Sunday evening, Feb 12. John did the normal chores today for us and for our neighbors, and then after we posted the blog, we took off for Yakima for Costco to get gasoline, cat & dog food, and a couple of other small items. We drove the older Subaru because the newly repaired one has an overpowering paint-smell slightly reminiscent of Pepé le Pew.
http://idigitalcitizen.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/pepe-le-pew.jpg?w=500
I’m not one that likes perfume or any pungent order. When I was a kid I was actually allergic to paint fumes. Maybe it is a hangover from my childhood. Interestingly enough I cannot stand for a massage therapist or acupuncture therapist to rub any smelly ointment on me. They have acknowledged my objection and used odorless ointments or body creams. Once back home this afternoon, I began trying to sort through some of the many emails. Two are to people associated with the group we heard last night. I didn’t find this link until today, but it will give you an introduction to the group. I do hope to be able to hear them in the future. This link will take you to the announcement of the event we went to last night.
Check this out: for some audio from their CD (which we bought) playing with Marc O’Connor. Beneath their picture (third on the page), link to 5 minutes of the CD.
http://handshakeproductions.net/Bluegrass.php
I don’t think I mentioned what they had at the intermission of the music last night.
It was put on by the George Georgettes, young and old women of the community who beautify the town with flowers, or put on events such as feeding us last night. They had a coffee can for donations, but did not charge anything. There were baked cinnamon rolls, but we did not have any. They had a platter with vegetables and a nice dip, but there were no forks, so it was hard to eat. They had a cereal-chex-nut-pretzel thing, but the pieces were not large enough to grab the dip. Needed tortilla chips or something. They had several types of cookies, peanut butter, butter cookies with white frosting and little candy TINY hearts, also banana bread, and a few other things .. oh, grapes which I did have several of (green and purple, seedless). We really did not eat a lot of the stuff but it all looked nice. T’was coffee which neither of us drank. I had water instead.
The Community Hall has a basement with long tables and a kitchen and lots of chairs. Nicest thing is they had a elevator, so I didn’t have to climb the steps to get back to the concert. They needed a faster serving line pattern as we got clogged-up on the stairs and the full length of the building. If you do something like this have a couple of tables and send folks down both sides – 4 rows, rather than 1. This was a minor irritation to an otherwise evening of great entertainment.
Back to today, Sunday’s doings. By the time we got the blog posted it was lunch time. We decided to eat at Costco’s. Probably a little saltier food than I need, but it was good. We shared a Polish Sausage (with Pepsi) and a Chicken Bake cut in half by them. Plastic knives do NOT work on those baked sandwiches, as we found out in the past. The drive down and back home was fine, and the traffic was light. Being a Sunday, though, there were a lot of people in the Costco store. At check-out, lines were mostly 2 or 3 carts. We have said before we wouldn’t plan to go on a Sunday, but it is just before the mid-month pay-day. We won’t go on a weekend following a pay period though. Lines then average about 6 or 7.
I got chilled this afternoon, and was complaining of cold feet and hands. John just fixed me up in my recliner with a plastic 2 liter bottle of hot water between my lower legs and under a heavy jacket and small blanket. I hope that works. I’m sure it will.
It’s better already, but my feet need to catch up with my calves.
Monday, Feb 13. Our day was uneventful, and I worked most of the day on my new computer. John did the chores for us and our two neighbors’ animals. Both my shoulders were hurting all day. One accomplishment was setting up my new computer with my back-up external drive and locating important information to transfer. There’s plenty more to be moved, but I only got two of the most needed and important files. Late afternoon John decided to try to start the ’89 Ford PU but it still wouldn’t start, so after trying to assist from inside the cab while he hammered on the starter, we called AAA (where we have Plus road coverage). They will pick up in the morning and take to our repair shop.
Tuesday, Feb 14. HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY.
http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day
At 9:06 in drove the large truck to pull up our truck on the bed. It’s on its way to be fixed. The snow is falling and John’s out taking care of the animals, all 3 places. Well, the truck made it to its destination and received a battery cable end transplant.
http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/hybridownertech/2011-02-19_014631_batt_cable_13.jpg
John told them to check the one to the negative terminal – it had a crack. That was the problem – a $4.25 part – and labor enough to pay for a daughter’s dancing shoes. As to the composition of this soft gray metal, it is a mystery. Mysteriously, also, is why my teeth are as cranky as the truck. I was having a piece of cake with John at 3:00 p.m. and pulled off another gold crown, from long ago. I was lucky to be worked in at 4:30 this afternoon. They realized it was a clean break from the top of a tooth that already had had a root canal. They simply cleaned it and re-cemented it back in place. It will be fine with no chewing for 24 hours. $103 later I’m doing fine.
Wednesday, Feb 15. A busy day. Trip to Food Bank to entertain the folks there, who really appreciate us. It was a salty lunch, but I still had a little (ham, potato salad, beans, pineapple). Off to exercise, but I was not in the best state of stamina & energy. Home to many emails and concern for planning for music for our “group.” That’s taking too much of my time. None of the neighbors’ health situations have changed that we are aware of. Hope to eat dessert and go to bed earlier than last night. I was tired all day, having not had enough of a good night’s sleep.
Thursday, Feb 16. I went to bed not feeling well just after 10:30 last night, slept pretty good till 4:00 and then another 4.5 hours. I only woke up one time during the night about 2:00. Guess I needed the rest. Today is a blood draw for the INR and music at Dry Creek (retirement), and then an acupuncture afterward at 4:00 p.m. So, I’m gonna be gone for several hours after I get out of here.
John just fixed me the nicest book to put my music in. It has a big picture of 3 violins, front, side, and back, and music notes on a staff curling, and my N A N C Y in large purple letters on the spine. It was an old 3- ring binder with things on it I didn’t want to advertise, so this was a nice gift for me. Not only did he find it out in the garage, he cleaned it, and then labeled it. What a guy!
John’s going to make me a fried potato pancake from our mashed potatoes last night with chicken, so we can eat a little lunch before I leave for this afternoon. He did and I left for a intensive afternoon. First stopped for my INR test at the hospital. They must not have gotten the lab results (and I didn’t call to have them on the lookout), so won’t find out the number and if I need to change my dosage till tomorrow. On to Dry Creek, where we played music for a little over an hour. We used the first 15 minutes to play and time the songs the group is doing on Saturday at the Spirit of The West.
http://ellensburgcowboygathering.com/
Then 3 of us stayed after and decided we would go ahead and have a subset of the group and do 4 other songs 15 minutes later, on Saturday. Those tunes are more fiddle tunes, but we will have guitar and bass backup.
Friday, Feb 17. Heard from my doctor’s nurse my INR was low still, so the Dr. upped the dosage back to what it was for the months preceding the steroids taken for the tooth fixing, which apparently messed it up. Visited with my neighbor back from Harborview Hospital this morning. Then off to town for SAIL exercise class. Afterwards drove by the Fairgrounds to see what the parking availability was for tomorrow’s performances and access close to the building for those who cannot walk great distances. Now it is snowing big time. Was just spitting a little snow earlier. I decided I did not want to go back in for the night gospel performance. I’m too tired and needed to look for my jeans, western vest, western shirt, and cowboy hat. I won’t be particularly coordinated, but I’ll be western as I can get. I have a squirrel tail on my black cowboy hat. Ha ha. That might be unique.
I’ll work on things here and get to bed early for tomorrow’s exciting performances. We’ll post this late tonight. Both Saturday and Sunday we are on the go.
Hope your week was a good one and that next week will be better.
Nancy and John
on the Naneum Fan