Sunday (July 31) we met our friends from Michigan mentioned at the end of last week’s blog entry. We were buddies (hunting and dog) in Iowa City, IA. They helped us move all our belongings to Idaho. We have some wonderful stories of our past, so we caught up a bit this morning over breakfast. We had a humongous breakfast and a wonderful 2 hr visit at a local diner in Kittitas, WA, called the Wagon Wheel Café. They were happy to see me looking so much better than this time last year. We all had the Wheel Breakfast, but I had the Mini version. They had two pancakes (the size of the plate), two eggs, two large sausage steaks, and John had links. I had one pancake, 2 pieces of crisp bacon, and one egg over easy. Water… lots and lots of water. They had coffee. We meet them every year when they come back to visit family in Spokane, but this year they had a wedding to attend on a cruise ship at Seattle, so they drove to that, stopped by Rainier on the way back, stayed in Yakima and came up to Ellensburg to have breakfast with us. Normally we drive over to Moses Lake and meet them for lunch each year.
I’m now resting, but John just went out and picked 15 ounces of raspberries. (They’re selling for $2.50 / pound in the grocery, and the Rainier cherries are selling for $4.98/pound. They did not look anywhere near as fresh and good as ours. Bing cherries were selling for $3.98/ pound. Got a lot of rest in the afternoon, when it was too hot to go outside.
Monday, Monday. Only a couple of things planned today in town: my exercise class and delivering some raspberries to a friend. John picked 25 more ounces this morning before it warmed to bee temperature. Guess I know what we will have on our ice cream tonight and maybe on cereal in the morning.
I spent the morning writing a story about Kitty Sunshine in our life. Then I washed some dishes that had been sitting around, to put in the dishwasher for a thorough hot cleaning.
Tuesday. Relatively quiet morning for Nancy, but John did a lot of yard work, picked the remainder of the sweet cherries, set water, fed and exercised animals, and Nancy stayed inside working on the computer. Got a picture of the grey tabby cat that was offered to us by a friend and her kids. They have been socializing him but they have too many cats already, so wanted to give him to us. He is only about 8-9 weeks old, and is a handsome kitty with lots of color and a great personality. We will pick him up tomorrow (probably) and give him a new home. Finally, at 2:00 p.m. the Sears Repairman arrived and fixed the freezer compressor in the side of the refrigerator. Nice to have fixed on our “service contract” that otherwise would have cost $280. Later this afternoon, we piled in the truck with the horse trailer behind and went across the valley to get 34 bales of hay. This is nice grass hay and uniformly large bales. It filled our trailer. I participated in conversation (retired prof from my department) while the guys pack it in from off the stack. It had been lifted and stacked there by a Harobed. We arrived there at 6:30 and left about an hour later – all activity in the shade of the barn and the late day Sun.
Tomorrow is a busy day, and I hope I can make all the events and still have time to pack and get ready to leave the next day for Portland. Am scheduled to play music at the Food Bank Soup Kitchen, go by the hospital for a blood draw, and then to exercise class where I will deliver some raspberries and some pie cherries. Then hopefully meet up with a friend from Montana who is coming to Eburg for the night and has brought along some hiking boots from her husband, who wore the same size as John. After that, hopefully, we will go pick up the new kitty, and John can bond with him/her/it while I’m gone. In Portland, I will have my computer with me and free WIFI, so I should be able to keep up with most of the emails… and send this back to John to post on the blog this week. We made all the events, and didn’t get home until 7:00 p.m. Ate a late dinner of rib eye steak and potatoes (and I had tomatoes). I didn’t get done with packing, however, and I am ride-a-bumpy-horse tired, so I think I will get some sleep and start in the morning when I awake. I did wash clothes today, so should have a few clean ones to pack.
Kitty is back in the “computer room” with John. It de-crated immediately, then ventured under the bunk bed, and then back to John’s feet. He picked up new kitty and put in his lap. There was immediate purring and kneading of feet. They are so cute when they do that. Then John closed the door, leaving kitty in the room, with his litter box and food and water. When John went back after dinner, kitty was in his computer chair. Cool, reminiscent of Sunshine but it’s likely all kittens would do about the same. This is worth a watch and a read:
http://cats.lovetoknow.com/Why_Cats_Knead_Paws
Thursday; and reporting in from Portland. I left about 11:40 and drove an awfully long time. I’d planned on going in the ‘09 Subaru (a ‘regular’ gas engine), but after cleaning the windows all around from cherry tree and bird drippings, John discovered the right rear tire was flat where it touched the ground. So, we cleaned out the other car (a 2004 that takes premium). I drove by way of Costco to fill my tank (3.92) only to drive farther down the highway and find it 3 cents cheaper per gallon. Oh well. Stopped in Goldendale at the Les Schwab Tire Ranch to have the air in my tires checked, and they were fine. On to Portland. Lots of traffic all the way, and then there was an accident on I-5 slowing the whole 3 lanes down to 5 mph and less for over 6 miles. Not nice. Finally got through and turned on 405 and found my way to my motel, not arriving till after 5:00 p.m., much longer than planned. I did make it late to the opening ceremonies, however, and had a good time meeting with old friends. There were some 6 or 7 different hors d’oeuvres and I ate five of them for “dinner”; plus a few cherries when I got back to my motel room.
Friday was a busy day, and included attending several paper sessions, a lunch meeting with the Remote Sensing Task force, of which I have been a member for 14 years or so. Then I went over our paper with Paul from NY that we give Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. Stuck around for more afternoon sessions with people I know from my past, and then was picked up by a former student (from 1994) who works in Portland. We had a nice Thai dinner and she took me back for the night festivities at the Marriott. They included a 25th anniversary of the National Geographic Society’s Geography Alliance project, sponsored and lead by Gil Grosvenor.
This was followed with an alumnae party for all previously involved geographers in this program. I participate both in Idaho and in WA (1994), so I met a few people there, and also partook of brie cheese, aged cheddar, gorgonzola and crackers. I again skipped the free drink.
Saturday morning. Went to midday activities. Heard an interesting paper on Point Roberts, WA and had lunch with my friends from 1966 in Cincinnati, who are from Upstate NY. Came back to rest and work on the blog but will go back this evening for a group dinner. I just sent this and then called John. He’s to add something.
John continues to pick a few raspberries each day, freezing them in 6 ounce packets. Six such today and enough for ice cream in the evening. The Montmorency Cherry
http://www.arborday.org/Shopping/Trees/TreeDetail.cfm?id=95
that is supposed to provide a pollinator for the sweet cherry trees usually blooms too late to be of much help for that function but occasionally goes over-board with its own fruit production. This is one of those years. John has picked many pounds and the tree is still loaded and (now) mostly ripe. It looks like the one here:
http://www.northernmichigancherryfarm.com/
We eat sweet cherries fresh (and give away most of them) but the tart ones we freeze for late fall and winter desserts. A favorite:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cherry-Delight/detail.aspx
We make one that looks like the one on this site, about half-way down:
http://aroundmyhome.blogspot.com/
Our recipe came from John’s mom and used Saltine crackers and finely chopped nuts but many others use a graham cracker base. Blueberries make a great one also but the color doesn’t last, so finish the procedure just before serving.
The new cat is still nameless and of unknown sex. The color pattern is called Mackerel Tabby, see here, especially the second page — The Magnificent “M” :
http://cats.about.com/cs/tabbycats/a/tabby_cats.htm
This next one is the most similar I’ve found
http://cats.about.com/cs/justpictures/l/blmar_freckles.htm
Except, ours also has a “bull’s-eye” on the side – see third photo here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabby_cat
Twice it has walked across the keyboard while I try to finish this.
Nancy in Portland
John on the Naneum Fan (WA)