Sunday, Dec 4 found us doing normal morning chores, and taking off at noon for the Swauk-Teanaway Grange 35 minutes away. We drove around the Swauk Prairie loop road to view the Bison herd, . . .
. . . on our way to a lovely Community Christmas dinner, with turkey, potatoes, dressing and gravy provided by the Grange. All the rest of the food (and there was MUCH), came with individuals. John and I took a beautiful glass platter with a Christmas canister in the middle filled with our dried apples and a bunch of pieces of fruit cake surrounding it on the circular12”-diameter plate. We met friends from Ellensburg there, and the program included the upper county choir doing “Broadway” Christmas songs and there were a few sing-alongs as well. There were slightly over 100 people there.
Just as we returned over the hill and into the Kittitas Valley, the sun was setting about 4:00 p.m. By the time we got to our road and headed north back to the hills, it was gone, and John was beginning to be concerned about exercising the dogs and feeding the horses before dark. We got home about 4:13. He made it out and back before it was completely dark, as it was by 5:00 p.m. We ate so much food that we will not need any dinner tonight. At least I did and won’t want more.
Monday, Dec 5 Awoke to another day with a lousy night’s rest. Must have been from too much rich food.
Very sad news arrived. Abdominal cancer finally claimed the only son (at 50 yrs) of my first geography teacher and his wife. I had been a sitter for him way back when.
Today I’m dropping off more letters for Morris’ Memory Book at his doctor’s office for him to pick up tomorrow–9 more new ones and additions (pictures and text) to 5 others. Then on to my exercise class and I will meet John at the car repair shop at the end for him to drop off the old truck. This morning I packaged up the moccasins that didn’t fit John and we put in a return bag for the mailbox. I’m happy to report the package was picked up and sent on its way. Got a bill in the mail for $8.97 for a couple hundred dollars worth of pulmonary tests they have to run on me every year (because of being on Amiodarone). I called to question it, and was told not to worry that Group Health had screwed up their records on several peoples’ charges and just to wait to see if it got straightened out. If still there next month, I’m to call it to her attention. She has already reported their “overpayment” to them, and in adjusting it something went awry. Never pay a medical bill without questioning.
Tuesday, Dec 6 Morning as usual except added to it was a call to my first geography professor/mentor and his wife about the loss of their son. Now getting ready to go to town for a doctors appointment. Nothing much new but my discontent with Subway. They advertised a sandwich for $2 for the month of December. I stopped for a late lunch, but they wanted me to buy it with a drink and chips for an additional $3.37. That total ($5.37) was not part of the advertisement. When I complained they said they were not participating in the national campaign. So, I left the store and will not go back again. That is false advertising to me if they have a franchise. Lost my business. I lodged a complaint on the national web site. (More below.)
Wednesday, Dec 7 It’s sad to remember this is Pearl Harbor Day. I awoke at 5:00 a.m. to a horrible very realistic dream (not about the bombing), but I am happy it was a dream. I managed to get up, get something to calm me down, walk down the hall, feed the cat, and go back to sleep. Today is pick up the PU day. I dropped John at the repair shop, when I went to play music and eat at the Food Bank Soup Kitchen. He has lots of cooked stew so will not attend with me. Then I have to lead my exercise class because our normal leader is not there today.
Too bad John decided against attending the food bank lunch with me. We had BBQ pork that had been donated (20 pound shoulder) and cooked all night. It came with slaw and applesauce. So yummy.
Tonight I have been busy baking the last of the cookies …phew. Must have done 6 or 7 dozen tonight all by myself. John has been working on searching for filters for our Culligan unit, among other web surfing. I’m ready to call him to come take out this last batch. He came out a couple of batches back (I only do a dozen at a time cooking about 12 minutes). John ate some when he came out. I don’t eat till I’m done.
I’m a good one to shell crabs too (from the southern GA beaches). I don’t eat as I shell, but everyone else in my family did. I prefer to have a plate and quiet and maybe a nice view, and a bowl of butter to dunk it in. HA HA. Boy that takes me WAY back to when I was a kid. I spent summers in Savannah, GA with my cousins, and sometimes a month on Sullivan’s Island, SC with more cousins. I learned to ski and surf board (board tied on the boat and pulled behind) on the Intracoastal Waterway – in case you were thinking Savannah is near the Atlantic Ocean:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intracoastal_Waterway
Got a phone call tonight from the Subway owner of 2 of the 3 stores here in town. He apologized and told me they did not make as much as other franchises around the US and one of the reasons was because WA State has a higher minimum wage than any other state. It is $8.67 here and $7.25 is the federal minimum. I didn’t realize states set their own. GA is below. AL is the same (actually has none). But then certain cities (Santa Cruz, CA) are even higher–$13 or $15 (without benefits). CA State is $8.00. Arkansas is really low at $6.25.
He also is going to send me 4 coupons for a free six inch sandwich. I told him that was not necessary, but he said he did not want to lose my business. He supposedly had told his employees if someone came in and asked specifically for that $2 sandwich they were supposed to fix it. He said they have done it on several occasions, but he apologized they did not in my case.
Okay, it’s too early to go to bed, but both of us are really tired. Oh, I have to tell you about dinner and biscuits made with a little chocolate milk. John found some “old” Bisquick that had never been opened. It was past the expiration date so we couldn’t give it to the food bank. We had just bought a new package at Costco last week. So, he decided to make some biscuits to go with our beef stew dinner that finally got cooked over two days. The only milk we had in the house was chocolate (I use for taking my meds). He split the liquid required into half choc milk and half water. It made pinkish-brown biscuits but they were very tasty.
Thursday, Dec 8 We awoke to beautiful sunshine and blue skies, but the valley below us (just 6 miles away but 700 feet lower) was shrouded in heavy cold fog. John had heard that on the radio, but we got a call from a fellow down the road saying he wasn’t going to be at music today. He said it was socked in there at their house.
Today was music at the Rehab where I was for 7 weeks during early 2010. Nice to go back on these terms, but sad to see people in there who are deteriorating. For dinner John made meatloaf along with acorn squash.
Friday, Dec 9 Awoke to bright sunshine again today, but cold temps (18). So it is reasonably cold and appears to be going to stay that way. Ground’s frozen. John started the mower and took the tops off the strawberry patch, then covered that and young aspargus with straw. He tucked some into the base of the blackberries too. Our Indiania Berry booklet
https://indianaberry.com/index.php
arrived this week and our order is in. Earlier this year we sampled some golden raspberries and Indiana Berry sells “bare root” plants for $3 each. Compare that to this:
http://www.highcountrygardens.com/catalog/product/82807/
Last year he bought two types of strawberries and next spring he will add a third variety. It is said that when men make plans, the gods laugh. Anyway, John plans to plant another variety in 2013 and then start replacing any that start the expected decline:
http://strawberryplants.org/2010/05/growing-strawberries/
On this site, scroll down to the ‘renovation’ part. (you will need to type in renovation in the upper right of the page that comes up)
Well, I had a neck ache yesterday after playing and shifting myself to get away from the sun glare coming through the blinds, and then awoke this morning again with a pain. I found out that the other leader of the exercise class planned to be there today, so I stayed home. Did manage to wash a load of dishes, and work on a lot of email chores. I need to finish a letter for a student to go to graduate school. Been working on more letters that came in for the Memory book too. Oh my, I need to make arrangements for our music group potluck next week. Always something.
Saturday, Dec 10 We got up and saw the lunar eclipse at 5:15 am, and then set a timer for 6:30; however, the expected orange moon
http://sharing.myfoxatlanta.com/sharewono/photo/2011/06/14/Lunar_Eclipse_20110614074800_320_240.JPG
was not real visible behind the pine trees. When next up about 8:30 am, Moon was down and Fog was up — the area all was covered with fog and we have been all fogged all day – slowly freezing onto all surfaces.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3283/3157394060_7cfa92fbd3_z.jpg?zz=1
Sometimes called a ‘silver frost’, the words are used for auto paints and other things that make a search difficult. We have many photos but they are not on the web or in the cloud or whatever. This stuff is technically called “hoar frost” [O.E. har — hoary, gray, venerable, old]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frost
My morning was spent with two wireless providers, and a long wait for customer service both places. Today our 2-yr contract with AT&T expired, and I was able to “port” the numbers from our old cell phones to our new plan with Consumer Cellular. They have a much better deal and there is no contract required. It can be raised or lowered at any time for no extra cost. If you get to the end of your contract and wish to switch to this Portland-based firm, who uses AT&T towers, please tell me so I can recommend you. That way we both get $10 credit to our accounts.
I also had to get instructions for how to load the SIM card in my phone, because I ordered (free) a new one for my new phone with my old number. (Luckily, John was in the house and could assist; I could never have done it alone while talking on the phone with customer service.) I also had to spend a bunch of time first with AT&T to be assured my contract indeed was able to have the number switched today, which terminates the contract, and that I wouldn’t be charged a penalty ($140). I began the morning calls about 11:00 a.m. and was still on it when our neighbor, Kenny, brought us 10 bales of straw from his uncle’s farm. They got it all loaded in the barn. I stayed on the phone transferring (porting) his cell number to the new provider to set up another SIM card to be mailed to him. Meanwhile, I will work on his new phone to make a voicemail message and store a few numbers. He only occasionally used the phone once I got out of ‘rehab’, mostly to call me at home or on my cell, wherever I am. I do need to put his sister’s number and a couple others in it for him to have. Maybe he can be updated to the current century – but don’t bet on it.
We intended to do more apple dehydrating, but the other stuff got in the way. Now John just fixed us a late lunch and decided to take a nap. Then a friend’s heating system failed and so we are taking 2 oil heaters (ours bought at Bi-Mart, but not this exact one) . . .
http://www.bimart.com/skudetail.aspx?loc=k.605905_s.399A_c.93A_d.6&nm=Heating
. . . over for their use until they can get their propane furnace repaired. With temps going to 15, some heat is necessary in a house.
Hope your next week is a good one.
Nancy & John
on the frost covered Naneum Fan