Back to yesterday, 9/9 
Starting our trip to the Chef’s Extravaganza for Quincy’s Farmers’ Awareness Day, 2018: (top down) – Start of fire in the median of I-90 on way over, that grew rapidly to a 100-acre fire, closing two lanes of I-90. Arrived at White Heron Cellars and Mariposa vineyard’s tasting room to visit with owner/Vigneron, Cameron Fries, and three of his pruners with family.
First a few seconds video of White Heron’s Collie, Altesse, finding John around the counter and greeting him. She did the same to me when she first saw me outside.
Altesse greets John 9-9-18 in the tasting room, at White Heron Cellars
Later with the pruners in the tasting room, discussing the package of John’s candied Carpathian walnuts he brought to Phyllis Fries. By the time she received it, several had been removed.
White Heron 9-9-18 Weighing Carpathian Walnut Package
Link to beginning photos of White Heron 9/9/18 Event
Monday, Sept 10
Here’s a photo (right) from over Ellensburg from a former student, Casey Stedman, now a pilot. He posted on Facebook, and tagged me! Cool. I had many of the ROTC and Aviation students in my mapping classes, and it’s nice when they keep in touch. He’s now flying for the Air Force, as a Training Officer at the Association of Spaceflight Professionals. He describes himself as a “Military Officer & Aviator-Aspiring Space Explorer.”
I called the Costco pharmacy about my Atorvastatin. Have one refill left and need to pick up after noon, tomorrow, 9/11. We coordinated our trip with a lunch and visit at Costco with Suzy & Bob West.
I worked for hours on the den pick up, cleaning up stacks, boxes, and sorting, to make room for entrance of the new clothes washer. John worked outside making things ready.
For dessert, John fixed our blackberries with ice cream over a ½ pumpkin muffin.
Tuesday, Sept 11
I called the Cle Elum Clinic to check on our annual physical/ wellness visits (a week apart) to see if it was scheduled in November, with our Primary Care Physician (PCP), Dr. Wood, or if the new computer system had lost the date we previously made (as happened to a friend’s). We’re good, and I have now written Tuesday, Nov 20 on our wall schedule**. While on acronyms, I think a different name should be applied to my “regular” doctor, not PCP, which conjures to most people an undesirable wanted substance: a seriously scary drug, Phencyclidine (PCP).
[**We have tried to get an earlier date. We used to go up in early September and get a flu shot. But the regulations require a year and a day – or something. They also messed up and we got pushed into October, now November. So now we go in the winter time – snow, ice, dark – instead of early fall. No respect for old folks.]
Packed stuff for town.
John has been growing Hen & Chicks, and then potting several in 6 inch wide containers. Photo below. He had a dozen of those that had filled out, plus others in still bigger pots. So we dropped them off at the AAC along with 15 pounds of summer yellow squash. Meanwhile a doe keeps jumping the fence and eating tomatoes. She travels with 3 smaller deer and they stick their tiny heads into the fence and reach unripe butternut squash. With temperatures going to the 40s overnight now, it is unlikely we’ll have any more tomatoes. We’ve numerous butternuts – if they ripen. We have numerous yellow squash and again need to pick and give away. Before next growing season a taller fence is needed around the “newer” garden, where he put his raised strawberry boxes. Deer like strawberries too, but those are safe unless leaves grow through the raised bed’s wire cover.
Hen and chicks in a 6” pot. We gave a dozen of these and still have many more, some in 12 inch containers with 50 to 80 chicks.
We left for town in the morning with squash for AAC and Hen & Chicks, pears for Amy, to check our Bi-Mart number, and head to Costco, by way of WinCo for a few items, to meet Bob & Suzy at 1:00 for lunch. Prime reason was to pick up my medication, for which I was charged the wrong amount and have to deal with the next time down there.
Speaking of Amy, I want to share photos I downloaded from her today, using the Ailsa Craig onions, we gave her family. She made a super nice stew/soup and put pictures in her Facebook album.
Beginning onion-mushrooms; after an hour; with beef broth and several spices added to a crockpot for warming.
After seeing a ton of flags on our trip to Yakima, we recalled what their significance was; the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. We don’t have a vertical pole, so could not have flown it at half mast, as most we viewed were. Still, we missed the opportunity to mark the day.
Finally published last week’s blog tonight at 12:18 a.m. 9/12
Wednesday, Sept 12
I went for a blood draw after going to Food Bank. I did not get my INR report or the CBP lab results back today, but will hear tomorrow.
I carried a sign to the AAC for my SAIL exercise class, put a container of the succulents with a sign on the “take counter” and succeeded in giving away 3 pots. While in town, I picked up Artificial Tears (eye drops) at Bi-Mart. They’d been on order for 3 weeks.
I finally finished processing the Kittitas Audubon Society picnic pictures, and got them sent to members I have emails for. This is the link:
KAS Annual Picnic, 8-16-18
Tomorrow, John goes back to White Heron for bottling (this time Pinot Noir), and had given me the chore of buying some Black Forest Ham slices to share with the potluck lunch for the crew at the end of bottling. I bought the rest of what was left in the counter, already cut into slices thinner than we preferred, but it didn’t bother the wine folks.
After my several hour absence, I returned home to find John had made an incredible amount of progress on moving the broken washer out, unpacking the new, and getting it into the den, where it sits until we clean out the place it needs to be installed (not yet completed). We need to get it installed before next week, to clean all the mud from his Carhartt work pants for his next trip, Sept 23.
Thursday, Sept 13
John left for bottling to be there at 9:00 a.m.
I called in 9 chairs for KV F&F today at the Meadows Place.
Good “shew”! Thanks to Roberta & Tim for bringing us so many of their Gravenstein apples to share. They are tart and best used in cooking, making applesauce, or apple cider. They have been around since the 17th Century or earlier. The name is Danish from Gråsten, meaning “gray stone”, after
Thanks to Roberta Vorhees, Activities Director, for making homemade ice cream to serve us at the end of our playing.
I need to see about reaching Candace Hooper (fiddler) about playing with us at Briarwood Saturday, but need her email. I left messages at both her phones this morning.
Finished dishes.
Got my Lab results from Sonya (Dr. Wood’s nurse): Sodium is low (133), but that is what it was in March, after it had been down to 121 in February, after I drank too much water, which flushed all the sodium from my blood. I guess I’ll continue drinking more PoweradeZero (6% Sodium). We live on a low salt diet. Cody claims this level is just right for me, and that Sonya wasn’t aware of my special issues.
Lacey or Cody will report my INR today, and potassium. Readings: INR=2.4 and K=4.9 – both good within ranges.
Here’s a beautiful new version of a song we often do (and now after a ton of work, Evie has transcribed it to SongWriter 2012 so our group can use it in the future:
Green, Green Grass by Evie & others with harmony
Friday, Sept 14
John left at 6:30 a.m. for Talapus Lake.
Here are some pictures I chose from the day that John took on his phone. If you look below at this week’s column by John, Not So Nasty News, you will see two of the photos at lunch by Talapus Lake, so I will not include those here. I had chosen the same two to share in a collage. Here are others, but I will start with three parts of the fold-out description at the beginning introduction of the day, which John created for the workers. His foldout is still with the crew leader LeeAnne, who has a few more work parties at that site. 
Then, a few of my choice from the day’s work:
The day’s work was removing several very old puncheon** bridges. The stacked planks on the lower right have been taken off a previous damaged bridge. The planks will be removed later, maybe next year. [** piece of broad, heavy, roughly dressed timber with one face finished flat. Not sawn/milled]
LeeAnne Blue Hat CL talks with crew; a picturesquely framed view of the scene.
Now, I’m going to go back 10 days to two photos from others that came from the previous week’s Sept 4 trip to Dingford Creek Trail, with Crew Leader LeeAnne.
Top shows John and Jay, ACLs, deciding on rock moving project.
Bottom shows the crew exiting back to trail head w/ all tools.
I went back to bed, and slept in for much needed rest.
I’m working today on several projects, trying to clean up the den being foremost. These include: cleaning dishes and counters, cooking sausage, took diuretic, answered emails, sorted bills and checked on-line accounts, killed flies, worked on photos and videos needing processed from Sept 2 and 9 at White Heron. Still need to finish.
The next project has taken days to sort out, to get access for both John and me to see our medical results from lab tests at the local hospital blood draw lab. Medical records are not easily available as they should be. We have to continually fight with transferring records about our health from records in three cities: Ellensburg (hospital lab), Cle Elum (PCP), and Yakima (Cardiologist). There should be a central clearing house everyone can reach. Each hospital has a different portal, and we have one in Ellensburg and two in Yakima we have to use.
I figured out today how to compile a comparison of my lab reports for INR, Potassium to give to the Cardiologist on 9/24, and have been working on it among other tasks starting today (still working the end of this week).
John’s probably going to be home at 4:48. He’s made it to Hungry Junction Road.
We continued with projects.
Saturday, Sept 15
Need to go to the BBQ at Briarwood, starting at 1:00 p.m.
Found out we will have 10 players (doubled over night). Amazing.
Awoke with headache and higher BP than normal, but okay now; maybe from the stress of setting up this event (?) maybe.
At the start of the program, we played Irish Washerwoman and two older lady residents did a modified “clog” dance while Haley did her normal Irish dance steps. Dad Dustin took my camera and aimed it on the action. The musicians, Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends were to the left, under a canopy.
Haley, Connie, Kathy dance to Irish Washerwoman
Turnout included Laina (violin), Matt her hubby (guitar), Neil their cute baby, Gerald (guitar), Dean (Harmonica), Tim (Mandolin), Roberta (guitar), Candace (violin), Nancy (violin), Joanie (violin), and Amy (Flute, Penny Whistle, violin, and washboard).
We play about an hour and then eat. The rain threatened, but it was cool and quiet (non-windy) for a change, with intermittent sun. A number of us stayed and visited, over hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and root beer floats.
I arrived home and found John removing the canopy from the old truck into a new rack. It is backwards from its intended placement because he slid it off one truck onto this one. I’m not clear why he didn’t move it back from the old to the newer. I’ll let him explain. Oh! Remember the old clothes washer? Guess where it is? There is a trip to the transfer station in its future. 
Sunday, Sept 16
Supposed to be raining at 5:00 a.m.; not yet. I got up before 8:00 because I couldn’t sleep any longer, thinking about all the stuff needing done. No outside cats yet. One (Rascal) has been in my lap for the duration.
John did outside projects first and then fixed us a great brunch. Surely beats my lunch yesterday. I have mostly been working on the blog, with intermittent dishes involvement and finishing processing and editing the 9/9 photos from White Heron, plus getting my exercise by walking to and from the back bathroom on diuretic day.
John has the new washer into the washroom, and is making the connections. The way it works is very different from the old one that had a central thrashing agitator. We did one small load to check that it worked. It does lots of funny whirs, stops, spins and other stuff. Here is a link: agitator or No agitator?. We are way behind on new technology.
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan