Sunday, August 4
After a lot of issues with WordPress, we published the blog at 11:06 p.m. It was “ready to go we expected” by 10:20 p.m., but problems intervened.
Monday, August 5
I’m going to begin this week with a sunny smiling face photo. I took my own today on my trip to the garden as we left out the back patio door, and went by volunteer seeded Sunflowers from the adjacent bird feeder we have stocked all year with Black Oil Sunflower Seeds. We have the same plants around our front yard bird feeder setup.
Imagine my surprise, when I saw a post on Facebook from our friend Evie of her trip at morning sunrise to a large field of sunflowers only 7 miles from our house.
She has given me permission to use any of her works of art in our blog, so this will cheer you further. It did me. 
The top photo show much of the field of sunflowers at the intersection of Brickmill and Lester Rds., only 7 miles SE of us. Photographed by Evie Schuetz.
This morning I got involved making a report of my ER visit to share with my foot doctor. The report has the history, and the X-Ray findings that yesterday finally made it into my KVH portal. They are written beyond my medical comprehension. I need his evaluation of the X-Ray analyst’s findings and impressions. It’s written in language only a medical doctor could completely decipher. He’s spoken with me before about an earlier injury, and regularly sees us every 3 months. I sent it to his private email and called his receptionist to let him know it was there. I have not heard back from him, sadly, so I shared with a couple of nurses and another medical doctor friend. My interpretation of the report was that I had fractured one of the bones, yet was discharged from ER, with the “conclusion” that it was likely not fractured.
No biggie really, because there is nothing that can be done, except wait for time to heal and to get the fluid from the bruises out of my system. Having patience, staying off my feet, and resting are the hardest parts of the healing process – which I already realized would be longer in my case because of my being on a blood thinner.
For example, this was the hard-to-decipher information:
Notes: (XR Foot Comp Min 3 Views Rt) Reason for Exam: pain and swelling REPORT EXAM: XR Foot Comp Min 3 Views Rt, 8/2/2019 11:16 AM
History: Pain and swelling with prior injury 2 weeks ago.
Technique: Frontal, lateral and oblique
Comparison: none
Findings: Small area of focal subcortical demineralization anteromedially of the first metatarsal head. There is question of a cortical disruption. No dislocation is identified. There is mild osteopenic bone density with second-fifth digit hammertoe deformities. Joint spaces reveal mild narrowing and periarticular eburnation changes at the first metatarsophalangeal joint. Also degenerative change of the metatarsal head sesamoid bones. Mild hallux valgus changes present. Mild degenerative changes of the IP joints. Accumulation. Soft tissues are normal.
IMPRESSION: Question cortical fracture anterolateral (probably a miss-type); should be as above, anteromedially) of the first metatarsal head with bone reabsorption/healing change.
***** Final *****
Signed (Electronic Signature): Andersen, C. Zeno MD 08/02/19 11:38 a Technologist: WT
John invited me to visit his “newer” garden with our new camera to see the start of the onion harvest. On our way, we went out the back patio door and around by the Japanese plum tree, plus others, he planted for me. I walked (as gingerly as possible) to the garden for photos of flowers, veggies, fruits, onions, and filming the onion harvest. John will follow this with photos of his storage of his onions in the barn to dry, and plans to give me a link to Dixondale Farms where they originated, explaining the needed drying process.
Before the harvesting, here is a fast glance at the walk. Photo is of Damson Plums of Central and Eastern Europe. There is much fruit but it is small and flesh and seed cling tightly. Maybe that is why it seems to be mostly used for Slivovitz, Plum Brandy.
The kernels are ground up along with the flesh. This one is from Serbia. We can do jelly a lot easier and just buy a bottle of the brandy.
Damson Purple plum views; we also have yellow ones (Shiro), especially for me. They are still hard.
Variegated (& not so) Dahlias, keeping with the purple theme.
John displays the variegated one; Rt. View from a different angle.
Czar supervises – cherry tomatoes are in the mix as well
Finally, the onions story.
Onions and Strawberries – Sour and Sweet –
The strawberries are missing in this garden, but doing all right in the other which has a better fence. The deer got into this one and ate most of the strawberries, including the leaves. So sad, after all John’s effort in building the beds. I’m not sure what his plans are, but he has given up on these. {Plants will be moved to a better place until I get a real fence built.}
Now for the videos of the onion harvest beginning, for white first, and then “purple” reds.
Harvesting Walla Walla Sweet Onions, 8-5-19
Harvesting Redwing Onions, 8-5-19
John’s out digging again; photos on Saturday.
I have to continue loading dishes, but most importantly put my meds in the container for the week, so I have something to take after I eat. We’re having leftovers (cold meat) from Saturday’s birthday party for friend Joy.
He returned and we had cold chicken, a tiny bit of smoked brisket, pistachios, and tomatoes.
I called the city’s executive assistant about the time expectations and procedure for the 7:00 meeting tonight. I must attend the City Commissioner’s meeting at City Hall, in order to give my statement of introduction for filling a vacancy on the Ellensburg Adult Activity Senior Advisory Commission. I knew about it because of a friend we have known since coming to town, who had been serving on the commission. She is leaving town for a new residence and vacating an open spot. It’s not a large time commitment, but the purpose is essential to the continued successful operation of our senior center.
The commissioner’s meeting was videotaped, and played back on Ellensburg Community TV, Channel 1. The link below is to the entire session. I’m putting this in primarily to show our local access to events in our town that are available for people to send in action (via a scheduled program for the day’s viewing), which includes current and previous events. It’s a nice opportunity.
Ellensburg Community TV, Channel 1
I got on there later this week, viewed the meeting, and captured the first part on my new camera (as a video). That’s the camera that I need to use Fiber Optic Cable at the University to upload to YouTube, but I wasn’t going to town that day, so used DSL that lengthened my time exceedingly. My 17-min version of the meeting’s start through our interviews is here, with timing of the two applicant’s statements. Each of us spoke ~ 7 minutes and then we were excused from the meeting. Here are the specifics: Start Dean’s at 3:23; end of Dean’s is 9:13 where my name is called and I’m asked to step forward to the podium and microphone.
County Commission’s Meeting, August 5, 2019
After the meeting, we visited the grocery store for some on-sale items and by the Courthouse to deposit our voter ballots** at the collection facility outside. All went well, and we came home and ate a late supper. [**Washington does voting by mail, but deposit boxes are common and saves the State the cost of mail.]
Tuesday, August 6
Called Ellensburg Animal Hospital about Rimadyl access and the cost for 30 tablets of 100 mg chewable tabs. At our last appointment, the vet gave us a bottle with 12 to try with Annie for her pain from arthritis. It appears to work. Their cost is quite high, 30 tablets for $69. I began looking for cheaper alternatives, realizing I needed a prescription to be sent to a pharmacy. I found the best price at Fred Meyer Pharmacy (more details in tomorrow’s report).
I went for my monthly blood draw, and the INR=2.4 (good, same as last month). I filled in other things on the calendar for the next standing order K test (used to be monthly, but has been changed to 4 times/year). While at the hospital, I spoke to the person to request a copy of the X-rays on my foot to be left for me in Imaging. Estimated pickup time was 8/9.
Wednesday, August 7
John left this morning at almost 6:45 a.m. for Snow Lake Trail, WTA Work crew. I stayed up – things to do. My first decision was that I could not participate in the Food Bank lunch music bunch, because my foot was still in too much pain. I must rest it. I contacted 2 people who would be there.
Now at 11:45, Annie has had her pill and settled down. I am sure she was in pain.
Lila at Ellensburg Animal Hospital sent Annie’s prescription for 30 tabs of 100 mg Rimadyl to Fred Meyer Pharmacy. They will let me know the actual price so Pharmacist Chadlyn can check, when they have the script in hand. She thought it would be around $47, from a previous purchase for another client’s dog. This is not sold as a human drug. We’ve been giving just ¼ tablet in morning and evening. For now that seems to work.
She found and will leave instructions for the Pharmacist tomorrow morning to put the order in, as she will not be back until next week. A bottle with 30 chewable tablets of 100mg will cost $26.99 + tax. I believe our tax here is 8.2%, so the cost will be $29.20. Humans are not charged tax on medications, but canines are. She returned my call and I needed to accept ordering 2-month supply because her Fred Meyer distributor has a minimum order she had to reach, and she added as much as she could but couldn’t find $27 more. I told her to go ahead and put in the order for 2 bottles for me.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
RE: local temperature reports
Reading 94.8 at 2:24 home and 99 at KELN
Reading 94.6 at 2:53 home and 101 at KELN
John came by at 3:53, car gave a 92 when it was 98 at KELN
We cleaned and cut mushrooms, and cut an onion to sauté to put in crockpot beef he put on early this morning before he left.
Thursday, August 8
John left at 6:45 a.m. for Snow Lake Trail, WTA Work crew.
I checked the ECTV for an 8:00 a.m. show of Aug 5, 2019 commission meeting but it wasn’t being aired until Aug 11 & 13. However, I fiddled around and figured how to get to the copy and play it off air. Got my camera and tried to see if I could reset the resolution so as not to spend so much bandwidth recording.
I re-recorded the first part of the evening, starting with the lead in Pledge of Allegiance, roll call, agenda amendments, and then continued with the first applicant (alphabetically), Dean Allen for his introductory remarks. We were both vying for only vacant slot on the Ellensburg Adult Activity Center’s Senior Advisory Commission. Then I followed. It was a bit awkward having us only realize as we arrived that evening that we both had applied. Dean Allen and I are friends, and it was not fun to be in competition in public. Obviously, we both followed through, and it was obvious we were friends (we play music together two days/week).
While it downloads from my camera to my computer, so I can transfer to YouTube, I’m continuing with projects. It’s now almost time to fix my salad for lunch, and get ready to leave for music. Got my mic all charged up for today’s announcing at Meadows Place.
I got the call from Fred Meyer Pharmacist (guy) that he would send the order in if I still wanted it, if it took a while. Glad I got the call as I was walking out the door, or we’d been another day away from receiving the medication.
Tonight, John helped me by using his computer to take the 3 images of X-Rays off the CD I picked up this afternoon. His tower has slots; mine has to be done externally and is a lot more hassle.
These are the frontal, lateral, and oblique views taken.
I zoomed into each image individually, but I still am not completely sure what I’m seeing. I need someone to interpret the marks the technologist mentions, and I need to look at the image of the names of the bones in the foot again, while re-reading the report and viewing the X-Rays.
I have since studied it more, while looking at the bone parts and names in the foot, and receiving input from friends. If there are doctors or nurses in our viewing land, and you want to see the individual ones so you can enlarge them, I can email them to you, separately. I personally prefer analyzing the first X-Ray. Just let me know.
Called Janet Fulton-Perkins to sing Happy Birthday. She will call me back later. She’s visiting with her cousin.
Our music at the Meadows Place went fine, and I returned home, after a fairly long visit with a resident I have known for years, about her grandson’s traumatic accident.
John made it home eventually, and we finished off the evening, going to bed a little earlier than usual. My foot was bothering me. I actually left Meadows for the hospital imaging department to pick up my CD of the X-Ray scans and they were there a day before expected. Good, because I did not have to go to EBRG Fri.
Friday, August 9
Last night, going to sleep with the windows all opened trying to cool down the house, we heard all sorts of sounds. The coyotes were howling. Three o’clock brought the sound of 6 shots from our neighbor’s house. At 3:30 a.m. came thunder from the sky and bouncing off the hills.
John left 6:45 a.m. for Snow Lake Trail, WTA Work crew. I intended to do some stuff today, including driving out to check out the Sunflower field at Lester & Brickmill, but my foot is hurting too much. Even with the rest I did this week, I must have not rested it enough and walked on it too much. {John says, WTA friend George is resting his aches by working more at the Volunteer Vacations Logistics shed in North Bend – packing food and gear.} Last night and this morning it has been especially painful. I will do better today taking care of it and staying off as much as possible.
Am uploading the video I took yesterday on my new camera. It’s a much better copy of the Monday County Commissioner’s meeting than I received on my older camera (with less bandwidth to transfer). It will take a couple hours to upload, but no one will need to be on the Internet. I’m on to paperwork sorting and filing and John’s gone to the Cascades. He actually tossed my old hooded rain jacket in the car because they likely will have rain. If there is thunder they will get the work sites safe and leave the work. Normally, the time is 2:30 back to the parking lot, which might be a mile (20 minutes) by now. I’ll call him at 3:30 to reach him through Bluetooth in his car.
I reviewed the pictures sent for 3 different days of WTA work on that trail last week, but the most illustrative one is a before and after of a set of stairs some of the crew built. We shall present that story, with John’s help documenting. In addition, I picked other photos of John’s crew working to have him explain them to me. He has done this in 2 small posts that come before this one. You can go backwards, if you are interested, at the end of this post.
Or, the links are:
#One shows replacement of steps; not what John was doing.
#Two shows an improvement project about a mile up trail.
I find it fascinating, and I believe you will too. It’s my only way of visiting the work the WTA crews do.
This morning, I changed from having the pressure on my foot’s top from bedroom shoes to two pairs of socks, using John’s hospital socks (given as slippers) with the “tread” on the outside bottom. I can walk flatfooted with no pressure for the few steps in the house I must take today. I’m staying home for a few days to rest it, completely. The walking shoes (leather) are okay for short periods required outside the house, but they hurt too after a while of use. Any of my trips away to Ellensburg require 2-3 hours, 4 max, and that is too much usage.
Update on breakfast and pills at 11:00 a.m. – took BP, and Entresto and had my warmed ¼ blueberry/pecan pancake. Gave Annie her ½ pill, and will give another when pain is evident. As necessary, I’ll up the dosage back to what it was – 50mg twice a day, up from 25mg twice, hoping I can get a few more tablets from the vet this coming week when I run out in 5 days, to tide her over until my order is returned to Fred Meyer Pharmacy in 10 days.
Another SSA Scam call 1:15 today: (they left this message)
“Hello, this is Officer Marie Gomez from the Social Security Administration. This is to inform you that your social security number has been suspended due to some reasons. We request you to call us back on 301-264-8279. I repeat it three zero one 264-8279. Thank you, and have a nice day.”
As I wait for the upload to finish, our electricity just blinked off and on at 1:26 p.m. Now the clocks will need reset. Glad my computer was on a battery, but my WiFi and Internet is not retrievable even with a restart of the “modem.” So I didn’t know how long I had to get it going again, without losing everything.
Finally, I contacted Consolidated Communication (CC), Technical Support, in Texas and with a lot of effort I was connected again and did not lose the information I had already uploaded.
After that scare, I called Customer Service to ask if they could connect us to a nearby Fiber Optic cable I thought was down the road. We watched it being buried last year, but it changed directions and turned off Naneum west onto Thomas Road. I have no clue what that cable supports. Consolidated Communication, our provider, claims there is “No fiber optic cable available out here by any provider; only DSL.” Further research needed.
Tonight I decided the idea of two pair of socks was not working as I thought. So, I went back to wearing a newer pair of bedroom shoes, and one pair of socks, but taking the slippers off when sitting.
Saturday, August 10
Primary plans today include three things: make progress on the blog, alternate with organizing and filing receipts where I left off yesterday, and take care of resting and caring for my foot.
We had a brunch consisting of two different assortments of food. Mine was leftover blueberry-pecan pancake, 2 eggs, orange slices, and pressed ham. John’s was toast, 2 eggs, French fries, ham & orange.
John finally left for outside chores. Companion Dog & Cat (Annie and Czar) accompanied him.
On his agenda is rearranging and moving the drying onions and taking photos. 
Left side: Redwings – Ringmaster.
Others are Walla Walla, Sterling, Red River, and Red Zeppelin. The copper ones are Walla Walla, and they are the shortest keepers.
From his adventure with the onions, he brought back a couple of each kind and then fixed beer-battered French fried Walla Walla onion rings to accompany the fried yellow baby summer squash he also grew, with Fried Chicken from the store. The onions were sweet and quite tasty. Great dinner we didn’t finish until 9:00 p.m. I did have a much-needed hour nap this afternoon.
After my nap I called Gerald in Thorp, and heard he had a big storm with ½ inch hail, much water, and his electricity went off for a bit. His satellite dish filled with hail and he had no TV reception. We had only sprinkles here, but east of us, a funnel cloud came into view in the valley with many captures of it published on the Facebook site: Community Connect Kittitas Valley.
John took the left-most photo of clouds over Thorp (west) from our hay shed; Funnel cloud east of us by two other photographers were published on Facebook. Photos by Patti-Haines-Christmann and Kim Corey-Hendrickson. The first two funnel clouds ones were taken from a place only ~5.5 miles from us to the SE.
Late tonight I had a WSDOT alert that a landslide had occurred in the Yakima Canyon south of Ellensburg, closing Hwy 821 both directions until cleaned up. It was finally opened Sunday morning.
Sunday, August 11
Blocked several phone calls I received the past 2 days from Robocallers.
For brunch we had the remaining beef stew/soup. John cut some weeds and cleaned a few other things up, but made an easy day of it. Supper consisted of chicken breast stir-fry with mixed veggies, plums & pears, and now for dessert a chocolate sundae with strawberries.
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan