Monday, Aug 27
. . . … would have been my mother’s birthday …
Started early by driving Annie to the vet; arrival, 7:30 a.m.
Back home and John fixed breakfast of sausage, eggs, toast, orange slices.
Now he’s getting Myst ready for trimming at 10:00 a.m.
We will go to town at 1:00 to get me to the AAC for exercise class, taking yellow summer squash for giveaway, and John took a book to read so we could go together afterwards for stuff on sale at Safeway. We cannot pick Annie up until after 4:00. We have several other stops in town.
The vet will call our home with a report on how the anesthesia and tests went—around 11-noon. They called but said they were delayed by other surgeries, so they wouldn’t get to her until later afternoon. They finished about 2:15 and called my cell phone. We were driving from one stop after the exercise class, when the phone call came. The technician said she was still groggy and it would likely be until 4:00 before we could pick her up. So we went on to Safeway and to two other stops before driving out to the west side of town to the vet, getting there about 3:45. We took care of paperwork and bill paying, and soon she appeared. Wow! I wish I had a before and after picture. She was a hairy mess when we left her, and now she looks like a puppy. They literally shaved her body. She will be a lot happier and us too.
They completed several lab tests, and we have to wait for a couple to be returned after analysis at another lab. They did a pre-op lab to be sure she could withstand the anesthesia. Sent off the labs for testing her Thyroid, and her need for taking Phenobarbital. Those last two were over $120. Wow! I was overcharged for the pre-op but I recalled what it said on the approval form I signed and they returned $10 cash. Glad I looked closely at the itemization (and remembered correctly), as I did not have a copy. John heard it across the room as well, said to me and to another person with her dog.
Annie is 11 years old (born in 5-9-2007)—our only Brittany left with us. Her AKC registered name is Cedaridge Vintage Rousanne (SR43508804 09-10).
We were gone from 1:00 to 5:00. While in town, we stopped by Bi-Mart and the hospital to drop off the Care & Service report, and two other places.
Tuesday, Aug 28
I stayed home to tackle many tasks today and not all are listed here.
• Called Critter Care with comments and questions. Annie weighed 61# and has gained 8# since last there 2 years ago. We have put her on a low-fat pellet food to mix with what she has left, and then will totally switch to that.
• Called Gloria about going with me tomorrow to SAIL
• Had a call just before noon from the vet regarding Annie’s lab tests. She was below the normal range [15-40] with a 6 and we will take her off all Phenobarbital for a month, and reevaluate. Her Thyroid test was normal at 1.6 within the range, 1.0 – 4.0. So that’s good. I requested that as an additional test because her mom was on Levothyroxine for the last few years of her life. We had not seen any symptoms, so it was just precautionary.
• John picked Starking plums getting 10# from one tree and only a handful of Bubblegum plums. I compared them tonight and like the Bubblegum a lot. Hopefully, we will get more next year.
• Called Consolidated Communications Customer Service to report a problem with a $92 charge Aug 1. Turns out it was related to their own problem of saying that my Discover Card on file had expired. It had not, and then they changed it, and I paid for 2 months missed. They had charged me a service charge of $6 for the bad card which was not expired, and their fault. I have been credited for the charge at my request.
• I then asked to be transferred to Technical Support, and reached Stewart in SC where I reported our continued loss of DSL and router problems. He saw all of the previous problems documented and requested immediate attention by a repairman today, or tomorrow morning.
• Request Complete Blood profile with next INR for the Sodium component in my blood. Sept 12 in preparation for my Sept 24 appt. with Dr. Kim. Put call in today to Cle Elum KVH clinic, but because it was not urgent, I was not called. Got the response I wanted the next day, so it should be set to go.
• WSJ problems again. Thought we had it corrected after losing copies in July. Next is my email about the first telephone call, and the subsequent addendum. 8-28-18, reported to Jess in the Philippines (1-800-JOURNAL–(1-800-568-7625)) that we had no delivery Aug 23, 24, 25, but had a paper delivered Aug 27 with no back papers, explanation, or apologies. We also did NOT have a delivery this morning Aug 28, and I will try reporting to support@wsj.com and request information from the regional carrier (out of Seattle, WA), where your delivery office is. Our previous carrier I knew but have not contacted her. Perhaps it has changed to a different delivery person. PLEASE HELP. We want to receive both the printed copy and the digital version, but not only the digital. The name is Nancy B. Hultquist, delivery address has not changed in many years, is 11041 Naneum Road, Ellensburg, WA – with phone number: (509)-925-3304 unchanged since 1989.
• Contacted (via email) Culligan on Fruitdale Rd in Yakima that we wanted someone to call us tomorrow morning before 10:00 a.m. to talk about adding an iron removal system and perhaps adding additional filtering. This is meant for before 10:00 a.m. on Aug. 29. We will be here during the day on Thursday, Aug 30, but no time on Friday, Aug 31. Please use the only phone line (landline) we have for reception at our house. Thank you!
Wednesday, Aug 29
John went to the dentist for teeth cleaning and took along $ to get my Prevident fluoride toothpaste.
I left earlier for the food bank music because our normal member who sets up the music stands and the chairs and then goes to pick up the pasta for lunch was not there today, but on the west side visiting his children and grandchildren for the weekend. I needed to help with our setup and also to show a video of a tribute to friends of the fellow who died. She and the others do not have a computer to view and were interested. I just showed it on my camera.
We had a good number there today for music with 3 singers and 4 instrumentalists. We also sang Happy Birthday midway through (to me). Lori flashed the lights and then called my name and I led off the song in the key of G. Everyone in the room sang. It was cool. Three people asked afterwards how old I was, and I said, ¾ century, 75 years.
I sat with 4 other musicians and we had lunch, after we had played for ½ hour. I always take my salad, but as a member of the Senior Nutrition group, I now register with my membership card there, and I can participate in the healthy food. Today’s was cottage cheese with pineapple or white grapes. I chose white grapes to go with my salad I made and brought. Also I got a piece of homemade brownie to bring home.
I left as soon as I could to go pick up my friend, Gloria Swanson, at Hearthstone, to take along to SAIL class. She was in the class starting in 2010 and that’s where I met her. She is now 92 and still going strong. They have their own SAIL class at Hearthstone, so she does not have to come along to the AAC. She always went with me to the Food Bank lunch on Wednesday. It is not as easy for me to pick her up to take her there because before, her house was right on the way. Now it is on the south side of town, so I have suggested she ride the Hopesource bus, to the Food Bank, and then join the others that come from there to the AAC for SAIL, and then be picked up to be taken back to Hearthstone. We’ll see if we can make that work after the Fair & Rodeo are over.
I carried a box of onions for Joanie (she’s a fiddler with our group) & Ken that they picked up from my car at the end. I had run lyrics sheets for La Marseilles in French & English for SAIL class to have to follow 3 of us sing it in French. See below.
After eating, I left early to pick up Gloria at 1:05 to get us both to the AAC for Jessi’s last day, taking along my camera. Below is one link to all photos taken.
SAIL Final Class with Jessi Broderius – August 29, 2018
Thanks to AAC Director Katrina for taking these photos and video on my camera.
La Marseillaise – Anne, Nancy, Sandy, in Final SAIL w/ Jessi
A video of our song, the French National Anthem, in French, is below. We always had questions at the end of every class, and this was our answer to the question, “As a younger person, what song did you learn to sing in a foreign language?” This was my response, which I learned and memorized in the 7th grade in Georgia. Two of our class members agreed to join me today, and I provided copies to all there of the lyrics in French and English.
La Marseillaise – Anne, Nancy, Sandy, in Final SAIL w/ Jessi
On my way home, I delivered a box of onions, a few plums, and other stuff to the Davisons.
We have a new router, Comtrend8D9F and my computer works, but John’s second right hand monitor quit working. He just figured it out after the guy was gone – the tech apparently turned off the monitor switch while replacing the router (right next to it). It’s back on, and he fixed the correct information in our Epson printer so we can print again.
I tried to wash clothes, and the Kenmore washer broke. We cannot get one today, but one is being ordered and John had to drive in to pay in advance ($751) for picking it up from the store on Wednesday afternoon to bring home to install. He’ll have to remove the truck canopy before then.
I spent all day working on computer things, because I did not have to go play music today at an assisted living home as it is the 5th Thursday of the month and a BYE day for us. We get 3 / year.
Friday, Aug 31
John left very early for Dingford Trail work, west near North Bend, with LeeAnn as the crew leader. After last week, he had made a nice sectional description of the trail to take along and show to the crew at the trail head and safety talk that precedes every WTA work party. He did take a photo at the talk with it in the back of the truck, but I added the photos below it instead because they better fit the day. On the long trek driving into the trail head, they found a tree had fallen across the road, blocking their access. As a trained WTA crew, they stopped, cut, and removed it.
The tree rested on both sides of the road, so the middle part bowed down. This is called “top bind”, and as the cut is made the wood will pinch the saw blade. At the moment this starts, the cutting stops and a wedge (yellow plastic) is inserted into the cut (kref). This holds the cut open and allows sawing to continue.
Left photo, sawyer Emily has Krishna sawing while she sets the wedge. Right photo, with wood under the saw, Emily completes the cut. The saw will drop onto the piece of wood and not be damaged by the rocks of the road.
If you want to see more pictures from this day, and 3 more from Sunday’s outing to the same trail, please follow this link: photos are from John’s new phone, except for the top photo.
WTA, Dingford Creek Trail, 8-31-18 & 9-2-18
The first 3 photos are actually from Sunday’s trip, Sept 2, but the rest of the trip Aug 31, makes up the rest of the day, only taken on John’s phone and other trail pictures for the whole weekend’s work will arrive this week.
From there I dressed and left for Kittitas, WA to go to the USPS office there, knowing it would be fast and no long line waiting as in Ellensburg. They open at 1:30 from lunch, and I had two other things to do in town.
First was across the street from the Elementary school where I went for 22 years to W.O.T.F.A. Summer workshops for a week. I was picking up (freely given) a set of cup and bowl of Thomas the Train for my little conductor 6 yr. old friend in Roslyn. He’s the one I mentioned previously about writing a song saga about steam locomotive.
Thomas the Train – Gift for young train lover & musician, Miles.
I picked up and then went on down to the Pantry (free for clothes it is open Fridays from 1-4, and also Wed 1-3). I managed to get some jeans for a disabled couple who cannot drive and who need unusual sizes. It was a helpful stop. In addition, I got some more jeans for the WTA crew, to have for people who arrive in shorts, and I picked up a pair of nice brown jeans in my size. I’m wearing them to an event this coming Sunday.
I also received an oil painting of a Native American on a horse (painted in 1979) that I’m going to give to my neighbor, Allen Aronica, of the Kittitas band of the Yakama Nation. I still need to contact him, but he is occupied with the Fair and his Native American involvement.
Then on down to mail a package at the Kittitas, P.O., with no one in line, and nothing required but to hand over the package. Upon reflection, I realize I should have asked for a receipt. Oh, well, I hope it arrives, as it is will be a $135 refund to me for the Smart Phone I returned, because of no reception as expected at home. I still get reception at the far end of my house on my flip phone.
From there, back to Ellensburg, to Bi-Mart, but sadly, the Moisture Drops for my eyes has not yet been delivered from the warehouse. Next stop, Super 1, for two heavy boxes of Classic Cokes for $3.99 each. Off to Safeway, for a bunch of items, all on Just 4 U sale prices: colas, sausage, cheddar cheese, iceberg lettuce, and corn-on-the-cob.
John called from on the road at Snoqualmie Pass. They were an hour late returning from the trail, and he is in a slow traffic jam on I-90, stop & go at 5mph. No idea when he will get home (it was 7:00 p.m.).
I walked up the drive with Czar (cat) and Annie and because she was going nuts without him here. She wanted in the ditch and I can get the mail and paper while there.
It seems the delivery person (Jennifer) for the Wall Street Journal has flown the coup. Erratic delivery started a couple of months ago, and now there are none. The WSJ folks haven’t been much help in solving this, but they do offer to extend the subscription. For that to work, they have to solve their delivery issue.
John called from Sanders / Hannah road at 6:43, only 10 minutes away. I’ll let Annie out. Now they’re going for another walk to feed the horses.
Nice supper with a late dessert (Marionberry pie). Lots of stuff going on today and tomorrow, Sunday, and maybe I can rest on Labor Day.
First another story of something that happened in our valley that’s rather unbelievable – we have an exotic bird in our midst. 
An Emu pictured in our Kittitas Valley on Lower Green Canyon Road. He is an escaped rescue bird, but now has showed up in our neighborhood several miles to the east. Story to be continued. He/she has been tracked to a nearby place, but there remains the issue of capture and removal.
Saturday, Sept 1 MY BIRTHDAY !
Scary – Google search from Midnight started wishing me Happy Birthday all day!
Thanks for my birthday telephone call from Bruce & Michelle Seivertson in California and for one from sister Peggy that came the day after while I was still partying over at White Heron.
Michelle and Bruce are going to Chico for a 75th birthday party for people in his high school graduating class. From there they will ride the train to Anaheim for a trip to Disneyland.
I’m looking at all the greetings coming through on Facebook, and it will take longer than I have today. I have had videos sent, paintings, and tons of messages. I’ll snip a few of them to share, and do a combined thank you tomorrow or late tonight for all in one thank you send to my timeline friends.
We plan to celebrate my special day, ¾ of a century, at Yakima Steak Company with friends, Suzy & Bob West, from west of Yakima. The restaurant we had gone to in the past with them, The Black Angus, has now closed.
Parts of our dinner and us:
We had two loaves of warmed bread, appetizers 6 prawns to go with the stuffed mushrooms, classic salad wedge part sliced, the 12-oz NY steak with mashed Yukon Gold potatoes and sautéed green beans (for each couple), and I did not get a photo of my special birthday dessert: a heated very large chocolate/chocolate chip cookie heated in a round crock-type dish, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce atop.
Birthday presents in addition to dinner. I have a new (used) set I picked out of brown jeans. You’ll see them in photos tomorrow at my continuing birthday celebration at White Heron Cellars, west of Quincy, WA, which doesn’t start until 4:00 p.m. I’m driving myself over because John will be back at a WTA work party in the Cascades east of North Bend, WA.
Here are other gifts (mostly cards) except the Irish T-Shirt.
Top left is from my friend JW Harrington, a photo of a painting he painted. Top right was a cute musical video with animals playing instruments. Lower left is from the family of a sweet student from CWU who we have kept up with, and the bottom right is a liver & white spaniel card with a note and an Irish T-shirt to wear in our March 2019 performances when we dress in the green. The card is signed by Joanie, Ken, and Rosie is their dog. Joanie is my twin fiddling partner 2-3 days/week when they are in Ellensburg, but are leaving soon for 6 months in Quartzite, AZ.
This next collage has a gift on top from my neighbor Ken of his homemade Apricot Jam, and below is my only request, for a new sink stopper, and John got me 3. This and a gray and white one.
This baby blue is my favorite and almost matches the new (used from Goodwill) spatula/scraper I bought when our old one broke!
John figured out how to use the printer’s key-pad to insert the password so the printer would recognize the in-house Wi-Fi of the new router. It is less than intuitive. Gives you a keypad and says enter password, but no way to know how to get to numbers vs. capital letters vs. lower case ones. Doing this once every 3 to 5 years is not enough to remember the procedure.
Now we both can print from our computers again. Thanks for another nice birthday present from John.
For those of you with Facebook, you can view this for the explanation of what is in John’s weekly column, “Not So Nasty News” about the rescue of a 55 lb. injured Springer Spaniel with a 6-mile hike down on the back of a woman hiker (Tia) who is very small herself. Check this out: (this is a Facebook link, so you have to have a Facebook account to view it).
Good Morning America Story about Boomer the Miracle Dog
Sunday, Sept 2
John left at 6:00 a.m. for WTA again at Dingford Creek. I got up and fed 4 cats all of whom were hungry.
I went back to sleep until 9:15. I think I really needed it.
Checked weather: Last night, it went to 44° and expected high today here is 79°. It was in the lower 80s at White Heron.
I visited the Facebook page to make colorful thank you note for all the wishes for my ¾ century goal, to save time of liking or replying.
This is the thanks I posted on Facebook for all the many hits yesterday, 9/1
I added a comment beneath it, saying:
Thank you all for sending special wishes by phone, by email animated card greetings, by messages, by timeline hits, and by going to my birthday dinner in Yakima (just 4 of us) – that included friends who were allowed as “family” visitors during my long stay in the ICU at Yakima Regional with my heart issues in 2009. I’m happy because of all the many supporters out there in my life-time friendships.
For my brunch, I fixed 2 eggs over easy, cut up a large tomato, a couple of plums, had a small slice of ham, and ½ English muffin with Ken’s apricot preserves (his birthday gift to me).
I watched a video on the basics of playing Pétanque.
Following up on the meaning of EPA, I found this:
Pétanque England (PE)!
Pétanque, also known as boules is a sport that is enjoyed by all. We have members of all ages and we cater for everybody from those who enjoy the game socially to those that want to compete internationally at elite level.
Formerly known as the English Pétanque Association [EPA], we are the National Governing Body for the sport in England and are officially recognised by Sport England.
I had to get things ready to take to White Heron. Packed sausage with 25 washed Starking plums, decided on my garb for playing a French game (from Provence) and ended up with a brown French beret, to go with my brown birthday jeans, and a long-sleeved white/brown shirt.
I left about 2:56 for my trip to the Pétanque party at 4:00 p.m. at White Heron. John won’t be home until late (as Friday night) and by the time he got there it would be dark. So, he took care of nightly chores, and fielded the phone call from our sister Peggy wishing me a Happy Birthday.
Here are some photos from that evening and afternoon: visiting, followed by Pétanque, some individually, and then two teams competed – 3 people/team. I was on the winning team, so that was another gift!! It was my first time to play and I actually made some points for our team. 
This was our setting: overlooking the Mariposa Vineyard toward the Columbia River and West Bar at the bend where it flows south. 
Top line: First couple to arrive Jenny & Bill, right are the owners Cameron & Phyllis Fries, and some appetizers: Dates with Brie Cheese, Hummus dip with tahini (ground sesame seeds), and Baba Ganoush dip (eggplant with tahini); then our offering of plums and a roll of Italian Dry Salami.
The first Pétanque game was individually played by Carl and Nohomi on the small court beside the Mariposa vineyard and the White Heron Cellars winery. I took a video of them:
Nohomi & Carl Playing Pétanque, September 2, 2018
Then we visited and ate more before we had dinner. We visited with the chef and his family who will be here cooking next week for Farmer’s Awareness Day at 2:00 on Sunday, September 9th.
I handed my camera to Audrey, and requested her taking some photos of me playing.
Nancy’s form – setup swing & follow throughs-Left, my very first throw. Middle, a later game’s follow through. Right, my last game’s follow through.
Nancy setting up trying for the winning point – Winning team !!
Phil, Nancy, and Nozomi. Other team was Cameron, Bill, & Carl.
Then, we ate dinner, and I left for my drive home in the dark arriving home after 9:30 p.m. I had a great time.
I spent most of Labor Day working on finishing the blog and putting out Google photos from earlier things last week. John has to leave Tuesday morning at 6:00 a.m. and so he went to bed before I finished this blog enough to have him proof it, edit it, and put into WordPress for publication. It’s my fault for the lateness. I was too busy celebrating the past several days on the long weekend.
Then tonight, we spent time following the sad story of a serious Motorhome wreck just past the first eastern Ellensburg exit (Canyon Rd), when the motorhome left the road, with two fatalities and 7 others (2 adults and 5 children) some air-lifted to Harborview in Seattle in serious condition and others taken to two local hospitals. A tire blowout caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle. His wife and 6 yr. old granddaughter died, one 8-yr old survived with no injuries (amazingly). Only two people were wearing seatbelts. The family members are from Snohomish, 20 miles north of Seattle. The motorhome was 40’ and pulling a closed trailer about 15 feet long.
Because of where the vehicle left the road it went through 2 guardrails and hit a rock embankment of a ditch. A few miles later it would have gone into a dry swale and not doing a serious crash.
Possibly this link will be updated – the most informative of several:
John says “People drive way too fast.”
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan