Here is a gorgeous photo of Mt. Rainier from a few years back:
Mt. Rainier, Photographer, Jennifer Stone (permission granted). Taken from Paterson Road, Carbon River Heights, WA; the resolution is low because Facebook significantly changes it.
Maxine Herbert-Hill posted this the day before her birthday. When I questioned her if she had taken it, she said that it was taken by a friend of a friend. It was a gift for her birthday. She said she would ask for permission to pass it on. She agrees it is an amazing shot that she loves too.
Personally, I have seen lenticular clouds over it before, but never stacked that high, and we usually see it from the eastern side of the mountain.
Monday, March 25
We were up early and I started drinking water to make my blood draw go more smoothly.
We finally packed and left. Our trip to Ellensburg, took a Lot longer than ever to get my blood drawn, but I met lots of folks in the waiting room and gained some interesting information. One person I met and had not seen for over a year or more was Bonnie Clement. Her health has not been good since September.
We proceeded on down to Costco, filled my car with gasoline (at $2.75/gal) cheaper than Ellensburg, and it was dreary driving in the clouds, down and back. Once we arrived back in the Kittitas Valley it was truly cloudy and overcast. This is what we returned to:
The right photo looks a little nicer than the left.
Amazingly as we got closer to home, some sunshine appeared. A welcome sight.
An afternoon call brought the news of my results from the blood draw this morning. My INR=2.7, so I’m staying on one Coumadin every day, except ½ on Wednesday & Saturday. My Sodium was up to 135, and Potassium was 4.7, with Chloride 98.
Today we came home to an interesting and surprising email, from Marilyn Mason (President of the CWURA [CWU Retirement Association] that the Retirement Association Board had nominated both of us for this year’s Distinguished Retiree Award. The award recognizes the contributions made to the community and university since retiring. They would like to honor us at the CWURA Annual Banquet, May 21.
Tuesday, March 26
I’ll start today with photos of pretty flowers (Azaleas) sent by my cousin from Sullivan’s Island, SC. I used to spend my summers in that house and all around the island, including fishing, and ski boarding in the inland coastal waterway. We also traveled around into south GA visiting relatives, water skiing there. 
Great memories of the southern flowers, and my mom had about 18 different Camellia bushes in our home’s front yard in Atlanta, GA on Piedmont Road.
John’s leaving for White Heron at 7:40 a.m. for pruning. I stayed home today trying to catch up on things, and it seems impossible after all the things that have accumulated needing attention since I was unable to do much, while feeling so crummy. John was kind enough to go through town on his way home from pruning, to check our numbers at Bi-Mart and find out we “won” with the last digit of our membership number, a large box of Idahoan Potatoes dehydrated (I guess) to make into mashed potatoes. We have had a small one before and liked them.
He also went by Super 1 Pharmacy to pick up two of his meds that were ready, and by another place in town. I was grateful.
I did talk with the Triage nurse in Cle Elum about meeting with my new PCP Chelsea, to put in refills at a higher dosage that can be split with a pill splitter. I also needed to know my return date for another INR checkup to be sure we were back on track after all the antibiotics of the past couple months. They raise it and play havoc with the numbers, requiring dosage changes to be adjusted. My next draw is April 8th, so that gives me a rest from weekly.
The two drugs involved you have heard previously in last week’s blog are Atorvastatin & Coumadin (Warfarin). Our normal Pharmacy at Super 1 has to use our insurance co-pay, but at the local Safeway Pharmacy, we can process them through GoodRx . com and get a significant discount using our credit card and paying cash price (not using the insurance co-pay). This time they even were willing to split the pills for us. (Previously, they would not.) So we had to do it. Super 1 Pharmacy has always split pills for me. I have one that needs to be split into quarters. That’s a tough one!
I spent a bunch of time today, backing up telephone numbers from our old land line phonebook list so as not to lose when we install the new Panasonics later today. In between, I washed clothes and dishes. John did a nice job yesterday of adding batteries and charging five phones for 7 hrs.
Started a load of clothes. Ended the day doing two loads.
John fixed us a nice bowl of beef vegetable soup for supper with broiled sourdough toast with butter and Parmesan cheese.
I stayed up working on emails later than I should have.
Wednesday, March 27
Photos of the day: 
California Poppy – Poppy fields in Lancaster, CA beautifully captured by Jeri Conklin.
John left late at 7:50 a.m. for White Heron; back at 1:30.
He helped me pack the rest of the stuff I’m taking today (except my violin and music), which I will have to add with my lunch and pills to take.
I’ll take my Fiddle and music to the Food Bank arriving between 11:00-11:20 to meet a couple for transferring things mentioned below. I took one of my drinks Ensure & Yogurt for ease in fixing lunch. I don’t enjoy having pasta (the main dish on Wednesdays).
I am taking some hygienic stuff (shampoo, deodorant soap, toothpaste, washrags), and clothes: socks, shirts & sweatshirts) to give to Lisa & Leonard Muhr to deliver around the state to Homeless Veterans through Stand Down events. Stand Downs are typically one-to-three-day events providing supplies and services to homeless Veterans, such as food, shelter, clothing, health screenings and VA Social Security benefits counseling. I appreciate their meeting me at the Food Bank, to save my driving to their house on Hwy 10. While they were there, they were able to eat lunch. They also were coming back in the afternoon for food distribution (they are registered for), but loaded some bread out of the bread room, while there.
I started loading dirty dishes this morning, but only made a small dent.
Got a call from Safeway Pharmacy my prescriptions are ready to be picked up, so I guess I will go by on my way home, and not wait until Thursday, when we have so many more things on the schedule. Well, I got there without my coupons printed and realized the price was not right, so I’m printing my coupons and going back tomorrow after John’s dental visit is over.
Thursday, Mar 28
Sunshine at the moment after John emptied all the buckets in the roof drip line to prepare for the rain that did not come.
We started at Johnson’s Auto Glass by taking John’s Crosstrek in for a windshield replacement after 8:30 a.m. and then on to his dental teeth cleaning appointment at 9:00 a.m., running into closed streets for the procession from the funeral home to the CWU Nicholson Pavilion Memorial for Kittitas Sheriff’s Deputy, Ryan Thompson.
I carried along my laptop computer to sit in the waiting room and work, while John had his teeth cleaned, X-rayed, and evaluated.
After that, we picked up my meds at Safeway at a reduced price, even more off than what I expected yesterday. While there we bought some colas for John and PoweradeZero for me, on sale, along with bags of Honeycrisp apples (on sale) for my neighbor who likes to have an apple / day, and particularly likes Honeycrisp.
We came home for lunch, and John fixed us a ham slice, and 2 eggs each. He had home fries, but I had English Muffin toast with apricot preserves.
We left for music in town at 12:50. Our destination was Hearthstone today. We had a nice bunch of players there with a challenge playing through the replacement of a window in a door behind us, that had been shattered (I wish I had had my camera there to take a photo or asked someone with a phone to take it). I found out it was shattered by a piece of plywood they were using above to knock of the icicles from the roof that had been threatening the glass windows on an angle above the room. The glue they were using to seal the glass pane about did us all in, making us loopy from sniffing the fumes. It was particularly troublesome for our two flute players, who have to inhale a lot of air through their noses to play. Then the hammering began, and not in time with the beat of the music we were attempting to play. We had a smaller audience than usual, but they were very attentive and appreciative. They served hot beverages to the audience and gave out cookies with chunks of chocolate or regular chocolate chip ones.
Folks playing today included: Sharon, Maury, Marilyn, Kevin, Gerald, Charlie, Evie, Nancy, Dean, and Amy.
John and I left and went to the Senior Center to use the computer room until we could pick up his car with the replaced windshield, after 4:00 p.m. We had not counted on the long service, with much Pomp & Ceremony, for the Deputy killed last week. We walked in on the ending final 45 minutes or so of the Live Streaming Memorial from CWU’s Nicholson pavilion, with 2,813 seats. They set up large screens in another room in Nicholson for those who couldn’t fit in the main room. We watched until the end on the big screen at the Ellensburg Adult Activity Center. Likely there were many other places that did the same.
There was a lot of coverage on KOMONEWS with videos appearing later on Facebook of the entire service.
You can reach a nice presentation of parts of the memorial here:
Komonews Coverage Ryan Thompson’s Memorial
If you have a Facebook account, you can get the entire Memorial at this link:
Entire Memorial Service Using A Facebook Acct
We drove by to get John’s Crosstrek, and it cost us only $100 deductible, for an almost $500 job.
Friday, Mar 29
John took off for White Heron this morning at 7:40 after feeding the livestock and birds, taking his companion dog and cat along, and doing stuff around the house.
I slept in, and realized late that I was supposed to be at a scholarship luncheon today at the SURC 3rd floor boardroom. I called Cameron’s phone and caught him and John side-by-side, so talked to both on speaker phone.
This morning I had called Safeway Pharmacy about the count of my halved pills picked up yesterday. It’s now all set with Kayla the Pharmacist. She will put my missing pills in a container and leave it hanging with only my name. Glad I asked. (I had counted them twice last night and found I had only 84 of Atorvastatin (instead of 90) and only 88 of Coumadin (Warfarin) of the 90 needed. I asked if it was possible when they halved them, if they could potentially lose some, and she said, it could happen.
A long time contact from the west side, Bryce Van Parys, is a music instrument guru (and seller of things) with Hammond Ashley Violins, and the good part, is he has a cabin northwest of us where he stays the weekend, and comes by Ellensburg visiting CWU’s musicians on his way back to Renton, WA on Mondays.
He will meet me Monday afternoon at 3:20 p.m. at the CWU Music Building to sell me two sets of 4 strings (one for the future) and help me restring one set on my violin. For me, this is a wonderful service. Thank you Bryce!
Tonight, we went to a Music Antiqua concert by the music faculty at CWU. Below was the email invitation.
Date: Wed, Mar 27, 2019 at 9:42 AM
Subject: CWU Presents Musica Antiqua Series Final Concert
The CWU Department of Music will present the final free program of this year’s Musica Antiqua concert series on Friday, March 29 at 7 PM in the McIntyre Music Building Recital Hall. Directed by harpsichordist Margret Gries, the program is based on old English popular music and conveys a kind of storytelling at the most basic level. Even our title “Old England Grown New” refers in its original form as a commentary on seventeenth-century economic and political changes. In today’s world, the same story can be heard as a narrative on Brexit! {the current removal of the UK from the European Union} CWU music faculty and alumnae perform traditional instrumental settings of ballad tunes for string ensemble and soprano Jennifer Samples brings the traditional ballad repertoire to life with tales of love and loss, the fear of ghosts and the dangers of eating pudding! With variety of tunes and textures, and the insightful observations on human nature, English country ballads never seem to lose their appeal to today’s audiences.
Musica Antiqua performance at CWU Music Building Recital Hall: “Old England Grown New: Songs of Love and Country Life in Early Modern England.” Here is a list of the performers:
Jennifer Samples, soprano
Vanessa Moss, baroque violin
Maija Henderson, baroque violin
Michelle Rahn, baroque viola
John Michel, baroque cello
Margret Gries, harpsichord
Link to Baroque violin
My video captures of the evening I sent to YouTube, but I have the full set to share on a thumb drive with the group, if they are interested. John thinks he may have seen it being videotaped from the back of the recital hall. As you can see, I was right near the stage. We were close enough to see the soloist’s expressions.
If you only want to check out a couple below, I would pick the first, third, and fourth, for the overall content. I’m sorry I cannot provide the lyrics here. I was amazed at Jennifer’s ability to memorize so many songs, and deliver them with such gracefulness and interpretative meaning.
Margret Gries explains the English Ballads
The Country Lass by Jennifer Samples
Harvest Home by Jennifer Samples
When as I Glance – Baroque Instrumental Group
Saturday, March 30
Earlier than John, our friend Evie Schuetz was up to view the stars, from Olmstead Place, Historical State Park on Ferguson Road east of Ellensburg. Here was her incredible morning capture (time lapse 6 seconds), with the lights of a semi-truck on I-90 illuminating the barn (with barn quilt), and continuing to make a “lighted fence” beyond. 
Olmstead Park, photo 3/30/19 by EvieMae Schuetz
Below is a capture I made from the Street View of Google Earth Pro, taken in July of 2012, before the Barn Quilt was installed. I adjusted the colors to improve the red barn, but I think it actually has been painted since 2012 and looks much brighter. I need to drive by in person on my way home with my camera to get it now in the daylight.
This originates from Google Earth Pro’s street view camera coverage in July of 2012.
John was up early to say good morning to the outside cats and put out their food. Then he finished his normal gathering of news and interesting things, which I kept him away from yesterday by taking him in the evening to the concert you have heard about. His “Not So Nasty News” is out now, as of this morning.
Except for tonight when I have a Clothes Swap meet to attend, I will be working on chores around the house and on the blog. Thus far I have done mostly work on my computer, which has lost the chargeability of its battery, so I have to determine what the battery is to be replaced, or whether I should just get a new computer. I truly hate setting up a new computer with all the software I need to install, so I guess we will go with a new battery. John found one on line for just under $50 for one that fits, and John will have to unscrew about 9 screws on the underside to replace it. Now if I have to leave home with it, I have to take the power supply and plug it into a wall (as I had to at the dentist office Wednesday).
I called Dee Eberhart about the planned meeting at Hearthstone of the Retired Geographers and their wives. I sent a note to the members about who can come on April 10 at 9:00 a.m. I always take something sweet to have with coffee, tea, or hot chocolate, provided by the activities director at Hearthstone.
I removed the videos taken last night on my camera at the Music Antiqua performance at CWU Music Building Recital Hall. Now I need to remove them from the camera and recharge the battery that barely made it through last night. That was accomplished Sunday.
I am currently uploading a couple of my favorites to represent the night. I will not upload all to YouTube, but hope to locate some of the musicians to offer my videotapes of their performance. I was up close to the stage with a good perspective on most of the group.
After brunch and John is now outside preparing to plant onions and a few other things. The long spell of cold and snow chased the pruners out of the vineyard, and no garden work got done here; except John shoveled 8″-10″ of snow off the places he wanted to get to first. Normally, they have finished by April. They are only half done.
I took myself to an event tonight at the Ellensburg Foursquare Church. This happened because of trying to clean up old clothes that no longer fit me. This event was a Clothing Swap (just for gals), and the entrance ticket was bringing in during the previous two weeks, 12 items to be distributed freely to those participating tonight. Things that could be included were clothing and accessories, including pocketbooks, hats, shoes, jewelry, scarves, and gloves.
Tonight, I was surprised to find some things to bring away, and realize I still have many things to go through at home to donate to the Ellensburg Community Clothing Center (ECCC) at the United Methodist Church. I found a colorful winter beanie that will fit John (and Sunday morning I found it would fit me too). I even found some earmuffs for me and a pair of winter gloves. Several pairs of pants, jeans, and a lovely vest, two cardigan sweaters, some blouses, and a denim shirt. Anything I change my mind about or that doesn’t fit, I’ll pass along to the ECCC, orshare with a friend. Now I just have to hope they will do this again, but I know it was a major undertaking requiring a lot of volunteers. I participated in such an endeavor several years ago, and realize the incredible amount of work collecting, organizing, and putting on. Still, re-purposing such things is good.
Sunday, March 31
Ending the last day of March with an EvieMae Schuetz’s photo:
Here are my reflections upon Evie’s photograph: Now that is nothing short of fantastic! We lived in Idaho for 15 years (starting in 1974) and took field trips to the Bunker Hill Mining Company (in Kellogg, ID), where we toured the facility with our students. The Sunshine Mine was located between Kellogg and Wallace. We even went “down” (~8,000 feet) into the Lucky Friday Mine in Mullan, ID. Wow, was that a trip! It got pretty hot climbing around on ladders, and walking along beside miners, and little mining cars on a small railroad track. I doubt anything like that would be possible anywhere today with OSHA regulations. So your photo brings back incredible memories, and certainly is a classic photo. Thank you, Evie!
Our day today has been inside the house (Nancy) and outside (John), first preparing ground, fixing fence, and removing mulch from strawberries. New green there, he says.
Frost this morning, but Monday – maybe not.
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan