While I was home frustratingly dealing with a dying computer, of unbeknownst reasons, John drove, twice, the 3 hours to Longmire (at Mt. Rainier) for a WTA work party. His activities were much more interesting than mine were this week. I missed a couple of regular activities because of long stints on the phone and trips to Yakima. Photos by the WTA crew were posted and I’ve had John explain some of what was done. He went Friday and Sunday. My tribulations are below. John stepped in and explained this Mt. Rainier part.
June 1 & 3, 2018 on the Wonderland Trail along Paradise River
The WT is 93 miles long and encircles the Mountain. I’ve worked on short sections at various places over several years. This trip is very near the main SW entrance and gets a lot of traffic.
Locations: left: Mt. Rainier from the footbridge across the Nisqually River.
Right: Carter Falls on Paradise River from the Wonderland Trail
Across the Nisqually River for the hike in to the work site. Note the crew is not carrying tools. They were cached after Friday’s work, then brought out after Sunday’s trip.
Conveniently, a large Yellow Cedar tree (great resistance to rot) had blown down with its top at the trail’s edge. With a bit of work, it gave needed material to the repair.
Splitting Cedar rails for “Check Steps” for placement across the trail. Orange hat in the right photo is Aaron, of the National Park trail crew. Green hat is a WTA volunteer. Left photo – driving steel wedges into the end of the log. In the right photo both are using cant hooks (aka Peavey) (link) to get leverage to break the tree trunk apart.
The biggest single project for the weekend was to repair a seriously eroded 30 ft. section near a large tree.
Left photo is an early photo with a test-placement of a step. See photo below for that with John (orange shirt) and a volunteer. Terry looks on. Over many years, the tree roots became uncovered and boots and water cut deep into the soil on the left side. On the right, the finished set of steps (7 total) are placed and filled with small rocks (first) and soil.
A project requires planning and coordination. That’s the Blue Hat’s responsibility. In the photo below, our Blue Hat (Hannah) works with Terry (note straight rake handle and level) to determine the placement of the 2nd check-step.
Behind Hannah, a piece is being peeled and shaped to fit the space. Up the trail a reddish-brown mound of dirt is visible. A pit-digger and 4 bucket carriers provide the material from 50 feet off the trail. Another dozen folks are working farther up the trail, unseen. The Blue Hat carries a bag of snack-size candies (think little Snickers Bars) and goes to each group, giving candy, and advice.
The two photos below show a spot at the down-trail end of the “steps” project. As the steps project began to take shape, John jumped into the muddy project.
There is a wet area where water seeps up into the trail from the surrounding forest. Years ago a drain was dug across the trail and a slanting log laid across – seen in the foreground, partly covered with muck. That filled in with forest litter, wet soil, and small stones.
The right photo shows Alan, Eric, and John building a stable step across the drain from the log. Unlike the good fortune of have a good tree to get steps from, this area is short of rocks. Bummer. We managed – somewhat like working a very difficult jigsaw puzzle.
Alan is the chief WTA trail guy and mostly operates as a “Blue Hat”, but on this day was operating with Eric and John as a team of equals – sort of.
Monday, June 4 Computer fixin’ day
Okay, back to Nancy’s problems:
Whole day dedicated to Nancy’s laptop Dell.
I drove to Yakima to follow-up on my phone call yesterday with Jared at Office Depot, where he has a 1 Terabyte external disk drive to sell me and also is willing to see if he can find the problem that 3 others have not been able to fix. He was unable to fix it although I think he made more progress than anyone to date, including the tech support at Dell Computers who connected to it and I watched her efforts, but they failed, and the conclusion was I would have to have them RESET my laptop to what it was when I bought it. That means I lose all my software, and have to back up all files on the old one which will be wiped clear with the “reset” after backing up.
We left my laptop at Office Depot and I will pick it up tomorrow afternoon.
After that we filled my car with gasoline at Costco for a decent price, only 6 ₵/gal cheaper than in Ellensburg, but hey, that’s 60₵.
Before leaving Yakima, we decided to check out WinCo Foods, a new grocery store adjacent to Costco in Union Gap. We only saw a few items that were obviously a better deal than what we could get in Ellensburg on sale at Super 1, or at Grocery Outlet. One was an excellent price on All Bran Buds and an okay price on Raisin Bran. While there we picked up something else, but only had $20 worth. We went through the checkout counter, and I saw the credit card machine, but the cashier said they wouldn’t take it, only cash or debit cards. What a surprise! We did have the money, but had we bought $200 of stuff, we would not have had cash. We don’t own a debit card. We believe they need to post a sign at the entrance warning people of the payment required. I also prefer to use my VISA credit card from Costco because we get 1% back in cash rewards for purchases made on it, anywhere, 2% on purchases in Costco, and 4% on gasoline purchased anywhere.
While WinCo has lots of stuff, we are not likely to go there often. Too many intervening opportunities, and the lack of credit card usage.
Tuesday, June 5
Started with our annual trip to the eye doctor. Nancy at 10:00 and John at 10:15, although John ended up finishing first with our beloved Dr. Davis at Valley Vision. We both had good sessions and each one of us got a newly changed refraction test, for new glasses. We can have them covered in part by our insurance. Story why comes later in the week. We thought we were not yet eligible because we are only eligible every 24 months, for $150 toward the costs. Check Friday for the rest of the story.
While WinCo has lots of stuff, we are not likely to go there often. Too many intervening opportunities, and lack of credit cards.
I had to make another trip to Yakima, this time by myself, to pick up my computer and check out my ability to use the computer with the new external disk. I knew I had to be there before my tech support person left for the day (at 4:00 p.m.). Everything took longer than planned on the backup installation, and I barely made it there in time to get it before 4:00. It completed just minutes before my drive down (took an hour).
Wednesday, Jun 6
I fixed my salad to take today, with John’s help of cubing smoked turkey and cutting little pieces of Honeycrisp apple. I added the iceberg lettuce and Blue Cheese dressing, and packed Cheez-its for croutons, plus took a stainless steel fork so I didn’t have to eat with a flimsy plastic one.
Food Bank as usual for music but I carried along all the music for today, because our normal leader was unable to be there. I went ahead of time because also another member who sets up chairs and music stands also was not going to be there. Afterwards I was off for SAIL exercise class.
After that class, I went by to care for the cat and clean up. They are due home mid-day tomorrow.
Once home, I continued on projects relating to my computer.
Expecting a call about 5:30 from the tech at Costco Concierge, whose help I will no longer need. Need to contact Dell for hopefully a refund. The call arrived just after I got home at 3:30, as they are on CST and I was supposed to be called at 5:30 in my time zone!
Thurs, Jun 7
Rehab for music. We had 11 people there and a good time.
I’ve been working on file structure for the computer problems.
Thursday afternoon call from Deepa in India. I asked her to please submit a request for a refund for failing to fix my problem. I no longer need her to reset the system. I don’t know when I will hear back.
Friday, Jun 8
John left about 6:40 a.m. for the WTA work party at Denny Creek. See Item #3 in his “Not so nasty news” – previous blog post.
I’m staying home to give attention to a number of things.
I contacted Craig at school and we have arranged for me to drop off my computer laptop for him to add some software, now that my old one got wiped clean. I also tried reaching the publisher of the Music writing software to no avail. I will search for my serial number on the music and try a telephone call on Monday. I copied it before leaving the computer to be backed up and reset.
I called my secondary insurance, Kaiser Permanente, to see if we both have eyeglasses available. Valley Vision apparently called and were told we both were eligible for our $150 toward a new pair. I didn’t think we’d gone 2 years since using the discount.
I now know why. We are NOT COVERED FOR OUT OF NETWORK PEBB service (and thus, Costco is not an optical approved provider and therefore not included). A person seeking the reimbursement must use an approved provider or a Kaiser Facility (closest one of those is Seattle): only ones in Ellensburg are Valley Vision and Dr. Sarah Storrs’ place: Family Eye Clinic, 707 N. Pearl Suite B, and we are both eligible. She would then be reimbursed by insurance for the $150. I figure her prices are most likely better than Valley Vision’s, and I would like to support her business, because I know her socially from other connections.
I did a load of John’s clothes today and my socks and underwear. I did a load of dishes. I have not hear back about the Dell Computer charge. I worked on computer re-organization.
John called on his way home, and I gave him the place to buy gasoline for his car, which we are taking on a field trip this Sunday.
It started raining tonight. Not good for the farmers with hay down, and there is a lot down and much baled, and still in the field.
Saturday, Jun 9
John fixed us brunch and then went out in cooler weather (hoping that continues through our field trip tomorrow) and returned with a flower bouquet he brought me (made from the last of the Iris):
This now graces our kitchen window over the sink.
Now I’m removing a lot of stuff from my Nikon camera to use on the field trip tomorrow. I also need to clean up my movie camera so that I can capture the lectures at the 4 stops on our trip.
A notification came across my screen advertising a free wooden table for giveaway, about 9 mi (~ 15 minutes from us). We decided to drive in and get it, even though we don’t have room for it. It seems to have potential.
Here are some cropped pix of the announcement: 
It shows some wear, came without chairs, but did come with an insertable piece. John wants to know why those are called a “leaf.”
Once home, while moving files on my computer, I saw a notification go across the screen that my friend in CA had tagged me on a Facebook send – it was of a nest of ugly baby birds. She said the mom had a red-head, but the nest was in the crook of a tree, scented by her Brittany (she found him standing on his hind legs). I don’t know many red-headed (solely) birds except a red-headed woodpecker, but I would imagine they would prefer nesting in the hole of a tree. What do you think? I thought of a red finch and John thought of a redpoll. 
Baby birds of some species
Sunday, Jun 10
John and I are going to participate in Nick Zentner’s field trip on the Ringold Formation, an interesting geologic layer about 50 miles to our southeast, and near the Hanford Atomic Energy site. It starts in Ellensburg at 10:00 a.m. and ends at 6:00 p.m. We’ll go in John’s car, following the caravan. We first expected hot weather, but a reprieve may be in store. Surely hope so. Even a little drizzle after 11:00 a.m. could be possible. Suits me. I’m not a hot weather person.
Images below are part of the field trip guide. Report next week.
Above map, by Manastash Mapping, of Ringold Formation field trip 6-10-18. Handouts made possible by Ellensburg Chapter members of the Ice Age Floods Institute. 
This is from the color handouts of the field trip notes, which are on line (see link below). The Hanford site is across the Columbia River (west). We learned on the field trip, this is created by Google Maps (not Google Earth), and requesting 3D. We have not tried that yet. Has a lot of promise, as can be seen in the handout below. Take a peek at it. You’ll need it to help interpret the videos taken at each stop which will be reviewed in next week’s blog.
The title by Nick Zentner: Ringold Formation – June 2018
Ringold Formation Field Trip – June 10, 2018
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan