Posted last week’s blog early so we could attend a great birthday party with friends in Maple Valley, WA, a 50th party for the daughter of friends we have known through the Brittany connection (shows and field trials) since 1974. We first met Chris (birthday gal) at field trials when she was just a teenager. Now we have watched her children grow up.
John picked as many blackberries as he could, but the thorns were bad and it was hard to get to, even though he had a ladder to put over the plants. He picked for over an hour and only managed to get one flat box full. We weighed them this morning, and have 6 lbs, 10 ounces. He had hoped for 3 times as much.
We did enjoy the party and seeing people we knew from the past, and meeting some new ones (friends of theirs); all their grandkids were there with their boyfriends, so that was nice, and some of the siblings of the gal celebrating her 50th, whom we also knew as they grew up.
We stopped for lunch in North Bend (Burger King) because the invitation said only snacks and cake for the party. WRONG–there was enough food for 100 people and only about 35 there. They had BBQ (pulled pork and pulled chicken), nice rolls, a couple of salads (Potato and Chinese Cole Slaw), fruit, and then a table with a chocolate fountain on it. (I have never seen one before). Like this:
http://www.leileiscuisine.com/images/MontezumaFount-MC-purple202.jpg
Lots of pieces of things to put in the chocolate, including: Bananas, pears, apples, blueberries, large strawberries, blackberries, cookies of small shapes, rice crispie squares, and probably more that I have forgotten. I should have had John take a picture of the tables of food. Wow.
We visited till after 5:00 and drove home getting here before it was dark, so John could feed the horses in the light. Good driving across the pass; no construction to deal with!! And 10 degree cooler temps with a nice breeze at their place. Very cool. On the home trip, I had a cell phone conversation with a former colleague who moved to Maryland, and she was in the rain of hurricane Irene. We had a nice visit and I never lost reception on the pass as John drove.
Sunday. We got up early (John did) and played with Rascal and let me sleep another hour. Then we went to pick up Annie. When we pulled in their “yard” parking lot, there was a gal walking a Brittany, and John said, “Look there’s a Brittany.” I said, “That’s Annie!” So we called to the handler and she brought Annie over. Wow, was she happy to see us. The gal said every time she took her out to potty, she thought she was getting to go home. It’s been a long time since we took her in Wed. morning, so I’m sure she was convinced we had abandoned her. She didn’t know I was calling in every day to see how she was doing.
We got her home, and she went potty a lot. I wonder if she had gone the whole time? Also, she wanted to be petted and comforted (from my recliner). Rascal realized something was different and came over and sniffed her but did not bat her as he had been doing. Then he crawled up into my right hand and purred, while I kept petting her with my left hand.
John took the others for a run (and he fed the horses). She laid down once on the sofa, but decided to go to her secure spot under the guest bed. She slept there for a long time. I imagine she did not sleep well during her time at the vet. She is used to her comfy “love seat” sofa, or under the bed.
We left her about 2:00 after John put up blackberries (we ended up with 6 pounds, 10 ounces), and he picked plums (from our tree). We went to Yakima to visit our friend (with Annie’s puppy), who was in Yakima Memorial Hospital, having had a bad kidney removed Friday. He and his wife had come a couple times to visit me while I was in two different hospitals there, and I certainly wanted to return the favor. It meant so much to me. He even came up to Ellensburg, with the older Brittany he had from us to see me in the Rehab center, the beginning of 2010. He brought her right into the room, and she jumped up to the chair beside my bed, laid down and let me pet her. What a sweetie. That was when I couldn’t get in and out of bed yet. That Brittany was born in 1998, and she died a few months after Milly came into their house. So, the timing was good that they had Milly, and now that Annie cannot have any more puppies, I’m so glad they have her. We had a nice long visit and also we first went to Costco for 1/2 tank of gasoline, and bought some sale stuff too, that we missed last time there.
John just left to do the horse feeding without taking any of the dogs. We do not want Annie getting her underside dirty in the irrigation ditch.
Kitty Rascal ventured out the doggie door window, tonight. Previously, he had been out the back patio door only briefly. He is an affectionate kitty. He slept the whole time we were gone to Yakima, and when John sat down to have a Pepsi, he walked over (John called him) and he got in his lap. However, now he is in the backyard and wants nothing to do with coming to John. I went out and couldn’t find him anywhere.
John found a board that had been propped against the fence, and tilted, which apparently knocked kitty over the fence into the wood pile. John found him outside the fence in the wood pile. He ran from John into the hay barn and climbed to the top, but then John turned around and there was a scruffy brown kitty also coming out from the wood pile. John didn’t see the orange kitty that had been with the other a few days ago.
When Rascal returned he missed seeing the other cat leave and rush to the woods. Then John had to capture Rascal who didn’t want to be caught. He knew there was that other cat around.
Well.. We’ll see what happens in the future. Not a good sign. We are scheduled to take him to the vet for a neutering (costly) and the rest of his shots, plus rabies on Tuesday. Actually the shots cost as much as the neuter. Whole bill: $99. Oh well, it’s just money, right ?
Monday. Never left home today, but did lots of house and yard chores, with lower temps and higher winds.
Tuesday. Started early with taking Rascal for his vet work (Neuter & shots), and Annie for a checkup of her incision. On to the grocery store afterwards and home. I’m going for a haircut at my neighbor’s this morning. Was going to go to town afterwards to get my driver’s license renewed and a picture of the “new me,” but I called and the agent said, “Don’t come today. This is the worst day of the week.” Wonder why that is; and she said, “Come tomorrow.” I found out they are not open Mondays, so that’s why Tuesday is a bad day. Later this afternoon we pick up Rascal. Wind is howling still. We successfully got Rascal, and he was lethargic until bedtime, when he decided to romp and play and demand attention. Prior to that he was sleeping in my lap wanting cuddled. I couldn’t even enter my tax receipts because he was in the way of where I prop them to enter, and then move to my envelope on the “right.”
Wednesday. Morning came early and Rascal wanted fed again and to harass us both. He jumped on piles of clothes in the guest bedroom, dumping them to the floor, and in our bedroom, doing the same. Guess he’s back to his old “Rascal” self. Today it is much cooler again, so that is very nice. I played music at the Food Bank Soup Kitchen, but at the end of the month, there were over 50 people there and not enough food to go around. Wasn’t all offerings left for us when we got through playing music. From our garden, I took yellow squash to four families. Went to my exercise class, and then for the Driver’s License renewal. It went very smoothly. I was in and out in less than 10 minutes; rather amazing.
Thursday, September 1, 2011, Happy Birthday to Nancy! Thanks for all the cards and wishes I’ve received. This afternoon I went off to play music at a nursing home. My group started with an instrumental Happy Birthday song, and then ended singing it with some of the residents. Pretty cool. The nursing home had a plate of special cookies for all of us, in honor of my birthday. Rest of the day/night was quiet.
Friday. Up early for John to take off for the hills. He joined a WTA work party (trails) at Old Wagon Road Trail for the day.
http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/franklin-falls
He hasn’t been able to participate since I got sick the summer of 2009. I know he has missed it, so I’m very happy he could participate today.
I went in for my first therapeutic massage. It went well. My shoulder and back and neck muscles were very tight. He worked on me an hour. His suggestion / recommendation at the end was to consider alternating with acupuncture, which would help free up the muscles. My insurance will cover 8 sessions, and so I decided to go with it. Next week, however, I will go again to him for a massage. They couldn’t work me in till the following week for the acupuncture. I called my family physician to be sure with my Coumadin and situation that I can expose myself to acupuncture. He said, “No problem, but be aware you may have some bruises.” I also found some positive comments on the Internet from M.D.s that were not advertisements from natural health individuals.
On my way home, I stopped off at one yard sale. There I bought some towels for a dime each, a fold-up small umbrella for a quarter, some washcloths for a nickel each, and a ladder (6 ft, wooden) for $5. Then they gave me a loveseat-sized sofa that has two recliners side by side. When John got home, we went back to town in the truck to get the sofa and ladder. These folks were getting rid of their parents’ stuff, because they had moved into Hearthstone Cottages. They wanted to clear out the house, and they thanked us for carting off the sofa. Now we have to clean up the den, especially the table that is loaded again with stuff, so we can remove the current (worn out) loveseat and replace with this, using the back patio door as access. That will be a lot easier than moving in through the front door and having to make a sharp corner.
When I left the house about 9:15 a.m., Rascal was nowhere in sight. When I got home, he was sleeping in my chair. I took my chair away from him, and he ended up on the loveseat. He stayed there most of the time till John got home. Then while John was standing near the living room, he saw Rascal come in through the doggie door window. That was the first we knew of him coming back and not just going out. He brought a moth in with him, and then left again, to sit on the “veranda” while we went to pick up the ladder and loveseat.
John had such a good time working trail today, he plans to return tomorrow and work another day. Two volunteer days earns a full year’s Northwest Forest Pass.
Today is Saturday, and I’m a little sore from yesterday’s massage on my back, arms, shoulder, & neck. Also I’m not used to reclining on a table (even though padded), on my stomach. They did put cushions under my legs, and beneath my shoulders, but it still was awkward from what I’m used to. My head was face-down on a cushion, but I had to leave my eyes closed, and I didn’t like that. Later, I turned over, (under a sheet the whole time), and he worked on my head/neck. I would have liked to have had a pillow under my head, but that was not possible until later. He moved my left shoulder back and around and put pressure against it, with my having to return the same move toward the resistance. While on my back, there was a cushion roll under my knees. Maybe some of you understand this, but it was my first ever professional massage, and the whole thing was a brand new experience I’ve managed 68 years without.
This morning at 7:00 a.m. John took off again for working on trails in the hills. He enjoys that. I was left to sort plums he picked last night, but I just picked out six good ones for us to eat, and arranged with my neighbor to come pick up the bucket (plastic from ice cream), full, to use for plum jelly, and also to put some in his mom’s dehydrator for us. They had borrowed our aluminum one for a granddaughter to use, and we do not believe we ever got it back. John thinks it was in poor shape when we loaned it, so maybe it died.
I need to pick up some receipts from the unsorted pile on the table and get them into an envelope. Also, do some dishes, and wash some clothes. Have to make some headway while John is off working. The animals are resting, but Shay just went out the doggie door window, and started barking in the backyard. That awoke Rascal, and I think he went outside too. He’s probably chasing moths or bugs. He is back inside on the loveseat, sharing it with Meghan. He’s been out already this morning, but had come back in for a couple-hour nap.
John will be back in the afternoon, leaving there after 3:00 p.m. and will be back home before 5:00, hopefully. Yesterday had VERY bad traffic on the I-90 corridor with people leaving the Puget Sound region for mountains, rivers, EBRG Rodeo and other places-east for the long weekend. He was not happy. What normally takes a little over an hour took 2, and he came to a stop several times, on a 2 to 3 lane Interstate. No fun.
Our neighbor has come and gone; took the plums we had and brought a long handled picker and picked more. He left it for John to use. There are still a bushel of plums at least, on the tree, but all are not yet ripe. This was a good year. If we pick more, the family will dry some plums for us and for them in their dehydrator. That’s nice. John took 2 plums and 3 cookies for his lunch today, but dried ones will be nice through the winter.
New addition, Saturday at just before 3:00 p.m. Good thing I was here. Got a phone call that our Harobed load of hay was being picked up from the field and would be on its way to us shortly. The second method here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nwPlE1_SLc
I got out and took down the two gates (pole and cloth rope), to let the driver in. Put two dogs out front to warn me when he was coming down the driveway, and so I went out and met him and told him where to stack it. It was in a different place from last year. Now when John arrives home, he will have yet another chore, to move it by truck to the barn – because our barn is not large enough for the loader.
John just called from the pass Franklin Falls parking lot, at 4:00 or a little after, saying it was loaded with people trying to get in and many (like him there early) blocked from getting out. I hope he makes it before midnight. Actually he got home about 5:35, and surprised me. He’s been out the past hour plus, unloading some of the hay from the stack, into the shed. He moved 13 of 56 bales (100+ pounds each). He’ll finish in the morning. The kitty came back in from under the wood pile outside the fence, so he has access (known only to him) to and from the backyard (6’ chain link fence).
Expect this blog will get finished and posted tonight, because we plan to drive to the lower Yakima Valley tomorrow to visit friends in Zillah. From yard sales we have several “sun faces”
http://kathysceramickreations.com/images/albums/NewAlbum_c8d38/tn_sun_bird_feeder.jpg
to deliver to the folks that run Paradisos del Sol Winery:
http://www.paradisosdelsol.com/
Now for dessert – bye!
Nancy and John
on the Naneum Fan