We recently got the “report” from a WTA trip of 7/19 to Mica Peak. {There was fire on the return, so late.}
John went over past Spokane for a WTA work party, driving his Ford truck and carrying his commercial Stihl brusher with a metal blade. He left that over there for crews to use during subsequent workdays.
John was not in any of the photos of the crew because he with two others were downhill about 3-4 miles working on brushing the road. Others were working on a new trail, toward the summit. This one photo grabbed my attention. 
It is a Trapdoor spider on a person’s glove.
I have never known of them, but here is an interesting video describing their behavior.
Trapdoor Spiders Are Masters Of Surprise
Sunday, July 29 (addition)
Another late entry. John went to the South Puyallup River Trail at Mt. Rainier. This is a short trail that connects the old Westside Road (now no vehicles except NPS) that connects with the Wonderland Trail. After the drive over, National Park trucks and drivers carried the crew to the trail over the otherwise closed road.
Top: John gives the morning tool safety talk and demo. Workers sitting on an interestingly crafted bicycle stand for bikers to leave their bikes to hike to a view. Bottom: the crew at lunch.
The South Puyallup River has been carving up the trail, so WTA is currently doing some re-routing to higher elevations. New trail begins with streamers tied to trees through the forest. Below.
Note red letters: A = small tree; B = old log; C = another small tree; and higher is D = larger tree.
Only a half dozen folks have walked along this route.
On the right side “After” photo, note trees A & C have been cut; Log “B” has been slid downhill; small brush along the corridor has been removed; and tree “D” is more visible.
It is a start.
On a nearby hillside the work is a bit further along. Below.
The “Before” image is actually near the end of 2 days of cutting new trail. It is rough, narrow, and has a steep shoulder on the uphill side. That steep shoulder is ‘leaned back’ in the “After” photo, the trail is smoother, and wider. This is very passable and safe, but not finished. Some roots and larger trees have to go or they will soon fall and rip up the trail. A Park saw crew can now go in and cut larger things with a chain saw. More work will follow.
Monday, July 30
Morning of another hot day when temperatures are supposed to climb to 103°.
John left to take his car, Jessica, Crosstrek 2016, to the dealer for a pre-paid regular oil change / lube / and check over. (They ended up finding his car was out of alignment because he had hit a deep pothole pretty hard on the Rainier trip. It took them longer to get that done than the scheduled items, and he was charged (not included in the prepaid service).
He went to Costco while there, and is taking an evaluation of a Smart Phone (Motorola Moto G4 Plus to ask Mat if my 2014 Forester will support it with its Bluetooth). They claim it will.
It’s expected to be a very hot day.
Ordered John’s Hydrochlorothaizide and Lisinopril. Whoopie, the cost (insurance co-pay) for 90 will only be ~$7.54 for each and there’s no need to have it rewritten for more tablets. Last was only for 30, I prefer getting 90 at a time. It is supposed to be in our records at the doctor’s office, but somehow, last time, 30 slipped through.
I canceled going to SAIL today, because of the high temperatures.
Tried on my clown suit from Marcia Hedrick, and it will work for Friday’s, A Fair to Remember.
Okay, I called Mat Bland & Subaru to get a message to John that he left his phone at home, and I wanted him to get Friskies cat food at Costco today.
Check the A/C and measure the glasses for ordering my new grey clip-ons. They should be shipped Monday and to me within the week.
Wrote note to KV F&F for this week and sent Julie’s pictures.
A/C just turned on to 76° in the house
at 12:59, out front the temperature is 97.7°; airport it is 98°.
1:59, 97.6° here; at the airport it is 101°
2:59, 97.5° at the airport it is 102°
3:59, 96.6° at the airport it is 102°
4:59, 95.4° at the airport it is 102°
9:00, 80.0° on our front porch still
At 2:00 p.m., I ordered two Smart Phones (G4) from Consumer Cellular and talked Stephanie down $10.00 on my purchase, because I have complained for 3 yrs about no reception on my cell phones at home (flip phones, G3 technology), but supposedly the new phones have a higher technology but work off the same towers, and we will have reception (we’ll see). I got $5.00 credit on my current July invoice for service, lowering it to $33.92. When next month’s statement comes, I am to call Consumer Cellular and request my $5 credit adjustment for August.
For Internet access on the Smart Phones, we will need 1 Gb $10/mo or 3 Gb for $20/mo; Normal $20 for unlimited minutes and $10 for John’s + $10 for 1Gb data; $40 billed monthly, plus taxes, after our Smart phones are activated.
I changed the password on my Computer Cellular account when I ordered two new Smart Phones. Question now is, when the Smart Phones are activated, will our charges increase for usage of phone, accessing the web, or texting. I found out the answer. Because we already have an unlimited minutes account for $20/mo., it continues, and John’s on it also continues on his phone for $10/mo. The only extra is for data and I chose 1 Gb for $10/mo. Both our Smart Phones will use off the same account. So, our price after taxes are added is $39.80, and that will go up by $10 probably with another 8.0% added.
I checked briefly on Facebook and found this link, which was sent to me by a few local friends:
Video of the day… I-90 Cle Elum River Fire
For those without Facebook: check this video taken from a car headed east on I-90, that started when a pickup truck caught fire, and instead of leaving the truck on the roadway, the driver pulled over to the dry grass and the fire rapidly moved south into the trees. The pickup was destroyed.
Original Video of the closure of I-90 at MP 81 for the Cle Elum River Fire
Jump ahead to Saturday, Aug 4, when another car fire stayed in the right lane, on the pavement, and closed westbound lanes of I-90 at MP 67, near Easton, but the driver did not pull off onto the grass along the side of the road. The WSP and Fire Crew responded and handled the issue.
Tuesday, July 31
I realized the link for the Nick Zentner video from last week I sent was replaced by another, so I re-sent the corrected version.
Calling for 103° temps again today; got to 104° at the airport. It was very hot when I was in town today.
I went for my haircut, and took a pair of jeans to Celia for her to use on making carrying bags, which she sells. She made one for me with extra-long straps to have to carry my audience music to play on Thursdays. Also, I took her a 20# box of 5 different onions John has grown. She and Bobby eat a lot of onions, and she always appreciates them.
I went to Bi*Mart (for Friskies) but skipped going to the senior center for Jazzercise at 2:00. Last week was too much. I guess I pushed myself too hard, trying to keep up with the leader. Next week the time switches to 11:00 a.m. for the month of August and I don’t think that is going to work for me.
Wednesday, Aug 1
Food bank soup kitchen music, with SAIL exercise afterwards.
Picked up John’s prescriptions.
Thurs, Aug 2
I started a little earlier for town today, because I had to deliver a 5-gallon bucket of Dahlias to the AAC for tomorrow’s event. I left it for them and went back afterwards to retrieve the bucket. They had made a nice arrangement, which I’ll take a photo of tomorrow when I’m in for the event.
I dropped by Bi-Mart on my way from AAC to Rehab and got 2 more cans of Friskies Pate to enter my receipt for prizes. Done!
I played music today at the Rehab, and the winds were blowing for my whole trip in and back home. I was blown around walking from my car at several stops. On the way home, winds were rocking my car as I drove north. No wonder – winds gusted to 47 mph during that hour.
Our phones and protectors arrived today. We found out Sunday the tempered glass protectors do not fit our phones, so we have to return them ($6.00 postage) and will be returned $14.51 on an E card (whatever that is). Their advertising was not clear on the original purchase. We realized we also bought the wrong case for my phone, so John added the case to the return request. Then he purchased the correct stuff.
Friday, Aug 3
Today, my father would have been 120.
John is going to the West Fork of the Foss River, northwest from here for a WTA work party, leaving about 6:30. Four people on the crew canceled at the last minute last night. He says a couple of others not on the list showed.
Here is a view from that trail with two photos received from Nate (the crew leader). More pix are expected from others on the trip.
Left: The outlet from Heart Lake on the West Foss River Trail; part of the trail on 8/5, with the crew from WTA Fireside members – more than small $$ donations. John and another are not yet to the bridge. An assistant crew leader always walks ‘sweep’ or ‘drag’.
Before I left home, I received a call from my optometrist, saying my glasses lenses arrived and I need to come by to have them put into my frames today. I said, oh my, I know on Friday you close at 1:00 and I am going to still be at the Senior Center. But, depending on how long it takes, and if you don’t mind my coming in a clown costume, I’ll come by on my way there. They didn’t mind and he said it would only take 5 minutes. It worked!
I was on my way to an event – A Fair to Remember at the AAC, as a requested volunteer photographer. We have lunch before and fun before, during, and afterward. I dressed in a clown costume loaned to me by a fellow member there. We did have cooler weather than earlier in the week, but my carrot top wig was made from rug wool and was extremely hot, even inside in the a/c, but I survived.
Lunch included: corn dogs, kettle corn, veggies with dip, and cotton candy. I took my own salad (with apple, cherry tomatoes, smoked turkey, and iceberg lettuce, just in case I couldn’t eat the veggies or salad. I ended up bringing home 2 corn dogs, and 2 bags of Kettle popcorn. I did not eat a corn dog there or have any popcorn. The balloon sculpture maker in Ellensburg (Hugh Wilder) made a bag of “things” and donated them to our AAC for today’s event. I brought a flower home to John to thank him for the large vase of Dahlias he grew, cut, and gave me to take in yesterday for the staff (our neighbor, Gabriella Bacon, a volunteer at the AAC arranged them). She did a beautiful job. Photos included below.
All other AAC events are canceled all day for this big one. We will have games to play and tickets to enter. Outside, 4H kids and parents are bringing farm animals for us to enjoy. We got to visit with a miniature horse named Bravo, a goat, a sheep, a white leghorn 2-year old chicken named Peep, two different rabbits (one pretty white one with red eyes), and a little doggie.
Photos are below, and I will add the links to Google Photos/Videos in next week’s blog.
There I am in the clown suit holding the vase of Dahlias. 
Ellensburg 2018 Rodeo Queen, Erin, Rodeo Clown, Nancy, & Rodeo Princess, Mikaila, with us all holding balloon sculptures made and donated by Hugh Wilder, from Ellensburg.
One of the games on the arcade was balloon dart throwing. I enjoyed it the most, watching others, and participating. Here I am below, and next blog, you’ll have a chance to see several others, including happy 4H kids. Other games were spinning a wheel, ring toss, lawn darts, dropping pennies into jars in a tank, and awards for canning or growing fresh vegetables. The tour of the animals was a delightful part of the day. 
Clown Nancy, Ready, Aim, Fire! I hit one out of 3.
Saturday, Aug 4
This morning I have been working on the plans for our music group to have a practice session.
After breakfast, John went out to water veggies and trees.
We are meeting folks at 1:30 p.m. for lunch at The Palace.
John had a BBQ something or other slices of beef with a ton of French fries and I had a Hawaiian burger, with a half a plate of salad.
We had a nice visit with a couple seriously considering a move from Tonasket, several hours north – to Ellensburg. We visited about a number of topics. John and I left to fill my gasoline tank, to go to the grocery, and then by Bi-Mart to get a new watchband for him. It broke yesterday while he was sawing limbs overhanging the trail.
John stopped for peaches on his way home. He bought them south of Leavenworth, near the intersection where Blewett Pass road takes off. He also got 6 ears of corn (3/$1.00), and we had one last night that was the best we’ve had this year.
Sunday, Aug 5
We cleaned, cut, and froze peaches this morning.
I called in our RSVP to the local Audubon picnic for Aug 16.
Did so many things today, I don’t remember them all, but we stayed busy the entire day, and are continuing tonight.
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan