Winter postponed

In last week’s blog, I promised a link to the photos and leftover videos of Allen Aronica’s Fundraiser. I have them below. But first, another interesting statement from Amy Davison, the baker of the Native American Cake I pictured in the blog that drew everyone’s attention at the fundraiser. It was made to include in the dessert auction to help add funds to the fundraiser.

These were our questions: How did she make the “beads” on the cake, how did she produced the feathers of the head piece, and how long did the design creation take. She answered, “I used pastry bags with tiny tips to squeeze out each bead onto the cake. The feathers were a butter cream flavored fondant that I pressed into a mold, chilled, popped out, and then brushed with liquid food color. I baked the cake in the afternoon, but then decorated it in the evening. I would say maybe 5 hours total? Maybe a bit longer as I wasn’t hurrying through and had to mix all the colors.” Folks reading this now will have to look back to last week’s blog, Stories & Photos to see the photos of the cake; near the end of that post.

Go to Sept 29, here:

Stories and photos

Below are two short videos from the dessert auction, not in last week’s report:

Pan of Kahlua Fudge

Surprise Cake $21 Donated for Dessert to Dinner Goers

The next link is to a few photos I took that evening as stills, mostly of the silent auction (selected items), a few of the crowd, and the dinner buffet. The other videos were published in last week’s blog on 9/29 (link above)

This photo is of the buffet line at the Spaghetti Dinner held at the Fundraiser.The next link takes you to still photos taken that evening.

Link to Still Photos at the Allen Aronica Fundraiser

Monday, Sept 30

I started my week, by going to the hospital lab for a blood draw check on my high INR last week. It went from INR=4.4 last Tuesday, after changed dosage, to today, when it was back in a decent range, INR=2.7.

Normally, I’m a little lower. Will check it again next Tuesday, 10/8, before my 1:00 meeting at the AAC.

While in town, we went by the Co-op and bought 2 more bags of Senior Equine for Myst and a large bag of Black Oil Sunflower seeds. On our way to the lab, we stopped at Burger King for the special on crispy chicken sandwiches, cooked fresh. On for the blood draw, and then, we went to the parking lot of Grocery Outlet to try to “pair” John’s new DORO 7050 cell phone with the Bluetooth on his car.

This was a busy Monday and I stayed in the car waiting on the phone connection for over 15 minutes to talk to an agent from Consumer Cellular. John went on in to buy the intended groceries, plus added some more. He got the needed gallon of ice cream and Griddle syrup (aka liquid sugar) for pancakes, plus added a frozen package of lasagna and two nice-looking ears of corn (which turned out to be overly ripened).

He got back just in time to be there for the phone pairing. We had to do it in town while close to a cell tower, because at our house, we do not get reception on our cell phones. It took a long wait and at least 3 times through the process to pair them. I was talking on my cell phone and John and I both were following the instructions with him on his phone and me using the screen on the car. We finally succeeded after the agent went and got a phone just like John’s and followed along with us on his end.

We thought we had it paired, finally, so we headed off for a neighbor’s.
On the way home, we found that we cannot download the phone numbers from the phone, and all calls must be done from the phone itself and not through the screen on the Bluetooth. That’s not a good thing. However, I am able to call and reach John through the Bluetooth when he is driving.
There is a number pad on the car screen on which finger touch will take a number. Then it can be called. Afterward that number appears in contacts. There is no name identifier, but at the moment John has just our home phone there. More to do.

We will likely have to go to our friend at Subaru in Yakima to figure how to make it work as he needs it to, so he can dial through the screen on his dash, just pressing two buttons. Or, the next time we are together in town (this coming Monday), we’ll try again going through Consumer Cellular, now that we have the phone paired. Perhaps they can tell us a different way to update the phone book. It should not be this difficult (especially for a flip phone).

Once home I checked emails and the phone messages.

I sent a planning document to the music group for this Thursday at the Rehab, and most importantly to notify them we will be doing the patriotic music at the senior center for the Nov 8 celebration before Nov 11, Veterans’ Day. We do this every year, and have since the 1990s. We have a number of veterans in our music group; all military branches are recognized each year and asked to come to the front of the room to be introduced, interviewed, and honored.

Need to contact someone about Chris (Dr. Krueger’s nurse). I thought I had his email, but now cannot find it. I need to search through the stuff by my phone (copper wire one needed for the defibrillator monitor) on chair-side table.

Supper: lasagna, tomatoes, fried yellow squash, onions, mushrooms, dessert: chocolate cake with almond buttercream icing.

Tuesday, Oct 1

John went to Bi-Mart to check numbers, and to Fred Meyer for drink needs and get 10% of purchases today, Senior discount, 1st Tuesday of month. (It’s only on Kroger brand – store brands and not on other commercial brands. So John got it on his colas, but not on my PoweradeZero, a Coca-Cola Co. product.)

I worked on taxes and clothes for tomorrow Food bank (cancer clothes donation) and some clothes for others who attend the food bank bunch.

Tomorrow I will give a bag of clothes to a friend to take to American Cancer Society’s Yakima Discovery Shop (Thrift Store). More about that in a future blog.

I’m publishing the following with permission from Allen Aronica.

Ida Nason (Allen Aronica’s mother)Allen Aronica’s mother posted by granddaughter, Sia Aronica.

This video is a story told by Ida Nason, and well worth viewing:

Everything Change: Recollections of Ida Nason, an American Indian Elder

This film was made in 1986, 6 years before she died.

I want to add another video to this story, which is of a special person in my life too, Morris Uebelacker (see below for this connection).

This video I found that Allen published previously through Facebook, so only someone with a Facebook account can view it: (I’m not sure where Morris is speaking or when it occurred, and I telephoned Allen to see if he knew and he did not.)
I contacted Emily Washines on Facebook messenger, and she just returned the answer:
It was this summer 2019 at Hanford Journey, co-sponsored by Yakama Nation & Columbia Riverkeeper. Partial funding via the Dept. of Ecology. Emily was sitting next to Morris in the audience, and someone noted his presence, and they called him up to speak (all impromptu)! Wonderful job storytelling in his inimitable manner of speaking.

Emily Washines filmed this below. What a classic moment!

Morris Uebelacker – Importance of the Columbia River

Morris met with Ida Nason, visiting her many times before her death. She lived to be 103. The funeral was in 1992 at the Naneum home place with burial in the family cemetery, in the traditional way.

My connection to Morris goes to the time after he was hired at CWU in the Geography Department (in 1988) to be a professor. I was hired the same year, and we shared a phone for the first year we were here. We had separate offices, however, in the Old Science building, Lind Hall. We also shared many of the same students.

Wednesday, Oct 2

John started with feeding Myst: feed pellets, flaked corn, and 2 apples. The other 3 are not getting supplements, so while Myst is eating John spread hay around for them. Then Myst gets turned back into the area with the others. There is no grass this time of year, although with the recent rain, a little is showing.

I worked on things to carry with me today, making a protein drink in case nothing was on the buffet I could eat. Had bags to get to the car of clothing for 3 different destinations. Also had a garbage bag of plastic bottles to deliver to a fellow who uses them for art-work organization, and meets me Wednesdays at the Food Bank Soup Kitchen. We also had a nice conversation after the music, while I ate.
I had a small serving of spaghetti today, a little salad, half of the top of a buttered roll, and brought home a minuscule piece of brownie cake for John and me to share tonight.

I did not make my normal salad to take today, because when I opened the bowl, with iceberg lettuce, it was past the edible stage.

Crazy busy morning, after sleeping in. I left at 10:50 a.m. for FISH food bank music at the annex of the Calvary Baptist Church at Liberty (the now gone Liberty Theater – 1938 to Aug. ’09).

Nice visit with 4 people over and after lunch, but came on home.

Need to write a letter to the editor about thumbs up on the change on county rural roads in approach to stop signs. This summer a deep rippled surface about 10’ long with 3 such squares taking up the right lane of traffic before a stop sign. This week county crews were out “softening” them. Squares were spaced about 25’ apart. They were carved out of the existing pavement and severely bounced the car to warn of the stop ahead. There already are signs notifying drivers of a STOP sign. Something much gentler might have been okay. People, including we, have been going into the left lane to avoid the ripple-dips.

Transverse rumble strips

What it encouraged drivers to do, was drive around them in the opposite direction of traffic and risk running into cars coming the other way. John and I have complained (to each other) about this since their installation this summer. The rumble strips are not present at all stop sign approaches in the county, but seem to be limited to the more rural areas, yet not consistently on all of them either. The only three we have had to contend with are on Brickmill Rd as it approaches Fairview Rd., on Naneum approaching Brickmill, and on Wilson Creek Rd., approaching Alford Rd.

This morning, on my trip in, I went from home on Naneum, then Thomas to Wilson Creek, to Alford, but before Alford had to slow to one lane to pass a county road crew rolling down the height of the rumble strips. I almost got out of my car to hug the workers, observing.

Thursday, Oct 3

Off for music at Rehab this afternoon; after which I went by Fred Meyer for PoweradeZero for 58₵ each after just paying 89₵ cents Tuesday. The sale started Wednesday.

After loading up, I called Burger King and asked them to throw in two crispy chicken pieces so they would be freshly cooked when I arrived, (6 minutes after they’re in the grease). Drove on down, paid for them, visited some, with a new cashier trainee, and a long-time cashier there training her, packed up and left for home.

John met me to carry in my violin and I fixed my sandwich. We ate them while they were hot, and then worked on a few things until we left for CWU and the lecture tonight. I took all my cameras to record the proceedings. We got our front row seats, and I put one camera on a tripod and had the others on the counter in front to use.

. . . . .Tonight off to IAF
7:00 pm.  CWU’s Discovery Hall room 103  
Free and open to all.
____________________________
EVENING LECTURE: 
Revealing the Geology and Natural Hazards of Washington with Lidar

Daniel Coe, Washington Geological SurveyNick and Dan setting up – title slide of his lecture

My videos are below: (be sure to pull the viewer back to the beginning of the video)

Geology & Natural Hazards of WA via Lidar

Daniel Coe: Questions & Answers about Lidar

Friday, Oct 4

We stayed home today.
I unloaded and reloaded a full load of dishes. I uploaded videos from last night, which took a large part of the day. Our DSL bandwidth isn’t great enough for John to get downloads when I am sending the videos to the web. His breaks from outside things are shorter, because he can’t catch up on the news. Sunny days are good, rain-wind-cold, not so good.

Saturday, Oct 5

John took care of outside morning chores, and I joined him to sort out nice pine cones for a person to use to scent for Christmas projects. Fred Meyer has small bags of such for sale, but John did not see a price. When she might come is unknown, but we have a 5-gallon bucket full of Ponderosa cones. Seems this was a very good year for our trees – John has picked up hundreds.

Supper was out of the freezer: two kinds of pasta dishes (Swedish meatballs and noodles in gravy; Chicken Parmigiana with a slice of Havarti melted on top), carrots for me and carrots & broccoli for John, with PoweradeZero for me & cola for John.

Sunday, Oct 6

I put in all my medications for the week, and called in two for refills from Kaiser Permanente Mail Order. Surprised to find them there on a Sunday. Must call in the rest tomorrow after 9:00 a.m. in town.

John, Annie (dog), and Czar (cat) left for morning chores.

I’m working on computer and filing chores, and ready to load some software, once I connect an external CD drive. I just finished my list of things to do in town tomorrow with John.

John fixed us a lunch of a grilled sandwich with Havarti cheese slice and smoked turkey, which we ate with potato chips.

John has been digging dirt and rocks from around a young Pine tree up the drive from the house.

Dirt, sand, and horse doo will fill the area, then recently purchased Tulips will circle the tree. These are “peach” color. The spot is across the drive from a prior planting of fancy Daffodils and Tulips. Anticipate spring.

Last week, when Montana had a big snowfall, we nearly got snow too. This past week has been typically fall. The coming week will be cool to cold for us, but it is unlikely to produce snow here. The mountains of WA, ID, and NE Oregon, however, have snow in the forecast. Stevens Pass, 4,000 feet and 50 miles NW of us, may get 6 inches. Last week’s snow there has melted at pass level.

Hope your week was fine.

Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan