People on the go!

Sunday, Sept 8

Leftovers from a week ago at the BBQ at Meadows Place.

Meadows Place 9-8-19 Music & Circus BBQ for Community

Selected—Videos of The Last Rider Out Trio Musicians, Sunday, Sept 8, 2019, at Meadows Place with other activities shown:

The Last Rider Out Trio musicians (intro by Jack Jenson)

Boy Visits with Horse

Have I Told You Lately that I Love You?

Circus Tour—Ending with Heart of my Heart

Darktown Strutters’ Ball—with dancers

Hey! Good Lookin’—with dancers again

Ragtime Cowboy Joe

Monday, Sept 9

John did not go on his planned hike today because of the weather forecast of storms in the hills.

We left about 5:00 p.m. for town to go to The Palace for my birthday dinner that has to be used before the end of the month. Considering I did not get the card until 9/7 and that we have to be in town tonight, this was a good option. We made it to dinner, and met a woman there at the adjacent booth for two, whom we had known in our past through working with the Children of Chernobyl program in the U.S., here in Ellensburg. We shared a conversation with nice memories of the program that has ceased.

We left there to be at Hal Holmes center and set up my video camera on a tripod before the 7:00 p.m. meeting of the Kittitas Field & Stream club. We are not members, but we know the speaker, Jim Huckabay, and wanted to hear his presentation, “African Adventure—IV.” He has traveled there three times, previously. I believe they consider him family. Jim fields questions after his presentation (below); poses with two kinds of African Antelope—a Klipspringer & Reedbuck, and Boomer (his rifle).

Once you click on this next link, pull the start back to zero. It is starting 13 minutes into the show.

African Adventure – IV by Jim Huckabay

Huckabay’s presentation was followed by a thank you from Trip (& Beckett) Landon’s family who received a scholarship from this chapter to attend the Boy Scout Jamboree in West Virginia, held at Summit Bechtel Reserve, with over 10,000 acres of space. This year’s attendance was 50,000 scouts from 153 countries. It is held worldwide, but this year was in the U.S., and this was the last year both brothers could attend. If you want to learn more about the location, visit here:

Website Summit Bechtel Reserve in W. Virginia

Immediately below is the link to Trip’s report on their trip this summer.

Trip Landon ~ His & Beckett’s BSA Jamboree from Field & Stream

We know the Landon family, so I contacted Laura, the boys’ mom, about the Boy Scout Jamboree of 2019. The details are that they both (Trip as a leader and Beck as a scout) needed to raise a large sum of money to go on the trip. They approached the Field & Stream club and asked if they would contribute toward supporting their trip. The club donated $1000. A lady on the Board of Field & Stream (F&S), was aware of the associated sustainability tree-house and asked the boys to mention the F&S club on the etching they would hang there; hence the activity pictured on their thank you card. Below are the photos making up their thank you “card,” which Trip presented tonight to the President of the Field & Stream Club:Beckett, Trip, Beck hanging their plaque, pictured on the bottom.Trip Landon presents thank you card to Bill Essman.

Tuesday, Sept 10

This morning I need to review the agenda, the minutes of the last meeting, and the budget pages before attending my 1:00 meeting today in my first official capacity as serving on the Senior Advisory Commission for the City of Ellensburg Adult Activity Center. I had to be there by 12:55 p.m. because their clocks are 2 minutes ahead of the actual time. They have tried to sync their two wall clocks and it won’t work.

I went by the hospital lab for my INR check on last week’s low reading. It was up to 2.1, but still have to have it rechecked in 2 weeks to be sure my dosage is properly adjusted. I checked numbers at Bi-Mart and we did not win anything.

I went by Safeway for my Atorvastatin ($14); lowest price in town via GoodRx (cash transaction, not using insurance), and to Super 1 for a few tablets of Hydrocodone (10mg) for shoulder pain used sparingly and also for a 90-day supply of John’s Levothyroxine 88 mcg. The cost on John’s Levothyroxine was much higher than I expected. I checked with my insurance (Kaiser Permanente) and found they have raised the co-pay charge from $5/month to $20/month. See tomorrow’s comments on that.

Wednesday, Sept 11

We are going to the Food bank for music, and while I play, John will go to Fred Meyer for a super price on his canned soft drinks, getting them for 20₵/ can. He came back to retrieve me, and we left directly from there for Costco for essentials and some things for our neighbor.

In the morning, I began researching the pricing of our medications. Steve (from Customer Service Kaiser Permanente medical insurance) helped me sort out prices of meds and where the best price was. I have that information now stored in a Medical information folder on my computer.

Because of yesterday’s price shock, I checked with GoodRx for their price of Levothyroxine 88mcg tablets for 3 months. I moved our prescription for John’s Levothyroxine from Super 1 to Fred Meyer Pharmacy to be able to take advantage of a decrease in price for 90-day supply by ½, from $40.39 to $20.13. That will save us $80/year on that one medication. Amazing. One really needs to keep up on these things, but it’s a full-time job. We now deal with 4 pharmacies to get the best prices on our meds: Super 1, Safeway (through GoodRx), Kaiser Permanente mail order which gives one month free when the order is for 3 months, and now Fred Meyer Pharmacy (GoodRx). This inconsistency bothers us both and we don’t understand the reason it happens; but we will play the game and figure the least expensive place to buy every 3 months, before refilling.

Thursday, Sept 12

We had a morning visit from Doss Roberts about our neighbor, Allen Aronica currently in Harborview with severe burns, from a gasoline explosion fire. There is a need for a fund raising dinner for Allen and Gerri. Plans for that are, as yet, unknown.

I took a nice shirt to Amy (one of our musicians) that is too big for me. I hope it works for her as I really like it. We were both at Meadows Place today and we had 7 folks (Gerald, me, Dean, Amy, Sharon, Charlotte, and Minerva) present with a nice appreciative audience.

I planned to record our performance but unfortunately I didn’t have a full battery charge and it only recorded a few songs, without the one I most wanted. Oh well, here is a smaller version of our group than usual doing most of the first 6 songs. I’ll try again Thursday this week at Pacifica.

Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends, Meadows, 9-12-19, intro only

Friday, Sept 13

John left at 6:40 a.m. for his WTA work party on the Talapus Lake trail. He says the work is actually on a short connector trail between Olallie Lake and Pratt Lake trails, a bit over 3 miles from the nearest Trailhead that is called Talapus Lake that they will pass at the 2-mile mark.

We had been invited to an early Thanksgiving dinner at friends in Ellensburg, because by then, they will have traveled to their winter home in Quartzite, AZ.

I went early at 4:00 p.m. with my violin to Joanie and Ken’s for English Country Garden and dance music with Joanie (violin) and Andrew (piano). We played until 6:00 p.m. John arrived at 6:00 for dinner after returning from his WTA trip, and feeding the livestock. We are taking two bottles of White Heron wine (Roussanne and a Merlot/Cabernet blend). Our dinner included, roasted turkey with potatoes, dressing, corn, green beans, salad, tomatoes, roll, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, and 12 people around the table with interesting conversations all evening.

On John’s trip home, he saw a collared Mountain Goat on a rock cliff along the side of the road, 4 miles east of the multi-million dollar crossover near the I-90 wildlife crossover. The animal may have been on of those removed from Olympia National Park – thus the collar. She/he was about 15 feet up on the cliff, seemingly watching the west-bound flow of autos and trucks.

We have an email request in for info from a CWU friend’s wife who actively is involved in the research associated with those wildlife crossings, but they must be out of town, so more details wait for a future blog, when we find out. I asked Tony Bynum if he had any photos in his collection. He sent me a ton. I picked these below for effect. Mountain goats, Tony Bynum, friend and wildlife photographer

The one in the center is priceless. It has to be a good feeling to click the shutter on that, after making the effort to get into the goat’s rocky environment.

Saturday, Sept 14

John left at 6:45 a.m. for his WTA work party on the Talapus Lake & Olallie Trail. I don’t really have any details to report for this day. John says: Friday and Saturday work accomplished much in a muddy section. Sunday does not look good, weather wise.

Sunday, Sept 15

John left with nice weather here, but where he is headed rain is expected. He had my flip cell phone along, which I had queued to his Bluetooth to allow him access to an emergency phone. His “Smart” phone quit working – saying it has no Sim Card. We have yet to figure that out, without reception at home.

Got my Discover NEW card’s Number written into my Discover Card statement on the Credit Card Info folder in Documents.
Need to change my auto-pay accounts to the new number. Discover Card had to be cancelled and a new one issued. Our electricity with the Public Utility District (PUD), being local, ought to be the easiest. I will call that in Monday morning and Consolidated Communication (our landline & Internet DSL service). That literally took an hour to change, and had to be done on-line on their website, without being able to have an agent take the card change over the phone. That’s a lousy policy they instituted last August a year ago. I already sent an email note to Culligan, and they called this morning and it was fixed in short order over the phone (to Spokane, WA) on their dime.

It started raining earlier here, but now it’s coming down in buckets. Our normal line of 5-gallon buckets on the drip line in front of the garage are not all set up. John’s off on WTA trail maintenance and probably in a worse situation, with mud and flowing water as they try to fix drainage issues.

I am expected at a retirement party this afternoon for Susan Donahoe, from the College of Education at CWU. She is also our neighbor on Naneum. John cannot make it back in time, so I’m going alone, but with my camera to visit and take photos. It’s being held in the Clymer Art Gallery, so I’m going to attend in my Wearable Art top over a yellow silk blouse that Susan brought back to me from her six months away on a sabbatical leave in Japan. I met old friends and new there tonight. I was able to see her daughters and grandchildren who have reached 21 (the twins) and also in height with her daughter, Simone, who is quite tall. I probably haven’t seen the twins in over a decade. You can follow a link with a few photos and see Simone in the photos.

Meanwhile, here is a photo of Susan and me tonight at the gallery, right after I arrived, taken by her grandson, Clayton.Nancy and Susan at the John Clymer Museum & Gallery

Clymer Museum & Gallery, Ellensburg, WA

My Jacket is a Bob Mackie Wearable Art Designer Blazer

I got it freely given from an estate sale of a woman in Ellensburg who died. I received one other fancy flowered white blazer/jacket. The one above in the retirement party photo I specifically wore for the location, an Art Gallery.

Here is the link to all the photos taken on my camera at the retirement party.

Susan Donahoe’s Retirement Party, 9-15-19, at Clymer Museum & Gallery

As expected, John and the entire crew got wet, muddy, and cold today. Miraculously, after a ‘standing lunch’, the rain slowed, then stopped. They did come off the mountain an hour early, had cookies and drinks, visited some, and changed to dry clothes.

Some were changed before John and LeeAnne and a couple of others made it to the parking area.

A tree, about 10 inches through at its base, fell across the trail between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. That was just 20 minutes from the trailhead, so the fresh crew took care of that – hardly slowing them down.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan