This is Nancy trying to recreate what was started this past weekend, because this Thursday afternoon my computer Laptop died completely via a virus yet unknown. We took it in right away, but the computer gurus have not been able to solve it. The initial problem was that it is a MAC but running MS-Windows and we needed the password for the Admininistrative Mac part that I never use and didn’t know. I was able to reach someone at CWU who told me. Anyway, the virus hit an important xxx32.ddl file, which is serious, and they expect they may have to completely reinstall the operating system, but were trying other solutions first to keep our costs down. They are not open on Saturday, so I will have to wait till Monday for solution.
My blog entries for the week are on that computer and inaccessible. It wouldn’t even allow me to turn it off and log back on. I had not saved copies of it anywhere off that laptop.
John has taken off for another trip to work on trails, at Gold Creek, this side of Snoqualmie Pass. He left at 7:00 a.m. and told me I would have to make a brief blog version to post tonight, when he gets home. Instead, I’m going back to some emails not written on the home account, but on Gmail, to friends around the US, to reconstruct our activities, plus depending a little bit on my memory and what’s written on the calendar.
Last Saturday I was a little sore from my first therapeutic massage on my back, arms, shoulder, & neck the day before. I’m not used to reclining on a table (even though probably padded), on my stomach. He did put cushions under my legs, and beneath my shoulders, but it still was awkward from what I’m used to. My head was on a cushion, but I must leave my eyes closed, and I don’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 do the same. While on my back, there was a cushion roll under my knees. His recommendation at the end of the hour with all my very tight muscles, was to consider acupuncture on intermediate weeks. After talking with my family physician about my being on Coumadin, he said it was all right but to be aware I might have some bruising.
John took off again for working on trails in the hills (last Saturday). I was left to sort plums he picked last night, but I just picked out six good ones for us to eat, and have arranged with my neighbor to come pick up the bucket (a plastic one from ice cream), full to use for plum jelly, and also to put some in his mom’s dehydrator for us. When he came, he brought a long handled picker and picked a lot of plums himself. Then he added our bucket of plums to his box.
John fed the horses before he left, so I just have to worry with the dogs and kitty. Rascal is regularly using the doggie door. He chased and caught a grasshopper and brought it back in the house. It was dead, so John took it from him, rather than have entrails all over the rug. He goes out in the morning for several hours, and then comes back in for a couple-hour nap.
I also had to honcho receiving one Harobed load of hay from our neighbor 2 miles down the road. John made it home all right and the traffic was not as bad as yesterday’s mass exodus from the Puget Sound region. Really, you don’t want to be on the Interstate on Friday afternoons. He’s not tired out enough, so is out working on hay unloading. It was stacked in the middle of the front corral – easy in and out for the delivery and close to its destination in the barn and shed. There is a flat spot in the middle for stacking the 56 bales of hay. You learned about how a Harobed works, in last week’s blog.
John stopped with the hay and went looking for some gifts (ceramic suns) we have bought over the last year at garage sales for our friends that we decided to visit tomorrow at the Paradisos del Sol winery in Zillah. They had one of our Brittanys from a pup, but he disappeared at about 5 years old. He was a great addition to the winery and loved all the people coming through. They had another older Brittany and a little mixed dog. This weekend is their 11th anniversary, and they always celebrate by inviting people in for 3 days, and there is a discount given, according to the number of years you have been married. The largest discount this year was to a couple married for 61 years.
Sunday. We left for the lower valley and stopped first at Costco, before the onslaught of people there. That’s another place to avoid on the weekends after a pay day. Been there, done that! I picked up some allergy meds for a gal in my exercise class, while John got carrots for the horses, cookies & strawberries. We were there recently and didn’t need much but will freeze the berries – our new plants in the fenced area are producing just a few this year.
We got to the winery to visit just before noon and had a looonng visit. It was nice. We really hadn’t seen them since summer of 2008, when we were on a field trip there with our class. They followed this blog through all my illness and the lady there has also had some medical issues she shared via email.
We took a tour of their garden (regular, and flowers, and trees, and cactus), ate a handful of golden raspberries, visited with their dogs, and then stopped by McDonald’s for a ¼ pounder and fries on the way home. We were starved and needed to eat something, but not to pay $3.89 each for a small hamburger (nothing large about it, and nothing on it, as is on BK Whoppers). Also had to pay almost $2 for medium fries. There is a problem with living long during inflationary times. We remember when both gas and burgers were a quarter.
The ride down (except for bumpy construction on the Interstate) was fine. Temps were 83, and we came back to find the dogs and cat fine. Rascal was in my recliner on my pillow. I moved him to a different spot and he took off out the window for the yard.
Last night, John SAW him come over from the wood pile, climb up the slanted pole on one side of the 6′ fence, and turn coming down the other pole into the backyard. John made that setup for Sunshine, but has never shown Rascal. He figured it out himself. Smart little dude.
Monday, Labor Day. It’s a holiday for most working folks, but it was a working day for us. We like to stay away from town and the chaos that occurs with rodeo and fair on Labor Day weekend in Ellensburg. They had good weather and big crowds at both rodeo and county fair – simultaneous events only the organizers understand and fight about. The local merchants were pleased.
We have now determined why Rascal was coming and going from the wood pile. Rascal is playing with the brown wild kitty underneath the wood pile, but coming back and forth himself to the house to eat and sleep. He slept for many hours today, so is still out tonight. As long as an owl or coyote doesn’t swoop in and get them, it will be fine. John took out dry food and water for the wild one. This is the brown one of the two he had seen earlier behind the shed where he was cleaning brush. We are afraid a coyote or owl took the yellow one because it has not been around at all.
John moved the rest of the hay from the yard where it was stacked, part into the barn and part into the shed. Also we shook the plum trees and had garage sale quilts on the ground beneath, to soften their fall, and then we picked them up and put in boxes. We started the sorting process.
Tuesday. I had to go for a fasting blood draw, so that I did early in the morning, and John stayed home to honcho 3 horses getting trimmed by the farrier. I was up at 7:00 or a little after, and John was too, letting out Rascal from his “bedroom”. He came out, ate his morning rations, and took off to visit his newly found friend. The wood pile food and water was gone this morning.
Rascal stayed out till 10:44 am, and just returned meowing and getting up to his feeding ‘station’. I fed him, and he first laid down next to me on a pillow and started cleaning himself, but then just walked over and got on my chest. I petted him, he purred, but now he has settled down to sleep. I told him I was happy he was coming back and forth and playing with the wild brown kitty. I doubt he can convince him to befriend us, but we can always hope. Meanwhile, he has someone to keep him company (both do).
He (Rascal) will stay in for a few hours and return outside again. Last night he left at early dinner time and didn’t return till our bedtime (and his). Slept in all night in his bedroom.
Before retuning home, I went by the grocery and got two 1/2 gallons of Chocolate milk for my pill taking, and almost a dozen apple fritters; filled it out with 3 old-fashioned chocolate covered donuts (one with nuts) for John.
After John was done helping with the horses, we sorted some more plums into containers for different people. Those plums less nice went to someone planning to make jelly. The others went to people who wanted to eat them raw, or to dehydrate them. We delivered from 6 to 12 pounds of quality ones to the folks (4 families) wishing for eating dried plums, and another huge box, probably 15 pounds ? to a family wanting to make jelly.
Wednesday. We predicted correctly that this would be a very wild day. Both of us were running in different directions. John took Annie for her stitches to come out ; she was good and it went well. The vet was pleased at the healing, and did not have to puncture the hematoma to drain it. It is reabsorbing into her system.
I went to two different venues (music at the Food Bank, Soup Kitchen), and my exercise class. I was worn out by the time I got home so tried to take a nap but was awakened by a phone call 35 minutes into it.
Later our neighbor brought over some dried plums and strawberries, so we had to put them up in the freezer.
John thinks we’ll have to go sit by the wood pile–this kitty is old enough to be too wild to tame, but we will try. It has a very cute face. Rascal still visits him in the morning and evening, but sleeps in most of the afternoon. John is taking the wild one (I have named Bronco), hard food and water, twice a day, and checks midday, when he is home. As of the end of the week, Bronco is coming out from under the wood pile, to watch, and allows us to talk to him. He’s still very skittish, but he’s sticking around, eating, and playing with Rascal. We expect the wood pile is a safe haven. I hope he tames before winter, because we have no way to keep water from freezing outside where we are putting it.
Thursday. I got home from playing music this afternoon, sat down, read some emails, went to the web to a Burger King site to fill in our experience today for a free Whopper coupon. While on the web, a virus entered my computer and I could do NOTHING… it wiped out all my starting applications; even took the picture off the back of my screen (I have a pair of Mallards in a pond, taken in Calif). I tried running my antivirus and my Spybot and my Malware, but it locked me out of any application I wanted to use. It also wouldn’t let me open my Norton Antivirus to run a disk check. So, I turned it off with the switch. When I tried to restart, it wouldn’t allow me back on–just showed a blinking white cursor in the upper left of a totally black screen. DAMN. It was 4:30 p.m. so I got the phone book, called my computer gurus and they said to bring it in. We did. They worked for 20 minutes going from the Mac (it’s a Dual operating system) side to try to get to the XP Windows side where the problem was residing. They were going to close at 5:30 and let it run all night and tackle it in the morning.
Well, that is a bummer. I have a massage appointment from 2:30 to 3:30 Friday, and hopefully they will fix it by then so I can pick it up. They are not open on Saturdays.
Thursday night while John was in town for the KV Trail Riders meeting, I went outside to try to get Rascal in, and he came across the fence on top of a shed and jumped down to a cable table (electrical wire spool) propped on its side. I reached up and got him and tried putting him down in the yard so he could come in the doggie door, but instead, I think he was spooked by the dogs running around the yard, and he climbed my shoulder, scratching my neck on the way. I leaned over for him to climb up and over my back. I doctored the scratches on my neck, and it turned out leaving a huge bruise at the top deeper scratch, with smaller scratches below.
Friday, I didn’t do anything till getting to town for my 2nd massage. This was cutting it short on leaving town (described below), for a dinner party tonight. But we made it. My laptop was not yet fixed, as mentioned at the beginning of the blog.
Meanwhile, I will better describe my therapeutic massage plan that now includes acupuncture. Several of you know the problem of range of motion I have had with my left shoulder and it has continued to get worse. My family physician said he would refer me to an orthopedic surgeon in Yakima, but I told him I didn’t want to go there. No more hospitalization for me, and I have heard about the long recovery period for shoulder surgery.
For the past several months I have been taking advantage of a free massage at the Adult Activity Center (20 minutes long). The last time I was in a couple weeks ago, the therapist said my muscles were tighter than ever and I really needed a full hour of work. She is not a preferred provider for my Group Health insurance, and Medicare doesn’t pay for it. I got a recommendation for a place and person here in town where Group Health will cover my sessions with a referral from my family physician. All that happened, and last Friday, I had my first treatment (for an hour). I am approved for 10 weeks on my insurance.
At the end of the treatment, however, the therapist suggested that I needed more work on my tense muscles and he would recommend acupuncture on alternate weeks. I found out that I could get eight of those along with my massages on self referral and not have to have my doctor involved again with the paperwork. I called him to ask about the chance of bleeding with my being on Coumadin, and he said it was no problem, and the worst that might happen would be bruising, but otherwise encouraged me to give it a try. John, as in all things, is skeptical. My first acupuncture is 1.5 hrs. long, and it is in their Cle Elum office, 40 minutes away.
More on Friday’s evening event. We celebrated my birthday a week late, by going to an enjoyable evening of food, fun, and music. It was at White Heron Winery north of West Bar (and Crescent Bar), on a hill north of the Columbia River looking down the Gorge. It’s about 70 minutes of driving time from our house. This is the place where John helped prune wine grapes this spring.
It is a yearly event and the best of their complete offerings, outside the winery in a small amphitheatre, overlooking the Columbia River. Three local chefs (this is between Quincy and Wenatchee), come to cook special things. It is called a Chef Extravaganza, and that it was. All the produce, meat, fruits and vegetables come from within 30 miles (or a bit more) of the winery from the Quincy Valley.
One chef had grilled peaches with goat cheese, honey, and lavender – topped with blackberries. The goat cheese came from a place near Twisp (80+ miles away):
There was a jazz band who were really good. They call themselves Mugsy’s Groove, and they claim their style is Cascade Mountain Funk. You can find them on the web at:
Wine was available by the glass or bottle. We had two glasses (plastic cup), a Chardonnay and a Syrah. I drank no more than 2 ounces total tasting each, and John had the rest. I liked the Syrah better and had more of it. He brought the empty cups home and measured them to find each one held 8 ounces of wine. I took two bottles of lemonade but only drank one with my meal. I did the driving home.
Here’s the menu of food cooked and served (all you can eat): Large Rainbow Trout cooked several ways, grilled, with blackberries (my favorite, and I tried them all), one with peaches, and one with corn meal and seasonings. There were many tomatoes, including many varieties, and a yellow Tomatillo (grilled). Some tomatoes were fixed with a topping of sirloin ground beef. Some little sirloin hamburgers, called sliders, had a peach topping. Grilled peaches (previously mentioned), with blackberries and goat cheese piled on top was another delicacy. John had two of those. There was a large cup of a parfait: applesauce on the bottom, a layer of blueberries, with peaches on top. There were two types of soup, bean and meat, and a chili-like soup, also a pasta (I didn’t try that nor the chili), then fresh corn with Kohlrabi shaved on top, white beans and tomatoes, and the list goes on.
We left home at 4:15 p.m., and got home after 9:30 p.m. The traffic was not bad the directions we were driving, and we left the Interstate to go the back roads most of the way there. There was a special guest there and the winemaker passed the fellow to us to spend the evening. His name is Bill Gross (not the $$ bond king), but a UPS airline pilot (farm raised) who started this:
We found his international flying as interesting as the “farm rescue” and kept him answering questions all evening.
Saturday. John took off this morning to work with WTA on the Gold Creek Trail, which is this side of Snoqualmie Pass and heads north into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. He has returned just after 5:00 p.m. and I have been working all day in the house. It was 97 outside and I saw no reason to go out. It has finally cooled down at 7:00 p.m. and I turned off the a/c. Rascal came in at 6:30 p.m. having been out all day since before John left. He ate a lot of canned food, slept a little while, and now just joined me in the back computer room, eating more of his hard food, and now has settled in my lap to sleep. I expect he will go out again this evening after dark, and come back in, during the middle of the night. Last night it was around 1:00 a.m. and he slept in till 6:00 a.m., ate some canned food, and went back to see Bronco.
I will close for the day, and when John has rested and cooled down some, he will edit this and put out on the blog. He never got to this, because he was feeding and watering Bronco, and feeding the horses. He’ll be back here soon.
For dinner tonight we have BLTs planned. Our friends have been keeping us in tomatoes. Our tomatoes are still green. They’ll never make it this year, and we are NOT fond of green tomatoes.
Best from John and Nancy
on the Naneum Fan.