowing arm and the good one) on the counter and toilet on the way down, and on the left one (my arthritic shoulder), I hit the floor on my thumb, which hurt Wed and Thurs holding the violin to play notes. I guess the right arm was hurting from bowing, because when I drove from Hearthstone to the dentist and then on home, it was actually hurting too much to hold the steering wheel. I’m better today, but certainly looking forward to a 3-day rest period.
Traffic alerts on I-90 started early today at 2:46 p.m. for eastbound from milepost 33 to milepost 106, with heavy traffic volumes, so travelers are experiencing 30 to 45 minutes of added travel time between North Bend and Ellensburg. John hasn’t called yet, but I imagine his trip will be affected. Guess I have time to unload the dishwasher and load the soaked sink full. He left his cell phone in his truck from yesterday’s trip, so he couldn’t call me. I was expecting him at 5:30 and he was right on, even with the slowed traffic. At least it kept moving. Annie was happy to see him.
I worked more on the photo and video projects to share with others from Tuesday, and for use in this week’s blog.
Last night John went to bed ahead of me, because of his needed early arising. I was ready to hit the hay and had an itch on my back. When I reached around I came in contact with a live critter. A young tick had adhered its head into my skin. It was out of my sight, so I just pulled at the thing, got its head and some of my skin, and then had it between my fingers, so I quickly got to the closest toilet and flushed it away. Then I pulled up my night shirt and looked in the mirror. Yep, a blood spot. Then I continued feeling and checking. I don’t know where it came from. I have not been outside walking in the woods, and have no clue how it got to where it was – one of life’s mysteries. Maybe it came in on Annie or John.
Saturday, May 26
Morning started early at 5:00 a.m. when John was getting ready to leave for Dorothy Lake WTA trip (Stevens Pass area). After feeding two outside cats, I went back to bed at 5:35 when John drove away.
Slept in and then started trying to do things on the computer, but now the time has slipped away, except I found a home on Facebook for getting rid of two pairs of jeans we cannot use. I need to finish the photos from the Geography awards party and ship off the videos. I need to work starting the dishwasher, fix brunch, and continue with the blog completion. John got his TW’sNSNN column out last night. My aches are still there, so I am using the long weekend to recuperate, so that I can start anew next Tuesday, having missed a week of exercise at the center because of holiday travels and closures. Our teacher was leaving early Friday for her trip for the weekend, and there was no one certified to teach the class. I once taught it while our then only teacher went to S. America and then to Canada, on another trip, and I would step in and lead the class. I had to stop because only people can teach it who have taken the all-day certification course, and had regular renewals. I didn’t mind helping when needed, but I did not want to be scheduled regularly. The reason it’s required is that their liability insurance would not be valid if I (uncertified) were teaching. Then I would be responsible for all the medical bills if someone fell while taking the class, and got hurt. No thanks.
Our winds continue. High 30s and lo 40s for the past 24+ hrs. Highest today was 47 mph.
I just had a great brunch, making it with leftovers from yesterday. A good serving of John’s enhanced Chicken Fettuccine from Costco, to which he adds veggies (green beans, Lima beans, carrots, celery, and corn), normally mushrooms but not this one, ½ of a tomato, leftover slightly less than a half of a Honeycrisp apple not finished in John’s lunch on the trail yesterday, finishing with cookies from Briarwood. That should give me sustenance to complete the rest of the afternoon. I did replace the outside cat’s water (full of seeds and windblown things), and the dog/cat water inside the house.
Responded to some overdue emails, now to load dishwasher and take pills. Done, and in 54 minutes from 2:03, I will have a dishwasher load of clean dishes.
Now back to the blog and photos from the Tuesday Awards dinner. Temperature is still low and nice today, but the wind is still howling. Up to 47 mph gusts last hour, 46 mph the hour before, and 45 mph the hour before that. It’s been over 40 for most of the day.
John called from Leavenworth at 5:38, and is about 70 minutes away, but then hit 5 red lights and kept talking through his Bluetooth. He said the place is full of tourists.
I found, removed, and flushed down the toilet an engorged tick on Annie’s head. We’ll have to conduct a major search when John gets home. Also, recently when our outside cat went to be neutered, they found an engorged tick on the back of his neck. I suppose of the 4 cats we own, we should check the ones (3) who will let us touch them. Our long-haired Woody still won’t after 6 years. I have just recently begun to be able to pet the orange one, Sue, mamma of Woody. Even if I found one, I doubt she would allow me to grab it and pull it off.
John made it home a little after 6:45 p.m. and now is out in the 47 mph wind with Annie.
John’s WTA trip’s photos arrived Sunday morning from the crew leader, with a nice report thanking all the workers, for their completion of specific tasks.
These collages tell quite a story that is too much to put into words for this blog. John explained each photo in detail to me this morning after they arrived from Nate Schmidt at 8:30 a.m. I hope John can summarize the story in a couple of sentences.
John is pictured with other workers in a WTA trail report by a hiker (Ed Moore) who came through the work site. That photo is below. Note the piece of old tree on the left side.
{Photo by Ed Moore, hiker.}
and the link to the Dorothy Trail report is HERE
Below are two collages of the work accomplished to clean up the mess of a large tree that feel across the trail and wreaked havoc with the uphill steps and turnpike. 
On the left, John (orange) is up-slope talking with hiker Ed Moore. Niki, lower right, is near another log piece. In front of her is a shovel. The old tree broke above the shovel handle and landed in the trail between Niki and John. The right photo shows damage to the steps; also shown in the first photo near John’s feet.
Below, these 2 photos show the reconstruction near the end of the work day. With about an hour left, rocks and dirt that had been collected are being passed to Carol and Jim who are packing the turnpike. Out of sight, more material is being dug or collected.
The log in front of Carol is held in place (rocks were added later) by stakes, split from a slab of old Yellow Cedar (remnant of previous work years ago). John, very right, has moved to cleaning out a drainage at the upper end of the site.
Sunday, May 27
Woke to geese making passes over the house while honking. Multiple times. They must have been playing a game. By the time we were up and about, they were gone. Lots of quail calling around too, but they are not loud nor intrusive.
This afternoon John is getting the new flag flying for Memorial Day. The flag came with a pole and holder meant to be held with 4 small screws. HAHA! Our winds would rip that down in an instant. That set-up would only be good indoors, perhaps a class room, gymnasium, or a great big family room. Our winds dropped below 20 mph, so John put the flag up for an hour while we ate supper. It is now in the house. Next week’s blog will have a photo. Anticipation builds.
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan